Free Skyfall by Catherine Asaro Page B

fireplace. Throw rugs softened the floor, but the walls were bare except for two crossed swords above the hearth. To the right, in an alcove, tall windows looked out over the mountains, or they would have if their shutters had been open. On the left, quilts and embroidered pillows were piled on a large bed.
    “Here.” Eldri drew her into the alcove with the windows. “Be comfortable. The benches are cushioned. I will be right back.” Then he took off across the room.
    Roca squinted at him, then settled onto the bench and relaxed against a shutter. The cold from outside seeped through the glasswood. Had she been sober, it might have bothered her, but right now everything seemed warm, even the cold, though if she thought about it too hard, that made no sense. Better not to think.
    Eldri reappeared with a carafe and two goblets made from ruby-red glasswood. He gave her one of the cups.
    Roca turned the goblet over in her hand. “Pretty.”
    “Very.” His voice had gone husky. He poured wine for both of them, then leaned the rim of his cup against hers. “May we weave many profitable and mutually agreeable relations between your people and mine.”
    “Yes.” Roca tapped her cup against his, which had nothing to do with any of his customs or hers, but seemed a good idea. Then she took a swallow of wine. “Hmm. Good.”
    “Here. Have some more.” He filled her goblet.
    She gave him a dour look. “You know, Eldri, is not so easy to make me drunk.”
    “You already are drunk, my ice queen.” His grin was so wicked, it was a wonder he didn’t get arrested, though she wasn’t exactly sure who would do the arresting.
    She spoke with dignity. “I drunk not. Not drunk, I mean.”
    He took her goblet and set it on the floor with his own and the carafe. “There. Now neither of us will be drunk.” Scooting closer, he slid his arm around her shoulders.
    Roca pushed off his arm. “We have done our talk. Now I go.”
    He put his arms around her waist. “You know, other women long to kiss me. They dream about it.”
    She cocked her eyebrow at him. “Your humility astonishes me.”
    “Ah, but it is an honor to kiss the Bard…” His voice trailed off as he brought his lips to hers.
    Roca fully intended to push him away. But somehow instead she put her arms around his neck and molded her body against his. As his embrace tightened, his kiss became more urgent and his hands wandered to her breasts. Nudging her backward, he stretched her out on the cushioned bench and lay on top of her.
    Roca turned her head to the side. “I’m crazy,” she muttered. Then she rolled him off of her body.
    “Ai!” A loud thump reverberated through the alcove.
    Trying to focus her blurred sight, Roca turned on her side and hung on the edge of the bench, peering down. Eldri was lying on the floor, looking annoyed. He sat up, wincing as he rubbed his shoulder. Then he glared at her. “You are colder than a rain of ice and hail.”
    “Hail is ice.” Roca also sat up, wishing she didn’t want so much to go to bed with him. It was wrong for so many reasons, she couldn’t count them. But that was hard to remember when faced with his tousled, appealing person. “We are supposed to talk about relations between our peoples.”
    His grin came back. “We were exploring relations.”
    “Pah. I give you doubt benefit.” She paused as her node corrected the idiom. “I gave you the benefit of a doubt. Now I go.”
    “Doubt benefit?” He folded his arms around his torso. “You know, it really is cold in here.”
    “Maybe snow still come down outside.”
    He stood up and unlatched one of the shutters. As he cracked it open, snow blew into the room. He shut it hard, grimacing, his shirt already covered with blue powder. Roca crossed her arms and shivered.
    Eldri dropped onto the bench next to her. He wasn’t smiling anymore. “I am very, very sorry.” He looked very, very guilty.
    She regarded him uneasily. “Why?”
    “We cannot go down