A Battle Lord’s Heart Read online

  “Really? What time is it?” She stretched, long and supple despite the little bulge in her middle. Yulen couldn’t help but admire the increased fullness of her breasts.

  “Close to midnight.”

  She gave him a hard stare. “Have you slept any?”

  He chuckled again. “Who are you, my mother?”

  “No, but I’m going to be one. Gotta get some practice in before then, don’t you think?”

  Laughing softly, Yulen suggested, “Want to go downstairs and raid the larder? I told Berta to keep a tray for us.”

  Giggling with him, Atty crawled out of bed as her husband pulled on the pants he’d dropped on the floor. Once her skin hit the chilly air, she opted for a soft, warm gown from the closet. Hand-in-hand, they tip-toed barefoot down the stairs. The empty main hall was eerie to behold. Atty could not remember ever seeing it totally void of people.

  Once inside the kitchen, Yulen lit a second lantern. As promised, the housekeeper had left a loaded tray in the cold room. Yulen placed it on the small chopping block and pulled up a stool next to his wife. Atty was already popping grapes into her mouth.

  “God, it’s amazing how good stuff tastes when you’re hungry.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” Yulen poured them both a mug of milk, handing one to her. “My love, how much do you remember about today?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, do you remember fainting?”

  Atty blinked. “Is that what happened?” Giving a half-laugh, she bit into a slice of honeyed bread. “Never done that before,” she murmured with her mouth full. Casting her eyes at him, she noticed he was sitting like a typical man, spread-legged on his stool. As a result, his thigh and knee were pressed along hers. The contact was warm yet stimulating.

  “Do you remember waking up in the clinic?” Yulen continued. For some unexplainable reason, sitting with her in the kitchen seemed more intimate than when they’d been lying face to face in their bed upstairs. In the back of his mind, he wondered why.

  Atty screwed up her nose as she tried to think. Yulen snorted softly. It was an affectation of hers that he loved. “Yeah. Sort of. Madigan was there. I remember I asked for you. Didn’t I?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. She said she told you I was with Liam in the next room. Do you remember what you told her to tell me? What message you wanted her to pass along to me?”

  This time there was no mistaking the mischievous grin she wore. “Uh-huh. I told her to tell you our child was going to be a boy.” She waited to see the look on his face. He didn’t disappoint her.

  “Atrilan, how do you know that? How can you be...sure?” There was caution in his eyes, a hope he didn’t want to admit to having, in spite of the odds.

  She shrugged. “How do I know a lot of things, Yul? How do I know when Bloods are around? How do I know the exact center of a target when my back is to it and my eyes are shut? How did I know the moment I first saw you without your helmet on, so many months ago, that you were going to be my destiny?” She gazed into his blue-gray eyes now softened with his love for her. “I just know, my love,” she whispered. “That’s all the reassurance I can give you. I just...know.”

  She also knew from his kiss that words had escaped him. After breaking away from her lips, Yulen tenderly pressed his mouth to her cheek before seeking the warmth of her neck and shoulders beneath her wealth of morning glory hair. Atty shuddered slightly from his touch, forgetting for the moment how hungry she was for food. Instead, a different kind of hunger was growing, spreading a different kind heat down to her toes and into her fingertips. Its center was between her thighs, searing and stinging with heat. Atty pressed herself tighter against him, throwing her arms about his neck and wide shoulders as his face followed the curve of her throat. His hands were at her back, at her buttocks, and slowly she felt herself being dragged off the stool and into his lap.

  “Yul, what if someone comes into the kitchen?” she panted into his ear.

  “Their mistake,” he whispered. He leaned her back against the empty edge of the chopping block and lifted her gown, drawing it over her head. Knowing she could easily become chilled in the room, Yulen draped his hands and arms over her as he began tonguing the sides of her swollen belly, knowing she was sensitive in that area while their child was growing inside her. His mouth found her beautiful breasts, and he suckled them, taking extreme care not to hurt her. It had not taken him long to realize her nipples had grown excruciatingly sensitive, more than any other part of her body. Even with care, he heard her whimper slightly, and she dropped her hands over them, blocking them from his mouth.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured, looking up at her. Pulling her back toward him, he lifted her up until she was sitting in his lap, her legs straddling him. Only the fabric of his pants separated them, keeping them from making love right there on the stool.

  Yulen gave her a lop-sided grin as he fished behind her for her discarded gown. “Let’s finish eating first, and then we can have dessert afterwards.”

  Atty pouted, holding out her arms as he slipped the warm gown back over her head. “I’d rather have dessert first.”

  “Oh, no,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Too may sweets are not good for our son.” He paused, then drew her tightly against him. A shiver ran through him as he repeated, “Our son.”

  He felt her arms give him a strong squeeze, then she leaned back to snatch a piece of cold meat off the tray. Yulen laughed softly and also reached for the tray. Neither of them moved from their position. In spite of her additional weight, he felt no discomfort holding her between his legs.

  “What else happened yesterday that I missed,” Atty asked. “How’s Cole?”

  Yulen tilted his head. “He’s fine. Liam let him go yesterday. He’s feeling a bit sheepish. He feels like he let us down.”

  “That’s BS. That partner came out of nowhere. I wouldn’t have seen it,” Atty said.

  “No, but a trained soldier like Cole should have been prepared for anything.”

  “Again, you’re talking BS.” She reached for some more grapes. “You can’t be prepared for everything. It’s an unreasonable expectation. His first concern was my safety. He had the culprit at the end of his sword, and he was checking to make sure I was all right.” She paused, adding, “It was like the guy you conked over the head. He should have seen you coming.”

  “Nevertheless, I know he learned his lesson, even if it was a painful one.” Yulen looked over his mug and up at her. “I’m shipping him and fifty more men to Wallis tomorrow morning.”

  “Oh? Why?” Her eyes widened. “What’s happened?”

  Quickly, Yulen told her about the Bloods attacking Bearinger, and about the pennant that had been recovered. “I need to make sure Wallis is still standing. I also want to send three more wagons of supplies to them before the worst of the snows hit. And...Liam has to get in contact with Gilter as soon as possible.” Before she could again ask why, he explained the physician’s theory about the compound’s declining birthrate. Atty listened attentively, without interruption, as she ate.

  When he had finished, she carefully asked, “How much longer do you think the Bloods will keep attacking?”

  “Can’t be much longer, unless they’re starving. The cold will sap all their strength. We can only hope. Otherwise...” He took a deep breath and kissed the soft inside of her arm where she’d draped it over his shoulder as her hand played with his hair. “I’m also sending Paxton to Bearinger with a hundred men.”

  His wife froze. “You’re splitting the forces?”

  “I have no choice. My men in Bearinger need replacing. They need to come back to their own families, if just for a brief while. Both compounds are too green for me to just send or leave orders. It will take at least another year or two until they can run themselves with only a small battalion in attendance. Until then, I’m going to have to do some judicious juggling.”

  Her fingers grabbed a handful of his golden-red hair at the n
ape of his neck and pulled down on it, until she’d lifted his face to hers. Yulen could see the question in his wife’s expression before she could voice it. “I’m trying to do everything I can so I can be here when our son is born,” he tried to reassure her. “But, yes, there’s the chance I may have to leave you to protect our people.”

  “No.” She shook her head slowly. “If you have to leave, I’m coming with you.”

  “No, Atrilan. Not with the baby.”

  “No!” Atty repeated more strongly. “You promised me we’d never be separated again. You promised me.”

  Yulen drew her tightly against him as she rested her cheek against his hair. “It may not come to that, my only love. There’s no sense in us becoming agitated when there’s no reason to.”

  “But—”

  He shushed her as he pressed his hands into her lower back, kneading the muscles he knew were beginning to become a source of discomfort to her. Atty sighed loudly, a low moan rumbling inside her where he could hear it with his ear pressed to her breasts.

  There was a heat emanating from her, along with a scent, and overall aura of womanliness, enveloping him. Yulen could feel himself stiffening when she lifted her other arm to complete the circle of her embrace around his face and head. Turning his face slightly, he pressed hot kisses through the fabric of her gown, along the ripe curves of her breasts. Already he could feel the hard buds of her nipples trailing down the sides of his cheeks, and it took great effort not to touch them with his hands or mouth.

  Atty shifted in his lap, exciting him further. Yulen groaned, soft and deep, and moved his hands down to her firm bottom, lifting her slightly before raising the hem of the gown above her hips. Once done, he lowered her directly on top of him, until the buttons of his pants pressed into her.

  She shuddered. Lowering her face, she sought his mouth, placing soft, whimpering kisses against his forehead, brows, and the bridge of his nose. He lifted his lips to find hers wet and tasting of blueberries. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth, separating her lips to find more heat and the sweetness of the jelly she’d been eating.

  The world came to a complete standstill as his hands slowly slid over her thighs and into the ready moisture between them. She leaned back just enough so he could begin to unbutton his breeches.

  The kitchen was cold without the fires inside its many ovens, yet they felt none of the chill. Although shirtless, Yulen could already sense the first wave of perspiration covering his chest and back as he delved further into Atty’s mouth, using his tongue in the same manner as he would be using his erection. She trembled and clutched his hair even tighter.

  “Yul,” she somehow managed to whisper hoarsely, lifting away from his incredible mouth for a brief second.

  “What, my beautiful love?”

  “How...how long can we still make love before we have to stop?” she panted. She pressed her breasts against his face again as the ache to have him play with them grew stronger.

  He immediately understood her question. How long could they continue to make love before the burgeoning nearness of their son’s birth prohibited such intimacy?

  “I don’t know,” he whispered thickly. “You’ll have to ask Liam. But right now, it’s not an issue, Atrilan.” He’d managed to finally undo the buttons, releasing his hardened length from its restricting confines. Before he could lift Atty off of his lap long enough to slide his pants to his knees, she jutted her hips into his groin, ready for him, needing him, wanting him without further delay. Yulen took a deep, shaky breath as he felt himself sliding deeply into her velvet heat.

  Her muscles were already contracting around him as she remained unmoving in his lap. She sought his mouth again, but this time it was her own tongue that parted his lips and plunged inside to taste him, taunting him with its sweetness.

  For several long seconds they remained still as every sense heightened, igniting the flames inside them as their breathing grew heavier and faster, racing along with the beat of their hearts. Dimly Yulen thought he felt the intrusion of another person, but by the time he could glance beyond Atty’s shoulder to the door behind her, there was no one there. No matter. She was sucking on his tongue, and the incredible sensation was making him lengthen and harden even further.

  “At-tri-lan.” It came out like a prayer, soft. Worshiping.

  She hooked her feet on the rungs under the stool and moved herself upward, coming down slowly over his aching shaft. She gasped, releasing his mouth to raise her head, exposing her throat. Yulen pulled her forward until he could mouth its silken arch. Her long, lustrous hair brushed against his abdomen and over his shoulders, and he wished he could have a blanket of it to cover with each night.

  Again she lifted herself, and again she lowered herself down around his thick length. Yulen grabbed her hips to take some of the strain off her legs and prevent a muscle from cramping. He worked her up and down, slowly upward before pounding her downward. With every stroke she moaned, lost in the mounting storm rising inside. Yet it wasn’t enough.

  Carefully, Yulen pushed aside the tray and rose to his feet. He laid Atty back across the chopping block until she was perpendicular to him. She released his hair and reached to pull the gown over her head. Cupping her breasts, she offered them to him as he bent over to lose himself in her moist, incredible depths. Now when his hot mouth closed over a pale pink nipple, she cried out softly from the river of passion flooding her. She arched her back as he firmly held her hips unmoving against the coarse grain of the wooden block, so as not to scratch her skin, yet giving him unrestricted access. Over and over he pounded into her, pushing them harder and further and higher toward their release. By now Atty was crying out softly with every deep, penetrating thrust as she lost herself in him and in his lovemaking. And when the overwhelming rush suddenly enveloped them, swallowed them, and cancelled out every thought and sensation, her hands found his face in the valley between her breasts and held it there as he gradually slowed, stretching out the final moments, the final sweetness of their ecstacy, until he shuddered violently to a halt.

  They were panting, enclosed within each other, and holding on tightly. After a long minute, Yulen reared up to look into her own blue-gray eyes so similar in color to his. “Where did that come from?” he breathed.

  Atty could only shake her head. They hadn’t had a session of lovemaking this intense, this rapturous, in a very long time. “Maybe it’s the baby.”

  He shrugged slightly and bent his face to caress her upper chest and collarbone with his lips. “It was incredible. You are incredible. My love...my only love...”

  Lifting her suddenly to a sitting position, he reached behind her and helped her to put the gown back on. Atty watched mutely as he buttoned himself back into his pants. “Are you still hungry?” he asked with a grin.

  “For you,” she told him honestly. “I want you. I want more.”

  “Then we are of like mind.” He leaned over to kiss her, while at the same time he gathered her into his arms.

  With the half-empty tray of food forgotten, Yulen carried his wife upstairs to where they could remove their clothing without fear of discovery, and together they proceeded to try and rekindle the bonfire that continued to smolder.

  It wasn’t long before the bonfire became a raging inferno.

  Chapter Five

  December Snow

  The first major blizzard struck in mid-December, two days before Mastin and the men returned from Wallis. The whole compound came to a screeching stop for one full day and night, until most of the twenty inches of snow could be dug out. Around the outside of Alta Novis, every man pitched in to clear the white powder at least ten feet away from the walls. Otherwise any enemy approaching could easily climb over the walls by building up the drifts.

  During that time, when the world settled in for a few days to let Mother Nature blow unrelentingly over them, Yulen and Atty spend an exorbitant amount of time upstairs in bed. Atty now was in her second trimester, and not
only had her hormones gone totally off the scale, so had her sex drive. And somehow, for some inexplicable reason, her need and desire had transferred over to Yulen. As a result, for the two days of the snowstorm, they never got out of bed except to eat whatever Berta brought upstairs and left by their bedroom door. Even being apart from each other didn’t seem to diminish their heat. All Yulen had to do was get close enough to her to smell her scent, or feel the brush of her quivering skin against his, and he was instantly in lust, with a depth of passion that surprised them both.

  One afternoon, Yulen had sought out MaGrath to ask him about the effect of their lovemaking on the baby, but the physician had laughed off the Battle Lord’s concern. “When Atty starts to feel uncomfortable, that’ll be your cue to back off,” the older man informed him. “Until then, you’re not going to hurt her or the boy.”

  Apparently Atty’s determination to call the child a boy had rubbed off. Even the soldiers were heard referring to the unborn babe as the Battle Prince.

  Once the snow was cleared, life resumed somewhat on a normal level. On the morning of the fourth straight sunshiny day, Yulen did a final inspection of the new lodge before pronouncing it ready to move in. And while Atty was taking her customary afternoon nap, he had the new furniture and last of their belongings settled into it. When she woke up, he would take her over and show her their new home, and then they would christen the lodge properly in their new bed upstairs.

  “Sir!”

  Yulen glanced up from the paperwork he was signing to see one of the sentries approaching him. Reading the man’s face and not seeing any sort of emergency, the Battle Lord let his emotions take a step down. “Dillion?”

  “It’s Mastin, sir. He and the men have returned. They’ve been sighted at the top of the hill.”

  Smiling, Yulen shoved the paperwork back into the carpenter’s hands and followed the sentry back to the main gate where he climbed the ladder to the catwalk to watch the battalion’s return. A quick glance reassured him their numbers had not decreased by any significant numbers, which told him the regiment either hadn’t encountered any Bloods, or if they had, their casualties had been negligible.