Read Moonlight Online

Authors: Amanda Ashley

Moonlight (3 page)

BOOK: Moonlight
13.09Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
Chapter Five

 

He had been alone when they took his mother from him, but it
was as nothing compared to the desolation he felt now. He ached with
loneliness, with desire. For two months, he had known the love of a woman, had
known what it meant to experience a man’s desire, to find fulfillment in the
arms of a woman he loved.

And now she was gone, and he would never see her again. Nor
would he see the child he had sired. Navarre stared at the ceiling, unseeing.
Once the child was born, his own life would be over, unless his offspring was a
female. What would happen then, he didn’t know. Nor did it matter, because he
knew, deep inside the dark well of his soul, that he had sired a male.

Katlaina. She was in one of the rooms upstairs. So near…
Katlaina, Katlaina.

He mourned her loss as though she had died. He refused to
eat, couldn’t sleep, only lay on his narrow cot, one arm over his eyes,
thinking of her, remembering the nights they had spent together. The love they
had shared.

Katlaina.

Days that had seemed long before seemed endless now. Three
months passed, and he saw no one but the guard who emptied the chamber pot and
brought him food twice each day. It was the same man who had brought Katlaina
to him.

Navarre stood away from the door, as ordered, while the
guard slid his food tray under the bars.

The man looked at him a moment, then turned away.

“Wait!” Navarre crossed the floor, his hands curling around
the bars. “Wait, please.”

Slowly, the guard turned around. “What do you want?”

“Katlaina? How is she?”

“To talk to you is forbidden,” the guard said, not quite
meeting Navarre’s eyes.

“Please.”

“In good health, she is.”

“I’ll never see her again, will I?”

“No.”

“And the…the child. Will I be allowed to see it before…?”

“No.”

Navarre pressed his forehead against the bars and closed his
eyes. He would never see her again, never see his son. The pain that rose
within him was excruciating.

Slowly, he raised his head and met the guard’s eyes. “Please.”
He dropped to his knees, his hands clasped. “Please.”

The guard took a step forward, his brown eyes filled with an
odd mixture of pity, curiosity, and fear. “Been imprisoned since birth, have
you not?”

Navarre nodded.

“And now you’re to be…” The man swallowed hard, unable to
say the word.

“Sacrificed.”

The guard nodded. In spite of himself, he felt a wave of
compassion for the young man. Some said it was an honor to be the chosen one,
to give one’s life in behalf of the people. But he had never seen it so. “Afraid,
are you?”

Navarre made a sound of disgust deep in his throat. “I’m
angry! Angry that I am to be sacrificed to appease a goddess I don’t believe
in, that I am to be killed for people I have never seen.”

“Sorry am I,” the guard murmured. “Sorry for you. Sorry for
me. Like you, I was given no choice regarding my life. Told, I was, that I
would be a guard in the palace of the High Priest. Told, I was, who I would
marry, and where I would live. And while I am not to be sacrificed, my whole
adult life has been spent inside this place.”

“But you can go out when you chose,” Navarre said, rising to
his feet. “You have a house of your own. A woman of your own.” He drew a deep
breath and let it out in a long, slow sigh. “You have been kind to me. I would
know your name.”

“Ahijah.”

“What will happen to me, to Katlaina, if the child she bears
is a female?”

“I know not. Such a thing has never happened.”

“Please let me see her again.”

“I cannot. Sorry, I am.”

“Please, Ahijah.”

The guard took a step forward. “Promise me something, you
will, if I let you see her?”

Navarre frowned at the odd request, wondering what he could
possibly do for the man. “I will.”

“Before you die, a list of requests the priests will give to
you.”

“Requests?”

“You are being sacrificed so you can carry the messages of
the priests to the goddess. They will have you ask her for a good rainfall so
that the crops will grow. They will tell you to ask that our men will stay
strong, that our women will be fertile, that our enemies will fall before us.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You will not. Trust me, Navarre, ways they have to extract
your promise. Ways you do not wish to learn.”

“What do you want of me?”

“When the goddess you see, I want you to ask her to bless me
with a son.”

“I will.”

Ahijah smiled. “Tonight,” he said. “When the moon is waning,
come for you, I will.”

Never had the hours of the day passed more slowly. Finally,
after what seemed like days, Ahijah appeared.

“Promise me, you must, that you will not try to escape,”
Ahijah said. “It will be my life if you do.”

“I promise.”

“Turn around,” Ahijah ordered, and when Navarre obeyed,
Ahijah lashed his wrists together, then unlocked the cell door.

“There’s no need to bind my hands,” Navarre said. “I gave
you my word.”

“But my head it is that will be on the block should you
decide a try at freedom is worth more than your word,” Ahijah replied candidly.
“Quietly now.”

Moments later, Navarre was ushered into a large, sumptuously
appointed chamber.

Ahijah shackled Navarre’s left ankle to an iron ring set in
the middle of the floor, then released his hands.

“Remember your promise,” Ahijah called over his shoulder as
he went out the door. “Return for you in one hour I will.”

Left alone, Navarre glanced around the room. He had never
seen a king’s palace, but surely only royalty lived in such splendor. Heavy
drapes of pale yellow brocade hung at the windows. Heavy furniture made of dark
wood was grouped before a large stone hearth. Colorful rugs covered the floor.
A tray of meat and cheese and a jug of wine sat on a tray on a small table.

A soft rustling sound drew his attention and he glanced over
his shoulder to see Katlaina enter the room.

“Navarre!” Tears of joy welled in her eyes as she flew
across the room.

“Katlaina.” He breathed her name as he gathered her into his
arms. “Katlaina, Katlaina.” Only her name, over and over again. His hands
roamed over her body, marveling at the fullness of her breasts, the swell of
her belly. It was true, he thought. His seed was growing within her. A part of
him would be left behind.

“You are here,” she murmured. “I prayed and prayed that I
would see you again.”

“How are you?” he asked. He spread his hands over her belly,
then cupped her breasts, weighing their heaviness in his hands as he imagined
his babe suckling at her breast.

“I am well,” she said. “But you… My poor Navarre, trapped in
that awful cage, alone.”

She took his hand and led him to the settee. When he sat
down, she curled into his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. “You’re here,”
she whispered. “Really here.”

“What will happen to you after the child is born?”

“I have been told I will be sent back to my family with a
large dowry.”

Sent home, he thought. With a large dowry to appease her
future husband for the lack of a maidenhead.

Impotent anger welled within him at the thought of her
marrying another man, bearing another man’s child.

“Kiss me, Navarre,” she urged. “The minutes are passing so
quickly…”

“Katlaina…” With a low groan, he covered her mouth with his,
drinking in her sweetness, losing himself in the touch of her hands as they
moved restlessly over his face and chest.

Honeyed fire spread through him as their bodies pressed
together, the need between them heightened by the months they had been apart.

He marveled at how beautiful she was, her body swollen with
his child, her eyes shining with love. He nuzzled the cleft between her
breasts, wishing they were already filled with milk so that he might taste her.

He reached for her, and she was there, opening to him, her
body welcoming his invasion, closing around him, making him forget that he had
only months left to live, that he might never see her again. For now, there was
only this one moment, this one woman, warm and willing in his arms, her voice
low and husky as she poured out her love for him.

Too soon, Ahijah came to take him away.

 

His cage seemed smaller, more confining, after the opulence
of Katlaina’s chamber. His bed was small and empty, his days bleak, the hours
of darkness an endless torment as he thought of her, dreamed of her, yearned
for her.

Night after night, he begged Ahijah to take him to see
Katlaina one more time. And night after night, the guard refused.

Five months had passed since the last time he had seen her.
Five long months, and with each passing day, the sense of time closing in on
him grew stronger. Katlaina. She was ever in his heart, in his mind, in his
thoughts. Every time he closed his eyes, her image appeared before him, her belly
expanding as his child was nurtured within her womb. He had to see her, just
one more time.

“Please, Ahijah.” Navarre pleaded with the guard as he had
every night since last he had seen her. “Please take me to her again.”

“You know not what you ask.” Ahijah let out a sigh of
exasperation. After five months, his patience was wearing thin. Every night it
was the same, Navarre begging to see the woman again. And yet, in spite of his
resolve not to weaken again, Ahijah couldn’t help but pity the man. Poor wretch.
What a miserable life the Fates had decreed for him. Born and raised in a cage,
bred as if he was a prize bull, and what was to be his reward? Death at the
hands of a bloodthirsty goddess.

For the first time in months, Navarre felt a flicker of hope
as he studied Ahijah’s expression. Was the man weakening?

“Please, Ahijah,” he whispered. “Time is running out. I must
see her just once more.”

“Told you and told you, I have, the danger of being caught
is too great to risk again.”

“Please! I’ll beg the goddess to give you a dozen sons,
wealth beyond your imagination, only take me to her again.” Navarre’s hands
closed around the bars until his knuckles were white with the strain. “Please,
Ahijah, I have only two months left…”

“You promise? A dozen sons. Wealth enough to turn my back on
Kenn and make a new life in another town?”

“I promise. That and more, whatever you want.”

Ahijah ruminated for a moment. The risk was great, but so,
too, was the reward, if he but had the courage.

“Do it, I will,” he agreed at last. “Tomorrow night. But the
last time, it is. And you must promise not to ask again.”

Navarre nodded. The last time.

The last time he would see her, hold her, touch her.

* * * * *

True to his word, Ahijah reunited him with Katlaina the
following night, just after midnight.

As soon as Ahijah had shackled Navarre to the bed and left
the room, Katlaina flew into his arms. “Navarre, my Navarre.” Murmuring his
name, she covered his face with kisses.

“Katlaina…” His arms wrapped around her and for a moment he
was content to do nothing more than stand her and hold her close and then he
drew her down on the bed and into his arms once more.

She snuggled deeper into his embrace, her beautiful green
eyes wet with tears. “Navarre, I will never forget you. Never.” She drew her
fingertip over his lips. “What would you do if you were free? If we could walk
out of here tomorrow morning and never look back?”

“Do?” Navarre shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never done
anything.” He shook his head again. “I have knowledge,” he mused. “Inside my
mind, I have the knowledge of a thousand scrolls, and yet I’ve never done
anything. Never seen the wonders I’ve read about. Never been anywhere.”

His arm tightened around her. “You tell me,” he said. “Tell
me what we would do.”

“We would go to Grenalde,” Katlaina said. “You would like it
there. It is so beautiful, especially in the spring when everything is all
green and gold. There is a waterfall high in the mountains. And a lake. And
trees, and flowers. And deer and horses and foxes. And birds and fish and ducks
and geese. I would show you all of it, Navarre, and I would love you all the
days of my life. I would give you children, as many as you wanted. And we would
be happy, so happy.”

He closed his eyes, listening to her words, and felt an ache
grow in his chest, a longing for a place he had never seen. Mountains, he
thought. A waterfall, and a lake. And animals that he had seen only in
drawings. And Katlaina and their children, there beside him…

The ache in his chest grew until he could hardly breathe,
until love and hate and rage and regret rose up within him, choking him.

He clung to her as if she could save him from the fate that
awaited him.

“Hold me!” he begged, his voice husky with fear. “Katlaina,
hold me!”

“I am here,” she crooned. “I am here.”

With a cry that was half sob, half scream, he ripped the
clothes from her body, shrugged out of his breeches, and buried himself deep
within her. There was no gentleness in him now, no sweetness, only a driving
need to possess her, to fill her with his essence, to hear her cry his name as
his body convulsed.

Katlaina. She was the giver of life, the bearer of life, and
he sheathed himself deep within her, hoping that she could somehow cleanse him
of his fear of what was to come.

She held him close until dawn’s first light.

Too soon, Ahijah came for him. “Time, it is.” The guard’s
tone was curt as he unlocked the shackle around Navarre’s left ankle.

Navarre nodded, and then he drew Katlaina into his arms one
last time.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“Remember me,” he said. “When I’m gone, remember me. No one
else will.”

BOOK: Moonlight
13.09Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
Shadows of Deceit by Patrick Cotter
August Moon by Jess Lourey
One Unashamed Night by Sophia James
This Is Not for You by Jane Rule