"Maybe. I forget." Wat crawled off the bed and toward her. He really was beautiful, and it made her breath catch in her throat. Battle sylphs could look like anything they wanted, and he was everything she'd ever found attractive in a man all at once.

When Wat crawled into her arms, she forgot what she'd been supposed to be doing as well.

"He's back, isn't he?" The Widow Lily Blackwell looked up at the ceiling as a faint giggle sounded, and then at her battler.

Mace was looking at the ceiling as well, a stern line between his brows. He growled, and the baby he was diapering whimpered. Immediately, he returned his attention to the infant and cooed. Little Gila giggled and tried to put her foot in her mouth.

It was a rhetorical question. Wat was incapable of leaving his master alone for even half a day. Granted, all battlers were like that, but Mace's needs certainly didn't get in the way of work. Not for either of them. Responsibilities always had to come first, and Mace's strong recognition of that was one of the things Lily was fondest about. He was a good man, and theirs a good match. It was just too bad Gabralina didn't have the same work ethic. She was a sweet girl, but she was flighty, and her battler was next to useless.

The Widow helped Mace finish pinning the diaper around Gila and pulled a pink shirt on over the child's head. They were in the playroom, the other toddlers who were too young to go to school playing around them. "Try not to break anything," she said as she picked up the baby and rocked her.

"Yes, Lily," Mace promised, and leaned in to kiss her.

She let him. He was a very good kisser, and she sighed against his mouth before lifting a hand to his cheek. It was smooth. Mace would never think to appear before her unshaven.

"Dinner is an hour before dusk. We're almost out of potatoes."

"I'll bring you some," he said, and he reached into her ap.r.o.n, taking out a few coins for the purchase. Transferring them to his pocket, he kissed her again.

The Widow, who'd been called that for so long that only Mace knew her by her first name, let herself feel the deep, powerful, and extremely private love she had for him. Her partner relaxed into it, taking it into his being. Battle sylphs craved love; they even deserted their own world to find it. Silly young girls like Gabralina and her Wat upstairs thought the only way to show that was physical. Lily was hardly celibate, but moments like this were so much purer.

"Lily," Mace whispered, his lips brushing hers. Another giggle sounded from upstairs, and the big battler sighed. "Anything else?"

"A good-sized goose if you can find one. I'd like to cube it for stew with the potatoes." She stepped back and cuddled Gila. "Only if it's fresh, mind you."

"Of course."

The battler shimmered and became smoke and lightning, flickering out of the playroom and down to the stairs in a corner of the kitchen. Seconds later, Lily heard him roar. A girl screamed, followed by a frightened, inhuman wail. Turning to the window, the Widow watched a black cloud shoot over the front yard and away, pursued by a much larger one. Lily humphed and turned back toward the kitchen.

"Gabralina!" she called as she entered and herded several children before her. "Come on down, dear. It's time to make bread."

Gabralina hurried down the lane, shivering, her heart still pounding from the fright Mace had given her. She'd been in a very compromising position when he burst in, and Wat almost dropped her on the floor before he fled out the window. She was just glad the Widow hadn't said anything. She liked the work and needed it. The Widow fed her, but Gabralina also liked to buy clothes and other nice things.

She kept up a hurried pace toward the town center, a basket in her hand. In it were three loaves of bread. She would trade the loaves for a basket of eggs, which was part of an arrangement that the Widow had with a neighbor. Gabralina supposed that was better than having to clean out a chicken coop every day.

She reached the main lane and trotted down it, staying to the side where she was out of the way of traffic. There wasn't much today, but she could see a transport coach moving quickly toward her, drawn by a team of six horses. As it rattled past, Gabralina waved the dust out of her face and checked that none got on her bread. None had.

Tucking the cloth more closely over them, she looked up. The coach was slowing in the middle of the road, the driver shouting at the horses. Gabralina blinked, recognizing the style of it from her time in Yed. A moment later, the door opened and a woman leaned out. A plain, brown-haired woman in a low-cut red dress.

"Gabby? Is that you? I knew it was you!"

Gabralina gaped. "Sala?" she gasped. "Sala!" Dropping her basket, she ran forward with a happy laugh. It was her oldest and closest friend.

Chapter Three.

Rachel had never thought that, in the twilight of her life, she would end up a schoolteacher. Once, she'd been a rich man's wife, but when he died, her sons took over the business and lost their use for their poor old mother. At first she'd been bitter about that, but no longer. Life was too short-and far too beautiful. Being a teacher, she supposed, made sense. She was educated for a woman of her birth and had learned how to be patient. More importantly, she didn't have much else to do with her time and she liked to feel needed.

She looked over her cla.s.s. The children were all under the age of ten, none terribly interested in what she was trying to teach but required to sit there anyway. All children were obliged to attend school until they were at least twelve or proved they already knew what was needed. It was a rule unique to the Valley, and the children from other places weren't used to being in the cla.s.sroom. They fidgeted endlessly.

"Quiet," she ordered, tapping the board with her pointer. "Eighty-six plus four hundred and twelve. Who knows the answer?" She looked over all the silent faces. "Surely someone remembers this. We worked on it all last week. Come now. We're not leaving until someone gets it."

Up near the ceiling came a shimmer, an air sylph taking on the translucent form of a young girl so that she could speak. "Four hundred and ninety-eight?" she asked, her voice a throaty whisper. The rule about education applied to the sylphs as well. In some ways, they were better students than the human children. In others, they were far worse. At least they didn't squirm in their seats waiting for recess.

Rachel beamed. "Excellent! Thank you, Current." She tapped the board for the next question. "Three plus three hundred. Anyone?"

A bell sounded. Immediately, the sylphs hovering around the ceiling and walls of the room were gone, and the children all broke for the door to join the ma.s.s exodus from the other cla.s.srooms. Lunchtime. Rachel sighed. So much for the great process of learning.

She quietly set down her chalk and went to close the cla.s.sroom door, and the sound of children galloping along wooden floors was immediately deadened, or most of it. She crossed the room to the last desk in the corner at the back of the cla.s.s and crouched down, her knees protesting a bit, and looked up at the blue uniformed man who sat there, staring at his clasped hands on the desk. His hair was as blue as his uniform, and he looked to be a young man in his early twenties, but Rachel knew that was only an illusion.

"You didn't partic.i.p.ate in cla.s.s today," she said in a gentle tone. "Why not, Claw?"

The battler hunched down, his shoulders up around his ears. "I didn't know the answers," he said.

Rachel smiled and set a wrinkled hand over his. "That's why you're here, sweetheart. So you can learn the answers."

Claw looked up, miserable and unconvinced.

Rachel's smile softened, and she reached out to lay her hand on his cheek instead. This battler had all the power of any other, but he was an emotional wreck. He had been for years, since long before she'd been asked to be his master. He'd been abused by his former master, used as a slave for decades like Mace, but unlike Mace he'd been broken by it. Claw had no faith in himself and a terrible fear that Rachel would decide he was useless and desert him. Telling him she'd never leave was useless. Claw wouldn't believe her. He couldn't.

Wincing a little, she rose and unb.u.t.toned her dress. Claw watched as she did, watched as she took the garment off and laid it gently over the back of a chair. She was old and fat and wrinkled, but he didn't care. She was his master, and that was all that mattered to him. Someday, she hoped she could get him to understand that he mattered as well.

She opened her arms.

"Come here," she called to him, and with a sound nearly like a sob, he did.

By the time lunch was over, the cla.s.sroom was returned to perfect order and Rachel was back at the blackboard. Claw answered two of the questions that afternoon, and to her mind that was a success.

Solie stared breathlessly up at her lover, her hands clasped behind his neck and tangled in his long hair. Heyou grinned down at her.

His skin was dry, unlike hers. Unless he thought of it he never sweated, and she was so used to it that she rarely noticed anymore. She didn't now. Instead, she tugged on the back of his neck and Heyou sank down next to her, pressing soft lips against her mouth as he gently rocked against her. He could project his l.u.s.t at her if he wanted, driving her absolutely wild and making their bodies desperate and violent, but this was in her mind more enjoyable. She felt more like a partic.i.p.ant this way instead of just a pa.s.senger.

For six years, Heyou had been her battler, her best friend, and her lover. Her dearest confidant. He remained the best thing to happen in her life. She still reacted to his touch with the same ardor she'd felt the first time, still loved his sometimes crazy company. His being gone for even a few days had left her lonely, and she'd pulled him into her room the moment he got back. Galway would be busy with his family for a while anyway.

They rolled across the wide bed, Heyou pulling her up and over him so that her long red hair framed his face. She sat upright, his length still deep inside her as he reached to caress her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Solie sighed, leaning back and baring her chest for him, staring without seeing at the stone ceiling. He stroked her nipples and she cried out, the fire he always brought building in her belly. She let it carry her along, the muscles in her thighs flexing as she rose up and down on him, biting her lip to keep herself from screaming.

Not that it would matter if she did. The stone walls were too thick to let sound travel through, and even if it did, there was only a battler on duty outside. Even before the arrival of the a.s.sa.s.sins, three more of whom had already been captured, battlers were her guards. They were out there whenever Heyou made love to her. There was a battler wherever she went except for her toilet.

Solie leaned back farther, spine arching, and cried out after all. The joy inside her exploded free, rushing as a wave through her entire body. Empathically linked, Heyou cried out too, stiffening and filling her, his own pleasure reflecting back and increasing her own.

Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck, kissing her gently. Solie relaxed against him, smiling, enjoying him just holding her. She loved him so much, loved everything about him. If there was one thing he couldn't give her, she just had to live with it.

Heyou knew something was bothering his queen. He couldn't read her mind, not quite, but he could interpret her emotions thoroughly enough that it was the next best thing. Today, though, she was hiding it well.

At first he'd thought it was the a.s.sa.s.sins. They'd picked up three more, finding them easily because of their hostility. All of them were locked up, waiting for Solie to decide what to do with them. But it wasn't fear he felt now, which was what he would expect if the problem were the a.s.sa.s.sins. Instead he sensed sadness, a feeling of something missing. He didn't know what to do about that.

He would have asked her, but she was the queen. Battlers didn't question queens. Moreover, he was afraid what the answer might be. Solie was everything to him. He didn't want to take the slightest chance that he wasn't everything to her in return.

Gabralina and Sala walked hand in hand through the marketplace, Gabralina's mission for eggs forgotten. Sala had been her best friend since childhood and the force behind all their plots and plans. Having her now in the Valley felt like everything was right again, and Gabralina couldn't wait for her to meet Wat.

"I was so worried about you," she confessed. "When I was arrested, I didn't know what happened. I thought you were in the house, but then they only took me, so I guess you left just before they got there. You're so lucky."

Sala smiled, squeezing her hand as they walked. "No one bothered me. Thank you so much for not saying anything. You're a true friend." When Gabralina beamed, Sala added, "I wanted to help you, but there was nothing I could do."

"I know. It all turned out for the best, though." Gabralina giggled. "I have Wat now! It would never have happened otherwise. It's so wonderful. Everyone is nice here, too, and I have a job."

"A job!" Sala laughed. "That's a bit of a drop from being a magistrate's mistress."

"Maybe." Gabralina shrugged. "But I was bored there a lot of the time, and he was old and fat. I get to take care of children here. I love it."

Sala smiled. "Whatever makes you happy, dearest."

They wandered through the busy morning crowds. Gabralina wanted to show her friend everything, hoping against hope that she would stay.

A group of air and fire sylphs soared overhead. Sala was watching them in wonder, her eyes shining. "Is it true what you wrote about anyone being able to have a sylph here?"

"Yes," Gabralina said. "Well, they're picky about who can have one, but it isn't like back home in Yed. They don't care how rich you are or anything."

"So, anyone can have a sylph?"

Gabralina frowned, remembering what she'd been told when she first arrived. "Unless the sylph picks them, they have to be fairly old. At least, the women with the battlers are older. I'm not sure why. I think it has to do with them not being able to have babies or something. But the other kinds of sylphs have masters as young as me. I'm sure they'd love to give you one."

Sala smiled. "That sounds nice. I think I might ask for a sylph. It would be lovely to have a friend like that. To feel a bond and . . ."

"Oh, it is," Gabralina a.s.sured her. "It truly is." It would be wonderful for Sala to have a sylph of her own. "Does this mean you're staying?"

"I was thinking of it. When I heard you were here, I had to come. It just wasn't the same without you back in Yed."

Overjoyed, Gabralina hugged her. She would have stayed a simple field hand if Sala hadn't found her so long ago and introduced her to the city, to all of the rich people who lived in it. And Sala was always so much fun.

In the center of the marketplace, a roar suddenly sounded, echoed shortly thereafter by others. Both women jumped as cloud-shaped battlers descended, smoky shapes surrounding a screaming man in worn leathers.

"What?" Sala gasped. "What's going on?" She clung in horror to her friend.

Gabralina held her just as tight, trying desperately to think. She'd heard Mace talking to the Widow about this earlier. She hadn't really thought about it further, but she remembered now.

"There are killers after the queen," she explained. "The battlers have been trying to flush them out for a week."

"How?" Sala asked.

Gabralina paused. What had Mace called it, evil intent? "They . . . they can tell when someone wants to do something bad."

"Oh," Sala whispered, her face pale. Her eyes were bright.

The market cleared. Both women watched as the battlers' target was apprehended, smoky tendrils wrapping around him and lifting him up into the air. Gabralina wondered if Wat was among the group, but the sylphs' lightning flashed much quicker than his ever did. They carried their captive away toward the underground, and Gabralina turned back to her friend, her heart pounding.

"Sorry about that," she said. "It's normally very peaceful here."

"I'm glad," Sala replied. "I don't think I could take that much excitement on a regular basis."

The two shared a smile and they continued walking, here and there, just enjoying the day. It wasn't until hours later that Gabralina remembered the eggs.

Sala shivered, rubbing her arms.

Her friend's home was an underground apartment near the center of town. It was small and plain, just a front salon and a bedroom with a bathroom down the hall that Gabralina shared with everyone else on the floor. There were no windows, but a series of narrow slits in the ceiling let in daylight. It didn't cost Gabralina anything, as earth sylphs made enough apartments for everyone in the Valley, but to Sala's mind there wasn't much encouragement for anyone to want to stay.

That was probably the point, she decided, looking around at her friend's tiny s.p.a.ce. A small table and two chairs in the front room took up nearly half the area, and she'd already seen that the bedroom was mostly bed. Gabralina had offered this place for her to stay, but the minuteness of the apartment felt like it was closing in on her. It was a huge change from the plantation where Gabralina had been living as the mistress of one of the most powerful magistrates in Yed. That house had eighty rooms and forty servants. The magistrate had given her gowns and jewels and brought her into the highest circles of society. Naturally, Gabralina brought her oldest friend Sala along for the ride.

Sala sighed, still processing how her friend's life was reduced.

Behind her, the door opened. She turned, expecting to see Gabralina, but instead she found the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. He was flawless, even more gorgeous than Gabralina herself.

The man entered and stopped, staring at her. He was dressed in a blue uniform trimmed with gold, but for all his beauty and splendor his eyes were vapid. He blinked, his hand still on the door handle. He tilted his head to one side.

"You feel funny," he said.

"Do I?"

"Yeah." His head tilted to the other side. "Are you in there?"

"I would a.s.sume so . . ." She laughed. "Are you Gabby's battle sylph?"

"Gabby?" he repeated.

Gabralina appeared, pushing through the door and against his back until he got out of the way and she could pa.s.s with an armful of blankets. Sala found herself backed into a corner, feeling more claustrophobic than ever.

"Hi, Wat," Gabralina said, beaming at him before putting the blankets on the table and turning to Sala. "Have you two introduced yourselves?"

"We were about to," Sala said.

Wat glanced between his master and Sala, and he put his arms around Gabralina, staring at Sala as he did. "This is Gabralina," he said, p.r.o.nouncing her name slowly and carefully.

Sala smiled as her blonde friend giggled. "I'll remember that," she said. Glancing at Gabralina she asked, "He's a sweetheart. I have a few things to bring in. Can you tell him to obey me so I can ask him to bring them in? Some of them are heavy."

Gabralina shrugged. "Sure. Wat, obey Sala, okay?"

"Okay," he said.

"Are all battle sylphs like this?" Sala asked. He was staring up at the ceiling for no reason she could determine.

"Oh, no," Gabralina said, leaning back against him. Her battler forgot whatever had drawn him to the ceiling and started to nibble on her neck. "Wat is unique."