Page 21 of Night's Templar (Vampire Queen 13)

The oath Uthe had made to him seemed to be creating the biggest change between them. The Fae Lord had demanded nothing further of him yet. However, the warmth of Keldwyn's gaze upon their reunion showed he was enjoying the opportunity to look at Uthe as his sexual conquest. Even after they boarded the charter and took their seats across from one another, he felt the male's close regard. Uthe closed his eyes to meditate, then pray for guidance. When he at last opened his eyes, he bit back a chuckle. Keldwyn had opened a tattered copy of The Fellowship of the Ring and was reading it. "Is that from Jacob's personal library?"

"It is. He recommended I take the whole trilogy, since he indicated I would wish to know how the story turned out."

"You're so well read, I'm surprised you haven't read it."

"There are more stories to be read than days in an immortal lifespan." Keldwyn shifted, bracing his foot on the edge of Uthe's seat, between his spread knees. His attention followed a straight track from there to Uthe's groin. "You are wearing the jeans again today. A different pair, but still black." He slid his foot forward, braced the ball of it against Uthe's testicles, a teasing pressure he increased, eyes tracking Uthe's response to the discomfort. Uthe had to suppress the desire to push against him, rub, but he didn't conceal his reaction well enough.

Keldwyn's gaze increased its heat. "You enjoy some pain."

Imagining how much further Keldwyn could go, Uthe suspected he might enjoy a lot of pain, but he had no intention of revealing that. Keldwyn cocked his head. "Did you scourge yourself, my lord? Inflict penance on yourself in the service of your Lord as the monks do?"

"Most penances like that were forbidden to Templars because we had to stay battle ready."

"Interesting. Most would have said the Templars were exempt from the penances, not forbidden from indulging them. Did you crave the touch of the lash, Lord Uthe? The Lord's punishment? Or simply...a Master's punishment?"

Uthe ignored the electric sparks of sensation pinging his insides. The hardening of his cock was as much from Keldwyn's words as the teasing pressure of his foot. "You are a Dominant, my lord. As a vampire, I understand your desires. I can meet them in accordance with my oath to you."

Keldwyn's knowing expression obliterated the calming effect of the prayer on Uthe's mind. "A clever evasion. And I've no doubt you can."

Keldwyn had been right about Uthe's ability to control his response in the company of women. He enjoyed their bodies and the release, but being goaded by Keldwyn, kissed by him, produced an explosive sexual reaction impossible to conceal or contain. The secure walls around his mental celibacy hadn't been challenged so decisively in some time.

He'd initially attributed his attraction to Keldwyn to weakness. He'd told himself it wasn't Keldwyn specifically, but all the distractions and concerns he faced now that had made him vulnerable. Perhaps even the lowering of inhibitions that came with the Ennui were contributing to the problem. What worried him was not those theories, but how much he wanted them to be rationalizations, a lie he was telling himself. He wanted his absorption with Keldwyn to be unique to the Fae Lord and what temptations he offered Uthe.

Fortunately, the Fae wanted to change the subject. "In your story to Queen Rhoswen, it was Lord Reghan who saved you from the battlefield."

"Yes."

"What were your impressions of him? Did you spend much time in his company?"

"No. Only that meeting and one other, both necessarily brief. He was...charismatic. He said little, but what he did, had great import. Even with that brief exposure, I had the impression of many good things. Honesty, compassion, tolerance, a sense of vision that extended far beyond the world in which he lived. It was clear he was a formidable leader, but there was something...tragic about him."

Uthe's brow furrowed. Talking about it now, he'd remembered more than he expected, but then, Lord Reghan had been almost as unforgettable as the male across from him. "Queen Rhoswen looked at him as if he were the rising sun, but he struck me more like a sunset. All the dusk colors, the painting the sun leaves behind so that we long for its return."

Looking up, he saw Keldwyn staring at him with a mostly incomprehensible expression, but Uthe registered one thing in it. Pain.

"You knew him." He paused. Despite the absurdity of it, the jagged feeling in his chest was jealousy. Now he understood why the name had caught Keldwyn's attention so effectively when Uthe met Rhoswen in the gardens. "You loved him."

"He was my best friend." Keldwyn's voice was carefully modulated, almost wooden. "Before Magwel, Rhoswen's mother, talked the Unseelie monarch at the time into having him killed."

"So is that why you and she don't get along?"

Keldwyn shook his head. "During one of our civil wars, Rhoswen herself killed Magwel."

He hadn't known that piece of the puzzle. Perhaps in deference to her sister, Lyssa had not shared that painful knowledge with the Council. Uthe thought of the Fae Queen's expression, so cold and remote. Yet when he'd been on his knees to her, his head forced to her thigh because of the physical attack of the flashback, he'd felt the touch of her hand on his shoulder, an almost gentle reassurance. When he'd looked in her eyes, he thought he'd seen something familiar, something that connected them beyond their initial meeting. Now he knew what it was.

"Reghan was all those things you said, and more."

The Fae spoke the words quietly, but they drew Uthe back to the present. Despite the curiosity such a loaded comment raised, Kel looked out the window, shutting down any further questions Uthe might have.

The pilot's voice broke in over the intercom. "Sir, we're about to land. May I have your assistance?"

It was a small plane, but spacious enough that the pilot could give them privacy behind a closed door. Uthe rose as Keldwyn removed his foot, leaving the lingering sense of firm pressure. The Fae Lord's simmering glance said his mind wasn't entirely on the troubled shadows of his past.

They were landing in the dark, which was why the pilot required his assistance. Standing behind him, Uthe used his night vision to guide the plane down to a safe strip of ground. It was one the pilot had used before, for similar reasons, but Uthe's abilities verified nothing had wandered or fallen onto the faintly marked track of ground to cause the plane an issue. Once the plane bumped down and came to a halt, Uthe returned to the main cabin. Keldwyn was reading his book, or at least staring at the pages. Uthe left him to his thoughts, going to the partitioned area in

the back to collect what he needed and change clothes. He wound a sash around the long, loose tunic, worn over light cotton pants, and tucked Rhoswen's amulet and his scabbarded dagger into the sash. The tingle of energy from wearing the dagger on his person reminded him of the advance of the sun. It was not long until daybreak.

As he emerged, Keldwyn rose. He was empty-handed, but Uthe rarely saw the Fae carrying anything. He suspected Keldwyn could call weapons or supplies to hand with his magic. Uthe shouldered his pack. "We'll help the pilot conceal the plane and then hike from here. He has a camouflage cover, but can you provide any additional warding to protect him and the plane?"

"Yes, I can do that."

Uthe paused. "Are you well, my lord?"

Keldwyn seemed surprised that he'd asked. Uthe lifted a shoulder. "We have lived long enough to lose those we love far more than once. Repetition does not lessen the blow. If anything, like a hammer, it just drives the nail in deeper."

The Fae Lord bowed, oddly formal. "I am well, Lord Uthe. I wish to leave this plane and the memories conjured here." He managed a faint smile. "They are thick as clouds."

He and Keldwyn helped the pilot pull the sand-colored plane in the shadow of an outcropping of rock. Any chrome on the plane had been painted, so it blended well. Keldwyn warded the plane and the pilot, despite the latter looking at the Fae like he'd cursed him to have ugly daughters and weak sons. But with those wards in place, hiding him and the plane from view, it was far less likely he would be at risk.

The pilot gave them a laconic farewell in Arabic and returned inside.

"How do we know he'll be there when we come back?" Keldwyn asked.

"Because he serves the Templars with his life," Uthe responded. "He has a week's worth of food and water, but if all goes as it should, we should be back to the plane in three days. It is an overnight trek there."

Keldwyn considered the rocky, barren terrain, dotted with scrub. In the pre-dawn hour, the hills were featureless craggy rises. "An overnight trip even at our usual speeds?"

"We must use a human pace. If I use vampire speed or you use your magic, we will arouse suspicion. We are being watched."

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