Conar glanced at the glob of mushroom clinging to Pearl"s nose. Pearl screwed up his face, stuck out his tongue, and sent Conar into fresh spasms of laughter. "I don"t lookthat bad!"
Pearl grabbed Conar"s ankle and jerked, sending the him crashing face down on the mat. "Yes, you do!"
Instead of being angry, Conar doubled over with glee. He was still laughing when Pearl took a handful of mushrooms and pulverized Conar"s hair.
Pearl slid the remainder down Conar"s back and over his shoulder. "Had enough?"
Conar scooped up a handful of mushrooms, and rubbed them into Pearl"s face. Hearing Pearl sputter made Conar laugh so hard his sides hurt. When the waistband of his breeches was pulled out and a gob of mushrooms creamed over his belly and tickled down his crotch, he stopped laughing.
"Now,have you had enough?"
For a moment, neither spoke. They regarded one another with eyes no longer filled with laughter. A strange mood settled over the room and brought back sanity.
Conar got up slowly and ran the back of his hand under his nose. He looked out the door for a long time, watching the rain. When he looked back at Pearl, there was no longer any trace of hostility. He put out his hand.
Pearl smiled. He reached up to grasp Conar"s hand, half-expecting the young man to try to throw him, but the fingers were steady and firm as Conar levered him to his feet. He looked into Conar"s carefully controlled gaze.
"Friends?" he asked in his gruff, smoky voice. He was all too aware Conar still held his wrist.
"Pleasant enemies." Conar let go of Pearl"s hand.
Pearl shrugged. "I can live with that for now."
Conar regarded him with steady eyes. "What do you want from me, Pearl?"
It was the first time Conar had ever said his name. Pearl liked the sound of it in Conar"s soft Serenian drawl that was being gently corrupted with the odd-inflections of the Chrystallusian tongue. He shrugged again. "Marriage?"
A slow, genuine smile touched Conar"s lips. "I"m already taken. Sorry."
"You"resorry!" Pearl said in a woebegone voice. "Allthe good men are taken!"
Conar"s smile died. "Not all."
Pearl drew in a breath. He knew a compliment when he heard it. His face turned red and he ducked his head, suddenly very shy around this golden G.o.d. He heard Conar leaving yet he couldn"t look up, he was staring intently at the mound of mushrooms caking his feet.
"Hey!"
Pearl pulled his head up, his heart ready for whatever scorn was coming.
"I still hate mushrooms."
Pearl could only nod, still waiting for harsh words.
"Good eve, Pearl." Conar"s gentle smile returned. He put up his hand in farewell and stepped out into the rain.
Pearl stood stunned for several moments. He had been training Conar for more than three weeks. A faint smile touched his lips. Well, not exactlytraining him, he thought. It was more likepreparing him for his next instructor. He envied the man who would be training Conar next. Pearl knew his pupil would learn to be a good wrestler now that the hostility and stubbornness was gone. He sighed. Conar McGregor would be even better than him. "Better than any man alive," he whispered. * * * A dusty messenger entered the wide gates of Emperor Tran"s palace and asked to speak to Master Nikabuto, the Court Physician. It was to this man, whose great healing powers were known throughout the entire world, that the messenger was taken. Within a few minutes, Shalu was in Nikabuto"s chambers. "Kym!"Shalu shouted. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think you would be the one to bring me news of home!"
Shalu crushed the messenger to him in a bone-smashing hug.
"Your lady thought it would be best.Papa! You"re suffocating me!"
Conar had hurried here with his friend, praying it would be good news for Shalu. Obviously it was. The young woman must be his eldest daughter of whom he had spoken many times. A sad smile lit Conar"s face. His own daughter, Tamara, would have been about this girl"s age.
"Conar!" Shalu bellowed, draping his arm around the small girl. "Come meet my Kymmi!"
Conar took the delicate cinnamon-colored hand that was extended shyly toward him and raised it to his lips, then placed a feather-soft kiss on the upturned wrist. "It is my honor, mam"selle."
Kym turned to her father. "PrinceConar?" she asked in an awed voice. "ThePrince Conar?"
He winked at Conar. "Risen from the dead and ready to roast his enemies!"
Fifteen-year-old Kym Taborn stared at Conar and lost her heart for the eighth time that week. Her oval face blushed. She lowered thick, sooty lashes over warm coffee-colored eyes. She dropped gracefully into a curtsy that made her father"s eyes roll to the heavens.
"The honor is mine, Highness," she whispered in a throaty voice. She raised her head, close-cropped with thick, glistening curls, and smiled.
Shalu laughed, swatting the girl"s backside. "He"s too old for you!" He scrunched his daughter close to his side and placed a loud kiss on her forehead. "What of home? How is your mother? Your brothers and sister?"
"All well," she answered, her stare still on the gorgeous blond man who stood before her. Her feminine mind was racing.Who said he was too old? She batted her lashes and was a bit put off by the light chuckle and condescending grin the man gave her father.
"Stop flirting!" Shalu warned in a gruff, teasing voice. "He has a son older than you!"
An immediate light came into the girl"s face. "Here?"
Conar couldn"t help but see the gears turning in her head.
Neither could Shalu. He lowered his voice to a stage whisper. "He looks just like his father."
Kym"s inquisitive eyes flicked over Conar, a.s.sessing, appraising. She liked what she saw despite the wicked twin gashes on his tanned cheek. Somehow the scars gave him a s.e.xuality that was hard to ignore. His bright blond hair, worn long in a queue, his sensual lips that had a slight trace of a smile, his physique, all combined to make Kym breathless. But it was his eyes that held her attention, gained her immediate notice. They were the most beautiful blue she had ever seen.
"Just like his father?" she asked in a low whisper.
"Exactly," Conar told her.
"Where can this son be found?"
"I haven"t seen you in nearly seven years, girl, and you want to go chasing some boy?" Shalu lowered his brows and stuck out his thick lips. "How am I supposed to take that?"
Kym stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "Like any father would!" She looked at Conar. "Where did you say your son was?"
"You"ll probably find him in the stables. That"s where he usually is." "He likes horses?" she asked in a breathless gush. "Devoted to them." Her face turned positively radiant. She smiled, realized she was giving away feminine emotions, and schooled her face into a carefully blank, teenage girl look. "Well, perhaps I might find him there when I see to my pony," she sniffed withall the disdain a teenager can muster.
"Perhaps," Conar agreed gravely.
"Does he have that wicked scar, too?"
"Kym!"Shalu gasped, shocked.
Despite his smile and light words, Conar"s face bore the pain of rejection. "He is all of one piece, mam"selle."
"You apologize to Conarnow!" Shalu thundered.
"Shalu-"
"No!She has insulted you!" He gave his daughter a fierce scowl. "By what right do you do such a thing to a friend of mine?"
Kym stared at her father with hurt. "I meant no disrespect," she said, her gaze lowering. "If I have insulted you, I am most apologetic and I am humbly ashamed."
There was something strange about the girl"s apology. Conar put his finger under her chin and lifted her face so he could look into her eyes. "You meant no insult?" he asked.
"No, Highness. I find your scars to be-"
"Be quiet!" Shalu ordered.
Conar held up his hand. "You found them to be what, mam"selle?"
Kym"s cinnamon-colored flesh darkened. She dropped her voice so low it was almost inaudible. "I find them very s.e.xy."
Conar"s brows drew together. He glanced at Shalu who was gaping, staring hard at his eldest child. Conar had a hard time schooling his face before he could look back at Kym. When he did, his words were as soft as hers had been. "You don"t find them horrible to look upon, mam"selle?"
With the innocence and honesty of youth, Kym spoke her mind. "Of course not!" she sighed with exasperation. "Who would?"
Conar smiled. "Who, indeed?"
"Didn"t you say you had to see to your pony?" Shalu warned.
Kym glanced at him and her face brightened. "I do!" She curtsied once more.
Shalu watched her run lightly away from them, and opened his mouth to apologize to Conar.
"She really didn"t find them all that bad," Conar remarked, smiling.
Shalu didn"t know what to say. He just nodded. Conar didn"t appear to be upset; didn"t appear to be even hurt by the thoughtless remark. If the gentle smile on his face was any indication, he was rather pleased. "I believe I have a lesson in a few moments," Conar said. "For once, I don"t think I"ll mind." Watching his friend stride off, Shalu sighed. Conar was an enigma he wasn"t sureanyone could ever solve! * * *
"Who"reyou ?" a strong masculine voice asked. Kym Taborn found herself staring into eyes so like the Prince"s, into a carbon copy of Conar McGregor"s face, that sheknew this boy had to be his son. "I am Kyminda Taborn. Who areyou ?" she asked, arching a thin black brow.
"I am Wynland." "Wynland what?" "Just Wynland," he told her with just a hint of pique. "You"re not legal, are you?" she asked, studying him for the trace of male arrogance that usually came when you call them illegitimate. Wyn lifted his chin. "No, but Iam the firstborn son of-" "Wyn!"Sentian Heil warned. When Wyn looked his way, his face a bright crimson, Sentian shook his head. "Iknow who his father is," Kym informed the older man standing at the corral"s gate. "You do?" Sentian asked, wondering who this brash young woman belonged to. "Naturally. My father told me." Kym turned her attention back to Wyn, liking what she saw. "And just who is your father?" Sentian inquired. "King Shalu," she said with an air of importance. Her stare fused with Wyn"s. "I am legal firstborn daughter." "Who"d have thunk it?" Wyn sneered. He looked at Sentian, hoping Heil would smile at the point he"d scored, but Sentian looked rather green around the gills. "Does Shalu know where you are?" Sentian asked. "He sent me," Kym said. She looked at Wyn again. "Your father said I"d find you here." Wyn arched a blond brow. "Why?" Kym shrugged. "I suppose because he thinks he"s too old for me." Sentian coughed, choked, and found himself staring at the young couple. They were gazing at one another as though sizing each other up. Blue eyes swept down a tiny wisp of a girl; brown eyes roamed over wide shoulders and thin
hips, long legs. Heil was vividly reminded of two cats circling one another, looking for a flaw in the other"s armor. Wyn frowned. He didn"t like bold females. He pretended to scowl, but her lovely face only looked smug, content, like a cat"s lapping up cream. He wasn"t sure he wanted tobe this girl"s cream.
"Well, now. A bit on the shy side, aren"t you?" he sneered with all the nastiness a sixteen-year-old boy could dredge up. Kym smiled, her little teeth white in the dark of her face. "Not when I see something I want." "Well, you"d best not want me." "Don"t you like girls?"
"They"re the only game in town for me!"
"I was beginning to wonder. Do you ride?" she asked, eyeing him up and down as though she had her doubts.
"Better than you, I bet!"
"We"ll see," she said, enigmatically. Her saucy gaze ranged over him. "We will see."
She walked past Sentian and entered the corral, looked for her mount, and ordered one of the stableboys to saddle it. She glanced back only once to see if Wyn would follow her.
"Be careful," Sentian warned his young charge as Wyn stomped past him into the corral.
"I"ll make her eat dirt!"
Chapter 9.
Despite Se Huan"s promise to do otherwise, she was unable to entice Conar to make love to her. No amount of urging, pleading, or pouting would sway him. He would simply smile that sad smile of his and gently remove her arms from around his neck, her hands from his body. He would thank her for her generosity, then depart, leaving her frustrated, but proud of the man. And of late, even her tender mercies which eased the s.e.xual ache in his body had been refused. It had been more than a month since she had last been allowed to use her talents upon him and she had returned to Occultus in shame.
Master Occultus was not alone. Seated on a low divan was an extraordinarily lovely white woman. Shimmering lights sparkled in the autumn-kissed skein of her honey-blond hair. Blue eyes the color of a warm summer"s day peered from behind a heavy sweep of long, thick tawny lashes. Her skin was as flawless and rosy as a ripe nectarine, and her figure was one that could stop any man in his tracks. Her lips were a dark pink and there was a faint blush of lavender color on her lids. Her cleavage, rounding softly from the gown of deep purple silk that molded her body like a second skin, was high and full. Her feet were bare, small and delicate looking, as were her hands. She wore no jewels and there was no adornment on her gown. She seemed to view Se Huan with a touch of amus.e.m.e.nt.
"How have you fared?" Occultus asked, bringing the girl"s gaze to him.
"I have failed, Master."
Occultus nodded, a thin smile on his lips. "I thought perhaps you would, girl."
"I am unworthy of him. He no longer wants any form of affection from me." She glanced at the woman and wondered why such a confession before her would cause her immediate alarm. There was no expression on the exquisite face, but Se Huan could see great interest.
"It is not you who he finds lacking," the blond woman said, her musical voice low, sensual. "Your hair, your complexion...you remind him too much of Liza and he cannot bring himself to mate with you." She smiled, yet the smile did not reach her eyes. "It is Conar"s failure, not yours."
"We are grateful for your efforts, Se Huan," Occultus said. "This lady will try her luck."
Se Huan turned to the stunning beauty who watched her with merry contempt. The woman was laughing at her behind the correct facade of her gentle smile.
"But he does not know this one! She might alienate him even more, Master. Why do you feel she will succeed where I have failed?" Her face pinched with distaste.
The blond woman laughed. "I fear she is jealous of me, Occultus!"
Occultus frowned. He detested female jealousies. "Do not let your vapors hold rein, Se Huan. Do you not want what is best for him?"