"And will ye be eatin' it here? Alone?"

He eyed her with amus.e.m.e.nt. "No, I'll be taking it back to my room."

"Ye're staying at the inn, then? For a while? Alone?"

Her questions were cloyingly suggestive and Baris gave her a small teasing smile.

"Well, if I told you all of that, then I would have no secrets left, would I? Do you have a menu?"

She smiled back and leaned on the counter, her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s seeming about to tumble from the low-cut bodice of her peasant dress.

"We have soup," she said, her voice almost a purr. "Beef and vegetable. It's served up with hot bread, dripping with b.u.t.ter and sweet--soft--honey. Would ye like to know what we offer for dessert?"

Baris didn't think he needed to ask. Her actions were speaking for themselves. His gaze moved of its own accord to her neck. He could see her pulse there, pounding in antic.i.p.ation. He took another deep breath and moved his gaze to her eyes.

"Then soup it shall be," he said, keeping his voice cool and detached. "Bread and honey as well. Enough for two, please." He paused a moment, considering her offer, then shook his head. "I won't be needing the dessert but thank you anyway."

She sighed and straightened. "The good ones are always taken," she murmured. She flipped her long, thick golden braid over her shoulder and disappeared into the kitchen to place his order.

Baris chuckled softly then turned slightly to look at those around him. They were a hearty-looking lot, st.u.r.dy and muscular. Even the few women were solid-looking. Baris imagined they would have to be to eke out a living in the mountains. He wondered about their livelihood here. There didn't seem to be much in the way of pasture or farmland and he hadn't seen herds of any appreciable size. The surrounding area was mostly forest. He supposed this village could survive on the sale of wood alone, but it would take strong backs to fell the huge trees he'd seen.

"Here ye be," the serving wench said, reappearing with a bundle. "The soup's in covered bowls. Just leave them at the inn. They'll be collected in the morning. If ye'd like to order yer breakfast now, I have a fantastic memory."

"And breakfast consists of more honey?" He couldn't help but tease her.

She giggled. "Eggs and sausage, mostly. But the cook can turn a good-looking flapjack, as well."

He nodded. "Very well. That sounds good. Flapjacks it is, then."

"And yer room number, sir? I can deliver breakfast first thing. Ye won't even have to slip outta yer nightclothes."

Baris couldn't contain his smile as he paid for dinner, throwing in a silver as a tip for the girl. "I'll come pick it up. Good eve."

He noticed her little pout of unhappiness as he turned away with his parcel. He chuckled again and left the eatery. As he walked it occurred to him that even though the young woman had nearly thrown herself at him, he had found no interest whatsoever in her. So, why then, should Deirdre bring out such l.u.s.tful reactions? It didn't make sense. With a shake of his head, he turned his steps toward the inn. He had almost reached it when a m.u.f.fled scream cut through the darkness. Startled, he spun toward the sound.

It came from a narrow, dark alley between two sagging buildings. Baris placed his food bundle on the nearest porch and moved quietly in that direction. His exquisite night vision caught movement at once. Two people, a man and a woman, were wrestling at the far end of the alley. Even in the dark, Baris recognized the woman...Deirdre.

He rushed forward, a cry of rage on his lips. The man whirled, abandoning his attack on Deirdre. She stumbled and fell, sobbing, against the wooden walls as Baris stormed up. His hand shot out, his fingers wrapping tightly about her attacker's large throat.

The man gagged and clawed at Baris' arm in panic as the Vector lifted him from the ground. A quick glance showed him that Deirdre's gown was torn almost to her waist.

"How dare you!" he snarled, tightening his grip.

The man kicked and struggled but could not escape Baris' grasp.

"It's--not--what--you--think," he gurgled, his voice barely audible.

"Not what I think? Then pray tell, enlighten me." Baris relaxed his grip just enough that the man could speak coherently.

"She--offered. I--paid--her."

Deirdre gasped with outrage. "That's a lie! I would never offer myself to any man for money!" She once again broke into heaving sobs, covering her face with one hand while futilely trying to hold her dress together with the other.

"No!" the man repeated, his terrified gaze on Baris' face. "I'm not lying! She's a wh.o.r.e!"

Baris clenched his jaw, rage consuming him. "How dare you? I know this woman. And I know her virtues. You have sullied them with your actions and your words." With one quick twist of his wrist, he snapped the man's neck, then flung the lifeless body aside.

Immediately, he turned to Deirdre, gathering her into his arms where she huddled, sobbing and shaking. He smoothed her hair, then pushed her away gently for a moment to pick up her cloak from the ground. He put it around her and pulled it close about her shoulders, then held her again until her crying quieted.

"What were you doing out here?" he whispered.

"Some--someone came to the room," she sobbed. "They were trying to get inside. I got scared. When they left, I came looking for you. Oh, Baris," she gripped his cloak, "do we have to stay here? Can't we just move on? Sleep someplace else? I would be willing to walk the night just to be away from here."

He looked down into her eyes. They were round with fright. Her entire body shook. He hugged her close again. "No, we don't have to stay here," he told her, though his body was crying out for rest. He had spent half the day as a stallion and the fatigue of the shift and the ensuing walk had exhausted him. Still, he would most likely get no sleep in this village anyway. He pulled Deirdre's cloak tighter over her near-nudity and escorted her back down the alleyway to the street.

"I'll have to go back to the inn and fetch our packs," he told her. "And I have a dinner bundle here as well. It's cold by now, I'm sure, but we'll take it with us just the same." He retrieved the parcel from the porch as he spoke and guided Deirdre back toward the inn.

They kept to the shadows; and once they arrived at their destination, Baris drew Deirdre inside. The innkeeper was still nowhere to be found, probably gone off to bed himself. Baris hurried Deirdre up the stairs to their room. Once inside, he quickly bolted the door and grabbed up their belongings.

"Here, change," he instructed her.

She took her pack, then shrugged out of her torn blouse. Baris reluctantly averted his gaze and moved to the window to peer out. He wondered how long it would be before the man's body was discovered. He wanted to be well away from this village before then. It would mean shapeshifting again, however, and Baris wasn't sure how long he could maintain something as large and powerful as a horse.

His thoughts went again to the Vector he thought he had sensed earlier. The traces were gone now and he didn't dare draw on his magic to scan the area. He was probably mistaken anyway. The signs had been so very light...almost not there at all. It was probably just his fatigue playing tricks on him.

"All right," Deirdre said softly. "I'm ready."

Baris turned from the window, involuntarily sucking in his breath. The blouse that Deirdre had chosen to replace her modest torn one was bright yellow and low-cut, barely able to contain her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Her unbound dark hair lay against it like serpents coiling about her neck, dipping into her cleavage enticingly, as if beckoning him to follow. He tried to swallow the l.u.s.t that suddenly threatened to overwhelm him, but his mouth was dry, his throat constricted. At the moment, he didn't much care about the dead man in the alley or the fact that the law might be on its way to his door. All he wanted to do was to follow the tendrils of dark hair and free Deirdre's bosom from its golden coc.o.o.n. He watched with dismay as she swept her cloak over her shoulders, covering the creamy mounds.

It was only through sheer force of will that he managed to merely take her hand and lead her from the building. Once in the dark and cold, Baris was able to think more clearly. He noticed the rich scent of iron and turned to Deirdre with the question on his face. "Iron?"

"I tried to stop him," she whispered. "I couldn't. I'm not strong enough."

Baris' fury returned and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, feeling justified now in having snuffed out the man's life. They slipped through the village and back into the dark forests. Once there, he handed her both packs, then quickly shifted into a horse. She climbed on his back and he took to the trail, flying over the rocky, uneven ground.

He kept up his frantic pace until the first hints of morning played through the skies. He stopped, winded and trembling. He shifted almost before Deirdre could climb from his back. With an exhausted groan, he collapsed onto the spa.r.s.e field gra.s.s. Deirdre dropped down beside him.

"Oh, Baris," she cried, cradling his head in her arms. "You shouldn't have overdone like this. It's my fault. I am so sorry. Please forgive me."

He reached up to pat her arm in rea.s.surance, even as his eyelids fluttered closed. He was simply too tired to keep them open any longer and fell into a deep sleep at once.

CHAPTER 8.

He woke late in the afternoon, though the sleep did not seem to have helped much. He still felt weak-limbed and dizzy. Deirdre tended a small fire. She looked over at him with a smile when he finally stirred.

"I've brewed some tea and I've reheated the soup as well. It should help you regain your strength."

Baris struggled to sit up as she poured the amber contents from the teapot to a mug. She handed it to him and he took it with grat.i.tude, breathing deep of the minty aroma. The taste was invigorating, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. This will help greatly." He glanced about their surroundings, then up at the sky. "It's almost nightfall. You shouldn't have let me sleep so long."

She laughed. "As if I had a choice. You were dead to the world, Baris. I don't think a thunderstorm could have wakened you."

He grimaced. "Dead to the world? And leaving you unprotected again." He couldn't voice his guilt over leaving her alone at the inn.

She came to sit beside him, handing him a bowl of soup.

"Last night was not your fault," she murmured. "I shouldn't have left the room. I was probably safe there, despite my misgivings. I'm the one who should be blamed."

He shook his head, trying without much success to ignore the view offered by her blouse. He glanced about for her cloak. It was hanging on a low branch, and he both wished it was covering her, and glad that it wasn't. He looked back at her. "No, I should have ordered dinner from the innkeeper. I didn't have to go out."

She gave up the argument and changed the subject. "Did you find that other Vector you thought was in the village?"

"No. I was probably mistaken. The trace was far too slight. It couldn't have been a Vector."

"So, do we continue on towards Nowles?"

"We might as well. I have no other goal. I have no idea where Anika is. Without help from Jaeger and Rhiannon, I may never find her." He sagged as another thought crowded into his already-distraught mind. "She needs to be bled," he said softly. "I know I didn't take enough blood from her before we left home. She could be dying by now."

"She knows how to bleed herself," Deirdre reminded him. "I'm sure she would do so."

"Yes, and then probably be worse off from infection." He finished his tea and soup and struggled to his feet, swaying unsteadily. "We have to go on. Even if Anika no longer wishes to have me as her husband, I still need to find her."

Deirdre began to repack their supplies. Her voice was thoughtful when she spoke. "If you do find Anika and find a cure for whatever you think is wrong with her and she still wants you to leave her, what will you do?"

Baris winced. He didn't know the answer to that. It would surely mean leaving his son. How could he do that? Just walk off, to perhaps never see Thale again?

"I suppose I'll go back to the Lair," he mused. "At least from there I can watch over Thale. I can be with him at a moment's notice but Anika won't have to suffer my presence on a daily basis."

"The Lair? You would live there again? Away from the rest of the world?"

He shrugged. "I suppose so. Without my family, I have nothing here."

Deirdre looked up at him, sadness in her eyes. "But, Baris, why could you not love again? You don't have to be alone."

He gave her a grim smile. "Vectors wait a long time for the right mate to come along. Sometimes it can take hundreds of years. Most of the time it never happens. I was amazingly lucky to have found Anika at this early stage of my life, just after reaching my Growth. It was like a miracle. And when we do find our mate, it's for life, Deirdre. Even if Anika no longer wishes me to be around, she is still and will always be my mate. There can be no other."

Deirdre gasped and quickly looked away. Baris frowned, wondering what he had seen in that brief glimpse of her dark eyes. Resignation? Despair? Anger? He shook himself, chasing the questions away, as she spoke, her voice cool and firm.

"I didn't know that. And I don't believe that. I think there is always room in one's heart for further love. I mean, look at children. Would you not love another child? Is all of your love only for Thale?"

"Of course not. But that's a different sort of love."

"And what of your parents? Or your friends? Do you not love them?"

He studied the top of her head. "Again, it is a different type of love. You don't understand."

"Perhaps not," she retorted. "But I still say that the heart is able to love more than once." She finished packing and threw some dirt over the fire, smothering the flames.

Baris sighed and extended a hand to help her to her feet. She took it, her gaze finally meeting his, though she said nothing further about love.

"We'll have to walk, I'm afraid," Baris said. "I am far too drained to shift into anything more substantial than a hawk or a fox. And I don't think you could ride either of those."

His attempt at levity brought only a small smile from Deirdre and the pair set off at a slow pace. For the first time in several days, Baris' thoughts turned to Anika almost exclusively. His worry ate at him. He decided to save his magic and enter the Lair later that night. Even though it would be admitting his failure, he was determined to discuss the situation with Darius. He was sure the Sovereign would be able to find Anika swiftly. Once that was accomplished--well, Baris wasn't sure what he would do. He would check on Thale, make sure that the child was recovering fully from the snakebite. He would see that Anika was bled, her body rid of the excess iron that was no doubt building to toxic levels. And then they would talk. He would tell her how much he loved her, how much he needed her at his side. He would ask her forgiveness for anything he had said or done that might have hurt her. And he would tell her that if she wanted him gone, he would bow to her wishes, although the very thought sent pain ripping through his heart.

He shot a sidelong glance at Deirdre, walking beside him seemingly lost in thought. He would have to see that she was escorted safely back to the village. He felt guilty that he had promised her an adventure, a chance to see the world, yet could not deliver it. He added that disappointment to his growing list of failures.

He pondered her arguments for his finding a second love. Her meaning wasn't lost on him. He was not that naive...not anymore. He could no longer dismiss the way she looked at him, the way she touched him, as simple friendliness. But he took her infatuation with him as just that. An infatuation. He was a safe haven for her. Someone she could talk to freely, be herself around. He didn't demand anything of her; he wasn't trying to possess her. Baris felt again his anger that Deirdre's father had as good as sold her to Holt. It wasn't right. People shouldn't be traded about like commodities. Baris decided in that moment that he wouldn't take her back to the village if she still didn't want to go. Instead, he would see to it she was set up in a new village, someplace where she could choose her own husband, someone who she loved and who loved her back. He suddenly wanted very badly to help this beautiful young woman as much as she was helping him.

He drew a deep breath, more to savor the fresh scents of the woods about him than to clear his mind. For the first time in days, his thoughts seemed to be on target, focused. Suddenly, the scent of iron a.s.sailed his nostrils. He frowned, glancing at Deirdre. She said she had tried to use magic to thwart last night's attack, but this scent was strong...almost too strong for her safety. She would need to be bled, and that thought sent shivers of both antic.i.p.ation and concern through him.

He was so very aware now of her sensuality, of her desire for him, of his own powerful need to protect her. He sincerely wondered if he could maintain his self-control and integrity once he began to feed on her. He shook his head. Wasn't Anika the one who said maybe he should be with Deirdre instead of with her? Still, the idea brought him as much pain and guilt now as it had when his wife suggested it. He had never considered his friendship with Deirdre might be perceived in any other light. He had been dreadfully wrong, that was clear.

The thought that he had unintentionally hurt his wife sent new waves of despair through him. He had never wanted to do that. Yet, he had apparently done so. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps he didn't deserve her or their son. Perhaps a solitary life in the Lair was what he deserved. A heavy sigh escaped him.

Deirdre looked up at him. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

He turned to her, surprised. "What for?"

"For making you uncomfortable. I know that you love Anika. It just makes me angry that she does not return that love. You deserve more, Baris. You deserve someone who loves you, who will respect you, who will be with you."

He chuckled at the disparity of their thoughts. Here he was thinking that he didn't deserve Anika, while Deirdre had decided that Anika didn't deserve him. It was no wonder that men and women had trouble understanding each other. Their thought processes were so very different when it came to emotions.

"You do not make me uncomfortable, Deirdre," he a.s.sured her, if not altogether truthfully. "You are not the cause of Anika's emotional coldness. You have nothing to apologize for."

She pouted. "Well, it's not fair, Baris."

"There are many things in life that are not fair, Deirdre, though I do not consider this one of them." He hesitated before sharing his plans. "I am going to return to the Lair tonight. I will ask Darius to find Anika, bring her to the Lair. I am worried about her condition."

"Will you have enough magic to do that?"

"I think so, if I am careful about using it tonight. I really can't understand my sudden lack of magical prowess. It seems to have hit at a most inopportune time."

"Well, maybe it's just because you're so worried about Anika and Thale. You'll probably get back to normal when all of this is resolved."

"I hope you're right."

They walked the rest of the evening in relative silence, each lost in their own thoughts. If Baris' had been less heavy, he might have actually enjoyed his surroundings. The forest was cool and quiet, with a majestic power he had not felt for a long time. He loved living in the meadows above the raging Callows River but this place of ancient wood called to his spirit. He absently wondered if Anika would enjoy living in a place like this. He wished he could ask her.

Deirdre tugged his sleeve. "Can we stop for a bit?" she asked. "I'm hungry and tired."