Free Fire of the Soul by Flora Speer

leave.”
    “But not your father, surely?” Calia said,
startled by this information.
    “Especially my father. As you might expect,
she found giving up her power as lady of Kinath a difficult task
after my grandfather died and my father became lord. So she
retreated here to Saumar, where she will always be in charge, until
the day she dies. I don’t want that day to arrive too soon.” He
took Calia’s hand, holding it close to his chest. “Therefore, I
propose to make a pact with you.”
    “With me?” she whispered. Though she knew she
ought not to allow herself to feel any tender emotion toward him,
still she was unable to prevent her fingers from curling around his
large hand. She noticed the strength in his hard palm and blunt
fingers, felt the calluses borne by all fighting men who used
broadsword and Sapaudian lance and, sometimes, bows and arrows,
too, used them every single day, in practice if not in actual
warfare.
    “Our pact,” Garit said, looking into her
eyes, “will be an agreement to protect Lady Elgida from any dangers
engendered by her own strong will and from the ill intentions of
others, until she comes home safe to Saumar once again.”
    “I can agree to those terms with no
reservations at all,” Calia said. “But, tell me, do you really
believe she’ll be in danger in Kantia?” She hadn’t thought much of
that possibility. She’d been too worried about Garit’s inevitable
confrontation with Mallory, and about Mallory devising some clever
scheme to harm Garit.
    “If she begins to scold King Dyfrig about the
arrangements he’s made for Belai and Kinen, or if she insists that
I am the rightful lord of Kinath, or tries to have Sir Mallory
removed as guardian of my little brothers, she is sure to anger
someone,” he said.
    “I have a dreadful feeling that you are right
to be concerned,” Calia agreed. “Oh, dear; I should have thought of
this the moment she began to talk about traveling to Kantia.”
    “There’s nothing either of us could have done
to stop her,” Garit’s mouth quirked up into a half smile that held
no real humor. “Now, all we can do is try to protect her. I think
we should formally seal our pact, here and now.”
    “I will consider our agreement in effect as
of this moment,” Calia said, meeting his level gaze. She felt his
fingers tighten over hers. She did not expect him to bend his head
and kiss her, though she knew full well that agreements were often
sealed that way, even when a scribe, parchment, and sealing wax
were readily available. It was, after all, the way treaties and
marriage contracts were sealed.
    Garit’s mouth was warm as it brushed over her
slightly parted lips. He drew back quickly, looking startled. Then,
very deliberately, he kissed her a second time, more firmly, with
just a tinge of some other, incredibly sweet emotion in the
caress.
    That second kiss left Calia trembling. And
wanting more. Oh, most definitely, yearning for Garit’s tender
embrace and for more kisses from his beautifully chiseled mouth.
And knowing, to her heart’s destruction, that she could not ever be
his, or allow him to care for her.
    “We are in agreement, then,” he whispered.
“Say yes, Calia.” His breath was warm on her cheek.
    “Yes.” Yes to every sacrifice this man
might ask of her. But no to true affection. No to the
ache that weakened her limbs and made her want his arms around her.
She drew a shaky breath. He’d hate her soon enough, when he knew
who she really was.
    The instant he released her hand she turned
and fled from him. Somehow, she managed not to let the tears fall
until after she had reached her room and shut the door.

Chapter 6
     
     
    The Moren River rose high in the Moren
Mountains and gushed northward over rocks and through waterfalls
and rapids until it emptied into the Sea of Lestrac. Together, the
turbulent river and the north-south sweep of mountains formed the
boundary between Morenia and Sapaudia. Citizens of both