Sariana’s expression was a mixture of puzzlement and delight. “What a beautiful little cage. I’ll bet your cousin Moris did this, didn’t he? It looks like his work.” Automatically Sariana reached out to take the cage from Luri’s hands. “Is the lizard Moris’ work, too? I thought it was Tarla who liked to design reptile brooches. What a beautiful piece of work. I don’t recognize the gems. I’ve never seen such glowing red stones before.” Then she got her first good look at the creature inside the gold filigree. “It’s alive!”
“Of course it’s alive,” Luri said. “Who wants a fake lizard?”
“Or a dead one,” Gryph added thoughtfully. He smiled at Sariana when her eyes flashed briefly to his face. Then she looked again at the creature in the cage.
Gryph had to hand it to her. Sariana barely flinched. Her brilliant smile stayed in place and she never missed a beat as she said to Luri, “What a fabulous lizard. It’s so beautiful it looks as though it had been made in an Avylyn workshop. Why, it’s even got red eyes.”
Luri was pleased with her response. “It took me a long time to catch it. I had to get up before dawn every morning and go out into the gardens. You have to have just the right bait to catch a scarlet-toe, you see. They only eat certain kinds of leaves. You have to be very quick to get one.”
Sariana gave Luri an appraising look. “Maybe its wrong to keep it in a cage, Luri. A little creature like this should be free, don’t you think?”
“Oh, in a few days he’ll bond to you and then you won’t have to keep him in a cage,” Luri explained. “They make great pets for ladies.”
Sariana turned a helpless, beseeching gaze on Gryph.
He took the opportunity to step in with more helpful information. “They have an affinity for females just as krellcats have an affinity for males.”
“You’ve seen my krellcat,” Luri reminded her. “This scarlet-toe will want to hang around you the same way my krellcat is always hanging around me.”
“I see,” Sariana’s voice was very faint. “Uh, where is your krellcat this morning?”
“I left him in my room. I was afraid he might eat the scarlet-toe.”
“I see,” Sariana said again weakly. “Is this business of keeping krellcats and scarlet-toes for pets an old western custom?”
“It’s not a very old custom,” Gryph said easily. “It’s only been in the past few years that anyone discovered what great pets they make.”
“Oh,” she said a little too cheerfully, “what an odd coincidence. Recently in my homeland a few people have started keeping odd pets, too. They seem quite attached to them. I never had time for a pet, what with my studies and all.”
Gryph watched her standing there, wet and bedraggled from the storm with a caged lizard she didn’t want in her hands and he didn’t know whether to laugh or offer comfort. He had the feeling she would be infuriated by either approach.
“There’s an old Serendipity saying that fits occasions such as this,” Gryph finally said blandly.
“What’s that?” she asked with deep suspicion.
“Take what you can get when you can get it. Life doesn’t come with any guarantees.”
“Sayings like that cover a lot of territory, don’t they?” she retorted.
“Do you really like the lizard, Sariana?” Luri asked, eager for more enthusiastic appreciation of his gift.
“It’s beautiful,” she said with an obvious sincerity that surprised Gryph. “The most beautiful lizard I’ve ever seen.”
Luri looked bashfully pleased. “I’m glad you like it. Now you’ll have to think of a name for it.”
“I think I’ll call it Lucky Break,” Sariana said, slanting Gryph a dangerous look from the corner of her eye. “Lucky for short. Thank you, Luri. Now I think I’d better go and change my clothes. I’ll see you at dinner.”
“I’ll bring a supply of leaves to your room so you can feed Lucky,” Luri promised.
“Thank you.”
“Luck of the day, Sariana,” Gryph said cheerfully as she turned to go.
“Thank you, Lord Chassyn.” She didn’t glance back but her tone was excruciatingly formal. If my luck gets any better than it is already, I may have to consider increasing my insurance coverage.” She vanished down the hall in a swish of wet, gray skirts. Her hands were filled with scarlet and gold.
When she had gone, Luri turned back to Gryph, his expression delighted. “I think the scarlet-toe will make her less homesick, don’t you? Especially at night.”
“What makes you think she’s especially homesick at night?” Gryph asked curiously.
Luri shrugged. “A couple of times I’ve seen her walking in the conservatory after everyone else has gone to bed. I sneak out of my room sometimes to check the pond for baby moonfish. When they’re small, they only come out from under the rocks at night, you know. Anyhow, as I was going by the conservatory hall I saw Sariana. The first time I saw her I thought she was a ghost. I was almost scared.”
“What made you think she was a ghost?”
“She was wearing a white night robe and she was just sort of drifting through the plants and trees. She didn’t make a sound. It was the only time I’ve ever seen her with her hair down. She looked a little sad. I almost went in and spoke to her, but I was afraid she would be embarrassed. Mother says easterners don’t like to have other people see them when they’re sad.”
“Your mother is probably right. Easterners like to pretend they don’t have emotions like the rest of us.”
“Why?”
Gryph shrugged. “Maybe it makes them feel superior.”
Luri lost interest in that subject. “Well, now she’ll have the scarlet-toe to keep her company at night.”
“I’m sure she’ll enjoy it, Luri.” Gryph’s mouth curved faintly. “I just hope the scarlet-toe realizes how lucky it is,”
Chapter
4
AT midnight that night, Gryph stood silently beneath the fronds of a huge, sprawling hydra palm and watched the white-robed figure glide soundlessly through the conservatory.
Luri was right, Sariana did look a little like a ghost. But this was no creature made of transparent, untouchable vapor. Gryph knew the lady moving toward him on velvet slippered feet would probably resist the touch of his calloused hand, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be grasped and held.
He had given the matter a great deal of thought since his first encounter with Sariana and he knew he had reached a turning point in his life. In courting Sariana he would be seeking to alter his own future and hers. Not an easy task.
It would be more of a hunt than a courtship, he figured; the most demanding kind of hunting he had ever done. Chasing bandits was much simpler than courting Sariana was going to be. Everything was against him. He was from the wrong continent and the wrong social class. On top of that he got the impression she didn’t even like him very much. Oh, she was aware of him, all right. He was sure of that. But that didn’t mean she liked him. Dealing with him was a necessary bit of unpleasantness she was willing to endure in order to reach her goal.
But every time he saw her a jolt of shuddering awareness went through him. The sensation was nothing as simple and straightforward as lust. That he could have handled one way or another. Instead, it was an acute, indescribable hunger that poured through his entire body like hot rain. It was different from normal sexual desire, more powerful, more complex and, therefore, more dangerous.
The driving need had been born within him the night he had awakened, mind spinning from the drug, and focused on the woman who had dared to touch his weapon kit. Even unmated and unlinked with him, she’d had the power to reach him in some manner. She hadn’t even been aware of what was happening. It had all taken place on a very subtle level. An untuned mind such as Sariana’s would not have understood the tendrils of awareness that had pulled him out of his dr
ugged haze.
The powerful emotions that had been incited in that moment had been steadily gaining strength since then. Kissing Sariana two mornings ago had done nothing to alleviate the growing need within Gryph. It had only fed it, making it more powerful and demanding.
Now a restless, driving energy pervaded his bloodstream. Soon the demand for release would become much more fierce. Gryph knew deep in his guts that there was only one way to satisfy the hunger within himself. He needed Sariana Dayne in a way that was unique to his kind.
He had never felt these volatile sensations before in his life. He had known there was a chance he might escape coming under the sway of their compelling power. Not every Shield was lucky enough to find a true Shieldmate.
But he was prepared for the violent sensations. At least, he decided wryly, he was as prepared as a man could be for such an onslaught. His father, like his father before him, had tried to explain the uniqueness of a Shield’s hunger when he found a woman with whom he could link and mate. A Shield could satisfy the appetites of the body with any woman who appealed on a physical basis. But finding a Shieldmate was another matter altogether.
It wasn’t a matter of love or even of passion. It was a matter of survival. Only a true Shieldmate could give a Shield a son.
Shield marriages were different in some fundamental ways from the normal alliances of men and women. The people of the western provinces knew that. The special laws, social structures and customs that pertained only to the Shield clans respected that difference.
Gryph wondered how far he’d get if he tried to explain all that to Sariana. He had the distinct impression she would not take pity on him and offer herself in total surrender.
Gryph stood very still in the deep shadows of the palm and went over his options. At this point he only had two. The first was to leave the Avylyn household at once. Preferably tonight. There was still time to get away and put an end to this whole business. He suspected that, once out of sight of Sariana, the powerful forces simmering in him would eventually fade. They had to be channeled and focused before they could grow much stronger. They were not completely ungovernable, at least not if he halted things at this stage. A strong, willful man could handle them.
The second option was to complete the channeling and focusing of the fierce desire within him. To do that he would have to take Sariana Dayne to bed. There he could forge the bond between them in the ancient way of the Shields. Once the link was established, she would be married to him by Shield law. Then she could give him a son.
Two options and two options only.
There was no middle ground. A brief affair was out of the question. A man didn’t have affairs with potential Shieldmates. When he was lucky enough to find a mate, he grabbed her and held on with all his strength. When the future of a clan was at stake, a man did not fool around with one night stands.
Sariana was almost within reach. She still hadn’t seen him. The golden light of Windarra’s summer moon bathed her in a pale glow, turning her into a creature of magic.
He still had the option of leaving, Gryph reminded himself. He could step farther back into the shadows and she would pass by without seeing him. Then he could leave this household forever. He nearly smiled at the ludicrous notion. As if he could walk now.
Gryph made his choice. He took a deep breath and sealed his own destiny by staying where he was.
Then she saw him. Her soft mouth parted in startled surprise and her eyes drank in the sight of him as if he were something more than a man.
“The luck of the evening to you, Sariana,” he said quietly. “And to me. I think we’re both going to need it.”
She recovered herself quickly. “You startled me. What are you doing here, Gryph?”
“My job. I’m in charge of security around here, remember?”
She frowned. “You’re in charge of finding that damn prisma cutter. The business of protecting the jewels the night of the ball is simply your cover story, an excuse to explain your presence in the house. What do you think you’re doing strolling around in the middle of the night?”
He smiled, understanding the defensiveness in her voice. “I have as much right to be here as you do.”
“I suppose you know you have a way of making people extremely nervous.”
He shrugged. “I can’t help the way others react.”
“Ha. You deliberately provoke uneasy reactions. You like making people nervous.”
“At the moment I’m not trying to make you nervous, Sariana. Don’t be afraid of me.”
Her chin came up proudly and her eyes were deep pools of feminine mystery in the golden moonlight. “I am not afraid of you.”
“Excellent.” Gryph took her arm in a proper, gentlemanly grip and urged her along the conservatory path. “Then let’s continue our midnight stroll together.”
“I was just about to go back to my room.”
She tried to politely disengage herself from his grasp as they walked down the path. Gryph pretended not to notice. It was good to touch her like this; good to be close. She was warm and soft and very feminine. Her hair was streaming down her back, falling around her shoulders in inviting waves. Gryph inhaled deeply, bathing his senses in the sweet herbal scent of it. He shuddered slightly in reaction.
There was another scent mingled with the sweet herbs. It was the subtle fragrance of Sariana herself, and it disturbed Gryph’s senses on every level. His body was responding to it, growing hard and tense and ready. He willed himself to relax. He had made his decision. Now he could afford to bide his time. He wanted to do this properly. After all, he was the son of a Prime Family, and Sariana deserved a proper courtship. He sought for words with which to soothe and calm her. The ones he found surprised him.
“It’s all right, Sariana, you’re not the only one who occasionally gets lonely.”
She flashed him a surprised glance, her lashes concealing the expression almost immediately. “What makes you think I’m lonely? This household is filled with noise and activity all day long.”
“But it’s not home,” be pointed out.
Some of the wary tension faded within her. Gryph could feel it dissolving and hoped it was because Sariana was finally relaxing.
“No, it’s not home,” Sariana said quietly.
“Why are you in Serendipity?” Gryph asked curiously. “Very few people from the eastern provinces come to the west to live.”
“I’m here because I failed to make the cut at the Academy of Business,” she told him. “When I failed to do that, I automatically failed to accomplish a lot of other important things.”
“Such as?” Gryph prompted.
She hesitated. “Why do you want to hear about me?”
He considered telling her the truth; that he wanted to know all there was to know about her because soon he would be taking her as his Shieldmate. She would be linked to him with bonds neither of them had ever experienced before in their lives. She would belong to him completely. She would be the mother of his son, if his luck held.
Common sense told him now was not the time to try to explain any of that.
“I think,” Gryph said carefully, “that I would like to hear about you because it’s midnight and we’re alone and sometimes it helps to talk.”
She softened under his hand, her eyes curious now. “You surprise, me, Shield. I would not have thought you were the type who ever needed to talk at midnight.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t make a practice of jumping to conclusions. The world is full of surprises,” he said. “What happened when you failed to get into this academy you mentioned?”
She lifted one shoulder. “I failed to fulfill the destiny for which I had been groomed since the day I was born. Without academy training I was not eligible to take over an executive position within my clan. My family was horrified. I had shown such talent and such promise.
Every waking moment had been spent preparing me for the role I was to play. When the news came that my career was being cut off at the university level, my marriage was canceled.”
Gryph felt a knife twist in his stomach. His fingers tightened on her arm. “You were going to be married?”
“You’re hurting me,” Sariana said politely.
“Sorry.” He forced himself to loosen his grip. “Tell me about your marriage plans.”
“There’s not much to tell. My parents had arranged the marriage when I entered the university.”
“To whom?” Gryph thought he was going to explode if he didn’t get all the answers quickly. It was all he could do to keep his voice neutral.
“To the oldest son of another important clan in my social class, of course.” Sariana gave him an odd glance. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” he declared between his teeth. “This man you were to marry—did you love him very much?”
She flinched beneath his hand as if his question had truly startled her.
“I barely knew him. I only met him on a few social occasions. He seemed quite admirable.”
“Admirable?”
“He was a year ahead of me at the university and showing tremendous potential. He was training to take control of his family’s legal interests. His family was one of the Prime Families in our social class, naturally.”
“Naturally.”
Sariana eyed him warily. “Are you being sarcastic?”
“Not at all.” Gryph swallowed to clear his throat. “I take it this very admirable person made it into the academy?”
“Yes.”
“And when you didn’t, his family went looking elsewhere for a suitable bride.”
“That’s about it,” she agreed with a sigh. “I was so shamed by my failure. I could hardly face my family.”
“Why did you fail?”
Sariana’s mouth tightened. “The academy board said my test scores revealed too much of a tendency toward experimentation and innovation and not enough grounding in the fundamentals. The best I could hope for at that point was an insignificant position in my family’s business and, eventually, an insignificant marriage to some other academy failure. Not exactly an inspiring future. I had to get away. Had to prove myself.”