Daggerspell - Katharine Kerr [156]
“This tent is splendid. I wanted a look at the inside.”
“I never knew that the lord cadvridoc had an interest in leather cushions and tent poles.”
“A very great interest.” Rhodry inched a little closer.
“Why, I don’t think I’ve ever seen finer cushions than these.”
The gnome leapt up and slapped his face. Rhodry swore and looked around for the source of the blow, but the gnome jumped onto his back and grabbed handfuls of his hair. With a yelp, Rhodry batted at the enemy he couldn’t see.
“Stop that!” Jill snapped.
With an audible hiss the gnome disappeared. Rhodry gingerly rubbed his scalp.
“In the name of every god, what was all that?”
“I don’t know, I’m sure. Are you having spasms? Maybe you should consult with Aderyn.”
“Don’t give me that.” Rhodry grabbed her wrists. “You know cursed well what happened. Why else did you yell ‘stop that’ at whatever it was?”
Jill twisted against his thumbs, broke his grip, then started to scramble up, but he caught her by the shoulders and dragged her back. For a moment they wrestled, but Jill began to giggle and let him win.
“Answer me,” Rhodry said, and he was smiling. “What was it?”
“Oh, well and good, then. It was one of the Wildfolk, and he was jealous of you.”
Rhodry let her go and sat back.
“Are you daft?”
“You felt it pull your hair, didn’t you?”
Rhodry looked at her with such revulsion on his handsome face that she suddenly hated him. She pulled her silver dagger and held it close to him. The light ran like water down the blade.
“Oho! Elven blood in Eldidd veins indeed! Don’t you look so snot-faced about me. I may see the Wildfolk, but you’re half an elf.”
When Rhodry grabbed the dagger from her, it flared as brightly as a sconce full of candles. Swearing, he turned it this way and that while Jill laughed at him.
“It’s got an enchantment on it. It glows round the Elcyion Lacar, and that’s who the Westfolk really are. You’re half one of them, I swear it.”
“Hold your tongue.” Rhodry flung the dagger down. “And don’t you laugh at me.”
The order, of course, only made her laugh the more. Rhodry grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, so hard that she slapped him across the face.
“You little hellcat!”
Shoving and swearing, they wrestled like a pair of wild things, but he was the strong one when her fighting tricks were of no use. Finally he pinned her on her back, lay half across her, and smiled, his face only a few inches from her own.
“Cry surrender.”
“Shan’t.”
He bent his head and kissed her. It was the first kiss a man had ever given her, and it seemed to burn on her mouth, as if she were aflame with thirst and only Rhodry’s kisses could slake it. She slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him again, openmouthed and greedy.
“My pardons, lord cadvridoc,” Aderyn said. “But is this truly wise?”
With a yelp Jill shoved Rhodry away and sat up. His arms crossed over his chest, Aderyn stood over them, and he wasn’t smiling. Rhodry turned scarlet and sat up, too, smoothing his shirt down.
“From the noise in here,” Aderyn said with great asperity, “I thought I’d have to break up a fight. What are you two, cats squawling with love in a barnyard? By the hells, Jill, I’ve got to answer to both Nevyn and your father about you. I don’t care to face either of them in a rage.”
Neither did Jill. She wanted to melt like spring snow and sink into the earth with shame. Rhodry forced out a sheepish smile and picked up the silver dagger, which promptly glowed in his hands.
“I know what you’re going to say, good Aderyn,” Rhodry said, fiddling nervously with the dagger hilt. “And you’ll be right, too. It would be a shameful thing of me to dishonor the woman I love in the middle of an army camp. I had no intentions of doing anything of the sort.”
“There are times,” Aderyn said, “when I truly wish I could turn men into frogs! It’s a bit hard to believe those fine words. I—”
All at once Aderyn stopped and stared at the dagger. Jill supposed that he was so used to dweomer that he