ROANER KORSANA
H as Ezra returned?” I ask Heshy as he rushes to keep up behind me.
“He has not, my Lord, I believe he will return tonight or possibly tomorrow. I will send him for you once he arrives.”
I shake my head immediately as we race down the halls of the palace that lead to the exit doors. As we advance further, the doors push open, and Levora makes her way through with Phyv and their pets. I look away before either of them can see me.
I stop and turn to Heshy. “You both will leave me alone tonight and tomorrow morning. Everything I need to speak of with Ezra can wait until I have returned.”
A heavy breeze looms by in their passing, and I refuse to make contact with either of them.
My plans for today and tomorrow are final, no one is interrupting them. Not even Levora.
Heshy nods. “And you will be home when?”
“I will be home tomorrow evening,” I motion forward for him to follow me through the doors. “I will come find you once I arrive.”
“Well, have a pleasurable day, wherever that may be.”
I chuckle. “It will be.”
* * *
I ascend to the gates of the border between Xenathi and Vaigon. The border stands hundreds of feet tall, and within the stone-built wall is heavy iron, making the border sturdy enough to stand for years upon years. When I am seen through the peep holes, the gate rises, and I am allowed through from recognition. Patrol is waiting there with spears held tightly in their hands. They are dressed from neck to toe in burgundy armor, ready to fight immediately if anyone dares to pass unwarranted.
“Lord Roaner,” one of the men says in a greeting. “Why have you come back?”
“I need to speak with Lady Esme about plans arranged through King Vallehes. Donvarsa Manor to be exact of her location.”
“Lady Esme is in the final hour of her meeting with Prince Vorian. Philip will gather the horses; he will take you there.” The guard nods to a man walking toward a stable, and he grabs the reins of two horses leading them to me.
No matter what, I will never be allowed to ascend within their lands unless supervised. I must be seen to where I am going, and I must be retrieved from where I was last taken.
Philip hands me the reins of a black horse before he saddles his own; I follow suit, and my horse chases behind his the moment he takes off.
Not the slightest commands from me can be made while using their horses, only commands from Philip can be made, it is my only job to sit and be along for the ride until we arrive.
* * *
I am back where I was previously, the same Consultation Room where I was once begging for help to find Levora, and now I am here for the opposite.
Philip is before me as Esme and Vorian stand at the table in the middle of the Consultation Room overlooking what seems to be a map of a sort, it disappears in a flash at Vorian’s doing. “Lord Roaner of Vaigon is here for you, Lady Esme. If you are not finished with Prince Vorian I will have him wait in the hall.”
Vorian looks at Esme who is stoic, a woman who contains no emotion on her face and does well at hiding her reactions. Too well.
“Roaner can stay, Philip. Thank you, we are done here.” Vorian nods and Philip leaves.
“What did you need?” Esme questions sharply.
“I need to speak with you privately.”
“You could shield the room after I leave so no one will hear your conversation, since you perform so well with shields.” Vorian teases.
Esme laughs and turns to Vorian. “Put this lie to rest.”
This time I am the one to chuckle given I already know the truth of that past situation.
“Vorian was trapped in your shield. He never got through it, nor did he get out of it until after you removed it. He would not shut up about how he could not leave Vaigon because of you.”
“I do plead my apologies, but I am very glad to know of this.”
Vorian smirks. “I am sure you are glad.” He moves from the table and nears closer to the door to leave.
“Do not travel too far,” Esme says to Vorian. “We are not done here.”
Let this man leave, Esme.
“Come find me after you are done. I need to speak with my mother and father, and I will tell them that Roaner has arrived if they do not already know.”
They say their final goodbye before Esme’s eyes lock with my own.
“What are you doing here?” Rage. “More specifically, what are you doing here unannounced?”
“Hi,” I walk the vast distance between us. “How was your morning?” I ask. “My morning was fine, how was yours?” I continue.
“Yours was fine as well? That is good to hear.” I stop directly in front of her, just an inch from touching. “You look lovely.”
The tiniest bit of her hard exterior softens.
“I know I do.”
“I figured.”
Her dress is long and silk, it wraps around her body except for one side where her entire waist is revealed down to her hip.
“Why are you here?” She asks again, this time softer.
“You have not let me see you since we have been in The Sunset Province, the only way to see you is to catch you off guard it seems.” I reach out to toy with the sheer pieces of fabric on her dress.
“I have been occupied.”
“You are occupied no longer.” I declare. She glances from my hand and up. “We are going somewhere. You are not allowed to ask questions. All you will do is take my hand and follow me.”
Her lips itch to protest, to demand to know where we are going, when we will be back, and how we are getting there.
I wait.
She looks down. “I cannot take your hand if you do not give it to me.”
Foolishly, I smile. And damn it. She does too.
“You stand correct, Lady Esme.”
Our hands move in unison, the second her fingers lace with mine I ascend.
When we land, we stand outside of my home far from Vaigon.
GALITAN — THE REALM OF THE SORCERERS
Esme peers around our current environment before she turns to me. “Are we in Galitan?”
“When was the last time you were here?” I ask, knowing one of her parents, possibly her mother, is a Sorceress.
“Never,” she observes the beauty of the land before us.
“Your family has never brought you here?”
“No, when my mother met my father she stayed with him in Old Quamfasi, and they made their life there together.” She turns to the large cottage behind us and then she is gazing at the vast forest lingering beyond the home. “She left her life here and never came back.”
Galitan must not bring her peace.
“Even the air here feels different than the air in the Realm of the Wolves.” Esme observes as she inhales deeply.
“Fresher,” I nod.
“Why are we here?”
She has not let go of my hand since we have landed so I lead her into my home. “This is my home away from home. I had it built a few years ago as a place to escape to when I cannot handle the burdens that lie in Vaigon.” I shut the door behind us as she enters. “I had a dream many nights ago that I brought you here.”
“Fulfilling your reveries.” She simpers.
“No,” I chuckle. “This was a reverie that was heard and gifted. I merely wished and it was given.”
“Roaner,” her voice is so soft and supple. It pulls me closer, and I watch as that wall she carries around comes tumbling down. “We should continue to keep this strictly about the bargain between–”
“We are not speaking of any duty to be completed while here, just ourselves. By the end of tomorrow night, I want to know everything about you and you will know everything about me.”
She attempts to respond while staring at the button on my topcoat. “I do not want to only talk about ourselves.”
I smile. “If you would have answered my many messengers I have sent to Xenathi it would be possible for us to have more conversation than usual.”
“Strictly business.”
“I will be damned before we are strictly business again.”
“We will have to be soon,” I know she is hinting at Levora, and I do not allow our day to turn toward her. This is about us, and only us.
“I do not think we will.”
Her chest dips. “I am not meant for longevity, Roaner.”
My eyes flutter as I try to listen to what she is saying given the seriousness of this conversation. “If you say my name once more I will be entirely lost with no return.” Her hand graces my cheek, and it is my undoing. “Esme, I have not touched you in far too long and you will truly experience how insane I am if you deprive me any longer.”
“Roaner,” her voice purrs as her finger trails over my lips, before she can say it again her dress is gone, and her body is pinned below me in my bed.
“Take off your clothes,” she begs as her body writhes beneath me.
Her thighs open wider, revealing more to me that I have missed other than her stark attitude and stubbornness.
I trail my hands up and down her inner thighs and she deeply moans. “Roaner,” she moans again, unable to finish any words.
Nothing, all we have to do is nothing to be so ready for each other.
I sit up between her legs and she is tearing at the buttons of my topcoat, and I fight to undo the strings of my trousers. My undershirt is hanging off of one shoulder before I grow impatient and sink into her the moment she gets my trousers just below my hips.
* * *
Esme quietly exhales as she dozes off in front of me. I reach upward and run my finger down her nose. “I am awake,” she mumbles.
“Then open your eyes,” I cup her cheek and she lazily looks at me. I smile as she struggles to open her eyes. “What did you mean earlier?”
“About what?”
“That you are not meant for longevity. What did that mean?” I trace small circles on her cheek to keep her awake, but I fear it is helping her fall deeper into sleep.
“Love.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Nothing ever lasts forever, Roaner.” She utters. “Nothing lasts, I do not last. You consider that you want a certain life with me until you tire out and leave wishing you never made the choices that you did.”
“You do not know what goes through my mind when I see you, do not think I am so comparable to the boys you have had in the past.”
Suddenly, I must meet the man who ruined the woman that I am certain was built for me and no one else.
“Do you not have a wife waiting for you? A wife you have been searching for while pursuing me.”
There it is.
“She is not my wife, I lied to push Vallehes for help, Levora is Laven’s younger sister that I grew close to while we were young and stupid thinking we would marry knowing well enough it would not prosper. I was not finding her solely for myself, I was finding her for my brothers as well. Then you decided to appear again.”
“And when she comes home, and you realize you still want her you will prove me right that I was not built for the longevity that you seek with me.”
“You are wrong,” I say just over a whisper.
“How so?” She challenges me.
I hold her cheek tighter. “She is already home, and I am here making love to you and trying very hard to create it with you.” I gently kiss her hand as she stares blankly. “Now, tell me how you will attempt to run away from me again so I can prove you wrong once more.”
