Woman of Silk and Stone (17 page)

At last, his face relaxed into a charming
smile, making him seem more human for just a moment. "Yes, it was
all I could manage at that distance. Now that we are bound, I will
be able to transport to your side in an instant if you need me, but
until we made the connection I had to travel by normal means. From
anywhere but Shinar, I could have reached you sooner, but traveling
between planes is difficult."

I blinked at the onslaught of information,
but quickly gathered myself, thrilled to have someone actually
answering my questions plainly for once.

"Alright. First off, what's Shinar?" I
asked, knowing it had to be where he was from, but thus far I only
knew of three kingdoms in Edin: Solis, Shuru, and Hursag.

"It is the golden desert, the land of the
endless river, the valley of utmost beauty. My home," he answered,
pride shining in his voice. The longer he spoke to me, the more
human his mannerisms became, almost as if he were speaking a
long-forgotten language for the first time in years. He gestured
now, his posture was more relaxed; it was increasingly easier to
look past his initial differences and discover the little
similarities that made him less ethereal and more approachable.

"That sounds beautiful," I said honestly,
thinking that Adar had a touch of the poet in him. His description
sounded a lot like the dream I'd had the other night, and I knew
without being told that somehow Adar had been a real part of that
dream, not just an impression. In fact, I couldn't help but feel
that he had always been present; the black smoke and wall of fire I
had once woken breathless in fear from were just representations of
something that had yet to be. It was crazy, but I was beginning to
believe in the whole "fated mates" thing.

"In which kingdom is that located?" I asked,
unwilling to examine my little epiphany any closer just yet.

Smiling indulgently, he replied, "It is all
of Edin and yet nowhere that man can reach."

So, then he said things like that, and the
whole approachability thing went out the window.

"How...how is that possible? I don't have
any idea what you mean," I said with some frustration. It seemed
like half the answers I got here were vaguely mystical and meant to
make me feel excluded. Apart from Tam, and maybe
Zagmi
Tilmun on occasion, I don't think anyone had
truly given me a straight answer since I rode through the
gates.

Adar scooted his chair closer to mine, until
our knees were once again touching. I gave him a look, but he
merely shrugged and flashed a roguish grin before turning his
attention to my query.

"It is where all
Darisam
live, and where we must return if we are to
maintain our strength. We are eternal, the same way that the
elements are, but like them, we can become drained without access
to the source of our power. Most of our time is spent in Shinar,
where we oversee the elements and keep them in balance, and where
our strength will never waver. Out here," he gestured widely,
encompassing more than just the beautifully decorated room, "we are
vulnerable."

I processed that, trying to put his rather
esoteric explanation into more practical terms. Though I could have
been way off, it seemed to me he was saying that while the elements
- which I assumed included air, water, earth, and fire - could
never be completely extinguished, they could be isolated or
drained. Water is always present; in the atmosphere, in the rivers
and oceans, even in the human body. But a person can become
dehydrated, and a river can run dry until a new rainfall.

"Alright, I think I get you. But that's
still not telling me where Shinar is. Because I'd like to spend
time with Tam, and until I figure out what I was brought here for,
I have no intention of travelling far."

"Honey-
sa
, the
Ilati
brought you here for me, to be my
arrami
. Anything else is incidental," Adar
said gently, reaching out to run a massive hand over my thigh.

I ignored the unwelcome tingles that spread
where his hand brushed and glared at him. As well as I could glare
at a seven-foot tall immortal fire creature, that is.

"Well, special though that might make me, I
have more purpose in my life than to be your little woman, so you
can kill that dream right now," I growled, finding the thought of
any male creature, be it man or giant flame-colored immortal being,
imagining that my only purpose in life was to be his own personal
honey-pot was beyond infuriating. The sheer arrogance of such a
statement, particularly when I was the one dragged to this world
without so much as a by-your-leave, made my blood boil and my skin
heat with rage.

As I stewed there, grinding my teeth and
fighting to hold back the tirade I wanted to unleash on Adar, I
realized that my blood actually was boiling, that my skin had
gotten hotter.

Oh, hell.

"What is happening to me?" I shrieked,
jumping out of my chair and waving my arms frantically, trying to
get them to cool down. It wasn't painful, exactly, but it was
uncomfortable, like I had stayed in the sauna too long and all the
moisture in my body was swiftly evaporating.

Adar heaved a forbearing sigh, reminding me
more and more of a regular Earth guy who didn't have the good sense
not to patronize a pissed-off woman. Rising from his chair, he took
hold of my flailing arms and pulled me up off my feet so that our
eyes were level, leaving my legs dangling a foot off the
ground.

This did not improve my temper.

"You big, red, ASSHOLE! Put me down! Right
now!" I ordered, getting only a knowing smirk back in return. This
was what I was brought here for? To be eternally trapped in
marriage to someone this smug? No way.

"Honey-
sa
, calm
yourself. Until the
Namluh
is complete,
your body is not capable of sustaining the fire. You will only make
yourself ill," he soothed, rubbing his cheek against mine. It was
vexingly comforting, but I wasn't about to let him know that.

"We're stuck together for all eternity
right?" I asked, quite reasonably. Adar merely nodded and breathed
in my scent. "Then unless you want to spend the rest of your
immortality missing the only part of your anatomy that makes having
a mate necessary, you will put me down.
Now
." I stomped on his foot for good measure, holding
back a wince when it actually made my heel ache.

Adar sucked in a breath and then exploded
into laughter, his entire body shaking with undeserved mirth. He
did, however, lower me to the ground and release his grip on my
arms. Thankfully, although I was still nearly incandescent with
rage, my skin no longer felt like leather left to dry in the
desert. Taking a deep breath, I stepped away from the now
hysterically laughing seven-foot god in the living room and walked
to the door. The moment my hand touched the latch, the laughter
stopped and Adar materialized at my side.

"Peace, Honey-
sa
.
Forgive me, it was wrong to laugh." He flashed an irresistibly
boyish smile that very nearly melted my pique. "If you had lived
here all your life, if you knew how the
Darisam
are viewed, you would understand why I would
laugh at your threat. I am simply delighted to be given a mate with
such fire, not some wilting bloom too frightened to speak for
herself." He gave me a fond smile and then bowed his enormous
figure at the waist, taking up my hand and brushing his cheek
against my knuckles, a gesture that I was beginning to see was a
common display of affection from the male.

Willing to accept an olive branch if it
meant getting some answers, I let go of my simmering resentment at
having my choices taken from me
yet again
,
and gave Adar a faint smile. "No need to worry about that with me.
I wouldn't say I have an explosive temper, but you'll know when I
don't like something."

He grinned outright then, and that was it.
'Zing
'
went the strings of my heart. Never
in my life had I seen something so beautiful up close. If I could
get him to drop the "Me, Tarzan; You, Jane" mentality, I might not
mind being tied to him for the rest of eternity.

"I believe we are going to enjoy one
another, Honey-
sa
. Much more than I'd
hoped. Please, come and sit, and I will explain what you need to
know, what must be done."

And so that was how, after being attacked by
a knife-wielding assassin in the middle of the great hall, I came
to spend the next hour sitting by the fire talking to my new
husband, finding out that the
Darisam
were
generally feared and courteously treated like live hand grenades,
that he didn't particularly care for most of the people at court,
although he was fond of Tam, and that we could stay in Solis for
the next century before he would truly need to return to Shinar.
Apparently the concept of time really was relative when you were
immortal.

"So, I will agree to your terms. We will
remain at court until Tam is fully grown and the kingdom is no
longer in crisis. In return, you will complete the
Namluh
, and accept me as your
arramu
." Adar was leaning forward, an eager glint in
his eyes that made me flush with anticipation and flutter in
nervousness in equal parts.

"Provisionally, yes. But you still haven't
explained the
Namluh
to me, what I'm
supposed to do. And I can tell you right now, if it means I'm
supposed to just hop into bed with you, that's not going to happen.
Life-mate or not, I barely know you," I said, leaving no room for
misunderstanding.

His smile faltered just a bit, but Adar
pressed gamely on. "As much as I would like to insist, our physical
joining is not immediately required." He gave me a wry smile and
shrugged. "You can't blame me for trying."

I laughed and shook my head. "I suppose
not." In fact, the whole thing seemed like a lot of pressure for
me. He was pretty much a virgin. From what he had explained thus
far, it sounded like the Darisam did not become sexually aware
until they met their
arrami
. Typically,
there was a period of courtship before the
Namluh
was attempted, but Adar had waited a very long
time and jumped the gun a bit, which I could forgive. But I fully
intended to make the courtship happen; after all, I didn't need to
make it
that
easy for him.

"It is an exchange of essence. When I first
saw you, I imparted my
Zi
, my spirit, to
make you as I am. Now you must do the same, so that we are fully
connected, and the element has a conduit between us to follow. You
will not be able to wield fire, but you can withstand it, and will
be able to travel as smoke with me. But until the exchange is
complete, the element I imparted to you has no outlet; so if you
are angry, you will become uncomfortable, as you did before."

"Was that so hard?" I demanded, exasperation
clear in my tone. "Seriously, that was all I needed to know.
Concise, to the point, practical. That's the clearest answer I've
gotten to any question since I got here," I grumbled, shifting my
eyes away, appalled to feel the unwelcome burn of tears.

Warm arms encircled me and I was pressed
into Adar's massive chest, his curiously smooth skin pressing
against my cheek, driving his scent of cardamom and clove into my
head. "
Ti summu
, do not weep. I am a fool.
You have been here only a few days and yet you are expected to
simply understand everything, aren't you? Perhaps because you are
so different from previous
Halqu
, so much
less helpless, it is easy to dismiss any notion that you need time
to adjust."

The true empathy in his voice helped to ease
the unexpected well of grief and frustration that bubbled within
me. What he said struck true, and it was partly my fault. Apart
from a few minor breakdowns my first day here, I'd been putting on
a good face for everyone at court. I never let anyone see how
disoriented I was by certain things, like the casual use of what
was basically magic, nor did I let on how out of place I felt at
the banquet table every night, stuck between various ministers and
dignitaries, all of whom wanted a chance to chat with the new
Halqu
.

Just because I hadn't needed to be taught
the language, or recover physically from my journey through the
void in the way previous
Halqu
had, people
seemed to think I was automatically on the same page, that a few
vague words tossed my way would make everything clear; when in
reality, I was quietly drowning.

Over what I considered my orientation period
at the palace, I had delved into every
Halqu
journal I could get my hands on. Some of them
were helpful, including information that identified how to avoid
insulting every noble-blooded twerp who came my way. Much as I
loved Hili, and as sweet as she had been about helping me choose
clothes and trying to explain the dynamics of court, she was little
more than a child, and simply didn't have the resources to give me
the kind of education I needed to survive.

Most of the journals, however, were
chock-full of complaints. I learned all about the other
halqus'
home worlds, what they had left
behind, what troubled them here, and as much as I sympathized, none
of that had much bearing on my own experience. Worst of all, it
seemed pretty clear that most
halqu
didn't
live more than a few decades, and some only lasted a year or two,
mainly because of injuries they sustained coming through the void,
or disturbingly, exposure to the foreign diseases of Edin. That one
had me panicking and washing my hands every five minutes, though
hopefully it wouldn't be a factor now.