The Destroyer Goddess Read Online Free Page B

marry you," he snapped. "So I'm in no mood—"
    "You?" Mirabar stared at him. "You..." She made a helpless gesture. "You never said..."
    "I didn't—I was going off to..."
    "To Shaljir."
    "To battle," he said defensively. "And then to—"
    "To Shaljir. To her. "
    "No," he insisted. "To sea."
    "Elelar's still alive, isn't she?" Mirabar asked wearily.
    "And she's going to stay that way," he replied. An instant later, Tansen wanted to bite his tongue until it bled. He did not want to talk about Elelar right now, and he certainly didn't want to get stuck in the mire of defending her to Mirabar. He said with strained emphasis, "I was going off to sea to meet Zarien's sea goddess, and I knew—"
    She sighed. "Even if I had known..." Tears filled her eyes and she shook her head. "I don't know. I think... I think it really has to be this way, Tansen."
    "No, it doesn't," he argued fiercely, feeling her slipping away from him. 
    The fire-fringed gold of her eyes revealed all the strength of her fervent belief in Dar, in destiny, in her decision. "This is what I must do."
    " No. "
    Tansen seized her shoulders and drew her to him, desperate, scared, angry, bitterly jealous. Her lips were soft and warm. She was startled at first, and she struggled. But he wouldn't let go. Couldn't.
    "No," he repeated against her mouth, willing her to understand him, accept him. To want what he wanted. To give him what he tried to give her, to take from him as he took from her when he kissed her again.
    For a moment her body answered him, and her will succumbed to his. For a moment, she was all living flame in his arms, all warm breath and soft skin and soul-deep longing. For a moment, they kissed as they were meant to, as they had always been meant to, and the wasted time and lost nights didn't matter anymore.
    He felt heat, fire, the rich stream of lava-soaked desire which flowed between a man and a woman and made them forget everything but each other. He drowned in the hunger that led to delight, and the delight which led to more hunger. The craving which was pleasurable, the pleasure that hurt like pain. This was what only they could give each other, this and so much more. All the things he needed from her, all the things he longed to lay at her feet, welled up in him as his arms tightened around her and sought to keep her from another man.
    For a moment, everything he wanted for them, together, seemed real and within reach. The fire and the warmth mingled in his blood, in his heart, in the breath they shared, in the frantic embrace they inflicted on each other, in the hot union of their mouths... But only for a moment.
    She was strong for her size, and so he stumbled when she pushed him away and staggered backward. Driven by furious needs, he reached for her—but froze when he saw her scarred palm warding him off, begging him to stay away from her.
    Blue-flecked flames danced across her skin for a moment, a glorious display he'd never seen on her flesh before. He smelled something burning and looked down. He absently patted the smoking sleeve of his tunic, noticing that it was singed now.
    The hazards of making love to a Guardian, he supposed. Or at least to an inexperienced one.
    "Mira... Don't do it." Tansen heard the pleading in his voice and didn't care.
    Tears trickled down her face. Darfire, it hurt to see her cry. It hurt even more to be the one causing it. "I have to." Her voice was brokenhearted.
    "Why?" He couldn't understand. "What in all the world could Baran—"
    "A child of water. A child of fire."
    Tansen stared at her, stunned beyond words.
    A child of water, a child of fire, a child of sorrow...
    She saw by his expression that he remembered what she had told him about the Beckoner. "I don't know exactly what the Beckoner wants, but I've had more visions since the last time I saw you. I know that I have to go to Belitar. And that I have to bear Baran's child there."
    "And this child," he said slowly, sure that he was about to be sick.