How The Warrior Fell (Falling Warriors series Book 1) (3 page)

Leawyn sucked in a sharp breath, and he laughed humorlessly as he drew back and looked into her frightened eyes.

How had her life come to this?

T
HREE DAYS LATER,
Xavier sat at a table next to his wife, watching their wedding celebration. It seemed half of the Izayges tribe came over to witness the union, making the six-day ride in record time. Xavier scanned the crowd with his eyes.

Distantly, he could hear the ocean waves as they crashed against the shore, the sound drowned out by all the laughter and talk that surrounded him. Huge bonfires provided light for the wedding party, and the air was rich with the aroma of smoked fish that was caught fresh for their wedding feast. Drums and flutes provided music for those who wished to dance. Long tables were arranged in a giant broken square that made the perimeter for the festivities. Almost everywhere Xavier looked, there was smiling, happy faces. Their wedding was a cause of celebration, for at last all the tribes in Samaria were connected. No longer was there a rift between the Izayges and the Rhoxolani.

It was funny to Xavier how two tribes fighting against each other for years came together by the same thing which drove them apart.

Chienef and Lyricals’ wedding started the war; his and Leawyn’s ended it.

He thought back to their wedding ceremony, and how she looked up at him in her white dress, eyes misted over with despair. Her dainty hands had trembled when he reached for them. He had held them still when the tribe elder said the marriage incantation that bound them together until death. She had flinched when he had slit his palm, and then hers, in order to press their hands together, joining their blood, and sealing their marriage.

Xavier glanced over at his wife from the corner of his eyes and had to hold back the grin of male satisfaction. Leawyn was beautiful, more so than the rumors portrayed her to be. For there had been rumors of the chief’s daughter of the Rhoxolani, the most beautiful girl all of Samaria had ever seen. A girl so beautiful, it seemed the Gods have blessed her and the Goddesses have cursed her, because she rivals their own. With hair kissed by the sun, shining as bright as its rays in its loving light, and eyes made from the teardrops from the clouds as the Gods wept from the loss of losing a daughter to mortals.

She was a child compared to him. Though, knowing that, all he felt was pleasure. Pleasure for having a girl who would only belong to him. Someone who would be healthy to bear him enough heirs to keep his tribe protected. And she
would
be bearing him children—he would make sure of it come their wedding night.

Xavier felt a thrill go through him at the thought of claiming Leawyn. Though he was no stranger to the opposite sex, none had made him experience this feeling of possessiveness he felt over Leawyn. The need to dominate her and make her his was so strong it had his jaw clenching.

Leawyn was beautiful, and she was going to be all his.

Her smile was rumored to be the brightest of all, and her laughter so pure and heavenly, it seemed the Gods laughed with her, for the sun was always the brightest when she did, and the heavy rain clouds would disappear in that moment.

Though Xavier doubted that he would ever get to hear such laughter by the way she looked now.

Leawyn stared out at all the happy faces of her tribe as they ate and danced by the fire. She could hear the sound of joyous laughter all around her—a sound that would usually make her heart melt with happiness—but she couldn’t find it in herself to laugh with them.

Not tonight, when her heart was clenched in such sadness.

After Xavier had left her room, he’d made arrangements for the wedding to take place exactly when he promised—three days’ time. The tribe’s people were probably in just as much shock as she was, but nonetheless, they had jumped into action to make it happen. Three days was all it took for Leawyn to be forced to commit a lifetime with someone she did not love. Someone she was certain would treat her as nothing more than a broodmare to mate and give him little heartless warrior children.

Never again would she know the taste of freedom.

Leawyn tried to hold back tears as the feeling of absolute loneliness invaded her senses. She apparently couldn’t hold her tears in tight enough when she felt the sudden pain of a hand gripping her thigh tightly and the scrape of a beard against her cheek.

“Weddings are a time of happiness. There’s no room for tears—especially coming from you, my young wife,” Xavier whispered in her ear, his voice hard under its silky exterior.

Leawyn blinked away the tears and closed her eyes. To anyone looking at them, it would look like Xavier was nuzzling his new wife’s neck and whispering loving words to her privately with her eyes closed in contentment.

“Excuse me, brother, but I believe I haven’t met your wife yet,” an amused voice cut in smoothly.

Leawyn’s eyes snapped open at the same time Xavier pulled his head away from her neck to look up and greet the person standing before them.

“Tristan.” Xavier nodded his head in greeting.

Leawyn studied Tristan curiously. He was tall, but unlike his brother, who was broadly built, Tristan was sinewy. There were swirling tattoos on each of his defined cheekbones, and his hair was shorter than Xavier’s and more straight. He wore Izayges armor, and he was looking down at them with the same impassive face her husband wore.

It was his eyes that gave away his relation to Xavier. Though they were lighter than his brother’s, they held the same cold, almost wild look inside of them. Devoid of emotion, save but the tales of the souls they claimed with their swords.

Warrior eyes.

Leaywn startled when the eyes she was studying met hers. Realizing she was staring, she tried to hide her blush by quickly looking down. When she was brave enough to look up again, she caught the slight twitch at the corner of Tristan’s lips, as if he was forcing himself not to smile. She saw Tristan look back at Xavier, who was silently studying the interaction between them.

“I was hoping I would get a dance from my new sister,” Tristan asked, glancing at Leawyn, whose shoulders tensed at the question. He looked back to his brother. “With your permission.”

Xavier studied Tristan for a bit before slowly bowing his head in consent.

“Of course,” Xavier murmured. “I’m sure my wife would enjoy one dance before we retire.” Both brothers ignored the quick intake of breath from Leawyn in reaction to that comment.

“Thank you, brother.” Tristan bowed his head to Xavier before offering his hand to Leawyn, palm up. She stared at it dumbly.

“I believe my brother just asked you to dance.” Leawyn let out a hiss of pain when Xavier squeezed her thigh tightly. “It would be rude not to accept,” Xavier growled, his grip growing more painful until she placed her hand in Tristan’s.

Tristan’s large hand closed around her much smaller one as he gently pulled her to her feet. As Tristan dragged Leawyn into the crowd of people dancing around the huge fire, she glanced behind her to look at Xavier. He was glaring at her silently, his expression unreadable. The reflection of the fire glinted off his eyes and made him look more sinister. Leawyn suppressed the shiver of fear and looked away.

Tristan swung her around in his arms, wrapping one arm around her waist as he picked up her hand and held it above his shoulder. They swayed to the music as Leawyn moved stiffly against him. She focused on the shoulder design of the armor he wore. Tristan’s voice broke the silence.

“It will get better.”

His comment caught her off guard, and it took her a moment to figure out what he meant. Leawyn raised her head and met the eyes that were already looking down at her.

“Funny you could say that, yet you are not forced to marry someone you’ve only just met and I am,” Leawyn said scathingly, glaring up at him for a moment more before looking away. Tristan chuckled low—something that only further infuriated Leawyn—and spun her around with the rest of the dancers before they settled in a gentle sway again.

“It won’t be as bad as it seems. Obey him and you’ll live.”

Though the comment was said lightly, there was seriousness laced in his tone. A warning. Leawyn exhaled shakily, blinking back tears rapidly as her throat clogged up with emotion.

“Tell me, Tristan . . . what would you do if you lost your freedom?”

She felt Tristan’s shoulder tense beneath her hand. Her voice was hollow as she spoke. “To be forced to spend the rest of your life as nothing more than an object. Tied to a man who cares so little about you, he would feel no remorse for killing everything inside you.” Leawyn looked up then, her eyes meeting his. “Would you accept your fate?” she asked him.

She saw a flash of anger in his eyes. Was he feeling protective of her? She couldn’t tell, but she thought it was a possibility.

“No,” Tristan answered her finally, his voice soft. He kept his eyes locked with hers as he uttered the words that drove the spear through the little hope she had left within her.

“But you will, Leawyn.”

The music around them ended, and they stopped dancing with their eyes still locked onto each other, holding a silent conversation with their souls.

It was when Leawyn felt the hand on her shoulder pulling her away from Tristan that her first tear fell. She felt Tristan’s gaze on her back as Xavier lead her away to his horse and lifted her up onto the saddle. He climbed on behind her and kicked the horse into action.

The sound of the tribe cheering after them echoed loudly in Leawyn’s ears as she rode away from the only life she had ever known.

They rode for what seemed like hours until, finally, Xavier pulled his horse to a stop in front of a small hut.

He landed on his feet lightly when he jumped down from his tall stallion’s back and turned to her. It took only a moment for Xavier to grasp Leawyn around her waist and pull her off until her feet touched the ground. She took in their surroundings.

There was a hut facing towards a small river, the water shimmering in the moonlight, reflecting the ripples of fish and other lake creatures as they swam. Beech-fir and foliage surrounded them, with trees towering high over their heads, creating a beautiful canopy.

“Where are we?” she asked, staring at the crudely made hut in interest.

“I had my men build this for us,” Xavier answered without looking at her, too busy unsaddling his horse. “The ride to our village is too long. We’ll stay here until the rest of my tribe reaches us. Together, we will all travel back to Izayges,” Xavier said, lifting off the saddle and throwing it over a low-hanging branch.

“Why must we wait for the others? Why not just ride on?” Leawyn asked, turning to face him.

Xavier paused, leveling her with a look that made her heart pound. “You know why,” he said, his voice low.

Leawyn swallowed nervously, looking away from him. Yes, she knew exactly why. To consummate their marriage and claim her as his wife.

“Go inside and light the candles there. I will be in shortly.”

Leawyn exhaled shakily, her legs trembling as she walked towards the hut to do as he bid. Her hand was on the door handle when his next words stopped her dead.