The Mountain Ch 06

The clearing was deserted, an early morning mist burning off as it twined through the nearby trees. The man--Teddy--sat very still, except for the twitch of his foot.

He was nervous.

It hadn't always been this way. After nearly twenty years the food drops from the mountain had been almost routine. The supplies were lasting proof of the truce that had been won by the treaty between the mountain people and the islanders. Teddy had been a child when the mountain people sent their first delegation into town. The warriors brought two bags. The first was full of grain and neatly labelled packets of seed. The second--

The second contained the severed heads of the last ten men to attempt an attack on the mountain.

Peace had seemed like the best of a very limited set of options. And despite the bloody warning, Teddy had been enthralled by the mountain people. He had prayed and prayed that he would grow as tall and strong as they were. And when the opportunity arose, he was the first to offer to meet the promised shipments of food each month.

After eight years, his secret dream of being whisked away to life inside the mysterious mountain had faded. And he didn't understand the mountain people any better. Often, he didn't see them at all. The mountain people had access to sophisticated technology, including tiny planes that would drop the food at the designated hour. Sometimes, when the gift of food was heavy or delicate, one of the warriors came, but they never spoke. They appeared like ghosts, silent through the trees, and disappeared just as quickly.

Over time, the food drops had become less frightening to the rest of the islanders, too. Almost a celebration. Each time the mountain people left supplies, the truce was renewed. The islanders were still trapped, but they were safe. In recent years, it had not been uncommon for children to attend with their parents, eager to see if anything of particular interest was included in the shipment.

And then Lucy had been taken.

Now, he waited alone for the mountain people to come. He was afraid that he was not afraid. Shouldn't he fear them? Shouldn't he feel, after all this time, that these creatures had stolen something from him? Lucy, certainly. But also, the chance of a life outside the island. The chance to know people outside his community. To do things his parents talked about, like go to college or watch a television.

He wanted to be angry, but even now, he was fascinated. So, when the mountain man came into view through the trees--a tall man wearing the familiar leather and metal costume of the warriors--Teddy didn't feel afraid. He sat very still and watched. And as the man came closer, Teddy saw that it wasn't a man at all, but a tall, thin woman with long, blonde hair and light blue eyes. The woman set down a bulky pallet of vegetables wrapped in a net and stood, tossing her bright hair over one shoulder.

Teddy thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Some of your fellow islanders are making plans to move against us," said the woman, breaking into his reverie. "They will not be successful. And if their threats continue, the deliveries of supplies will stop."

"I don't know anything about that," said Teddy eagerly.

"You would not, as a sympathizer." Her voice was as musical as it was cold.

"You mean as someone who respects your people?" It was a slur among the islanders to be a 'sympathizer' with the mountain people. It sounded odd coming from one of them.

"You are not wrong to find us worthy of interest, but it is difficult to respect a man who is not loyal to his own kind."

"I'm here alone to meet the food shipment," Teddy said. "If my people cared what happened to me, they might be here, too. I'm loyal to

you

."

"Tell them," she said. "Warn them that rebellion will not be tolerated."

#

Lucy woke up tangled in Warder's arms. She moved away with a jerk, immediately cursing herself for not taking more care. Her movements woke the warrior and he watched her skitter away from him with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"You are afraid to touch me when you are awake," he said. "But when you sleep, you insist on it."

"I must have been cold," said Lucy. She dragged her blanket towards the kitchen table and curled up on a chair, watching him.

"Come back to the bed," said Warder, resting one huge arm in the empty space Lucy had just vacated.

"No."

Warder sighed and stood up, casting aside the sheet. He was naked and Lucy quickly averted her eyes, her face heated. "The weaker of a mated pair generally obeys their alpha," said Warder. His tone was light, but his movements were deliberate as he stalked her to the table. He turned one of the chairs and straddled it, facing her.

"Perhaps I am stronger than you are," said Lucy. As soon as she spoke the words, they seemed like a pretty bad idea, but she refused to take them back. Warder thought she was weak. He expected her to content herself to a life trapped here with him. Even if it was dangerous, she could not stand to let things lie forever.

Warder ignored the challenge in her statement. "Weakness is nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, it is something to be accepted."

She could feel his body radiating heat across from her. She shivered in response, frustrated that she was already feeling the horrible, constant cold of the mountain now that she was out of his arms. Among many other insults, it seemed impossible that she could stand to be cold for the rest of her life.

She thought of the warm baths she had been permitted before, with Persephone as her guard. Persephone had not been back to the room and after the way Warder had spoken to her outside the Great Hall, Lucy wasn't certain that she ever would be. Did that mean she was never to be allowed to have a bath again? Worse, she had always hoped that, somehow, Persephone might be her best chance of escape. If the woman hated her as much as she seemed, she might be careless one day--consciously or otherwise--and give Lucy the opening she needed.

Lucy almost laughed at the realization that she "missed" Persephone.

"I will take you to have a bath today."

Lucy almost jumped out of her chair at the way Warder's statement echoed the direction of her own thoughts. Because she was startled, she failed to keep her expression as neutral as she would have liked. Warder noticed.

He always noticed.

"This pleases you?"

"It--it's the only thing that makes me feel less cold," she said. Instantly, she blushed, realizing that wasn't exactly true. Warder could make her feel heated with a touch. She struggled to accept the truth of that, praying that the next time he tried to take her, her body would not betray her.

Warder raised an eyebrow, but he didn't contradict her. "I want you to tell me something first."

Lucy leaned away from him, alert. "What's that?"

"Tell me why you were climbing the mountain that day."

Lucy's stomach lurched at the thought of the antenna. If he knew--

But, if he didn't, she couldn't give it away. She took a deep breath, wincing as if she were pained instead of panicked. "We were hungry," she said.

"That may be true, but it isn't everything," said Warder. "Between your own resources and the supplies allowed by the treaty, there is plenty of food to go around, is there not?"

Lucy shrugged. "Usually, but the winters can be lean."

"It isn't winter," said Warder. "Tell me the truth."

"I--there isn't any more to it than that. We were careless. Most of the time, you--the mountain people--stay away from us. We didn't know. "

Warder sighed again and steepled his fingers, watching her across the back of the chair until she felt compelled to meet his eyes.

"If you will not tell me the whole truth, perhaps I will venture a guess," he said. "It was your friend's idea, was it not?"

"No," said Lucy quickly. Now, her heart was pounding with a different kind of fear. Perhaps now that he had taken all he wished from her, he would go after Sheera.

"I will not hurt your friend," said Warder. "As long as she stays away."

"Then why ask?"

"Maybe I am grateful to her for bringing you into my path," said Warder.

Lucy snapped her head up,searching his face to see if he was joking. It was such an odd thing to say. As if he thought it was a twisted kind of compliment. Perhaps she was meant to be grateful rather than terrified. "She would never have wished for this to happen to me," said Lucy.

Warder studied her for a moment, and then he said, "I'm sure you're right."

There was something odd in his voice, something she couldn't place.

"Can I really have a bath?" she asked. She was as uncomfortable with this charged silence as she had been with his questions.

Warder stood and stretched his powerful arms over his head. The gesture was careless, relaxed. Entirely too intimate. "Yes," he said finally.

"When will Persephone--"

"I will take you," said Warder. "

#

He hadn't intended to offer.

It was problematic--Grace had never liked the idea of sharing her quarters with his prisoner. And she would like it less now that the girl was his mate. But Lucy did not appear to be acclimating to the climate inside the mountain. In the longer term, he would find more suitable quarters, closer to the part of the mountain kept warm by a buried hot spring. For now, he would do what he could to see that she was comfortable.

He was a warrior, but he had felled many opponents not only because he was strong, but because he understood strategy. He paid attention. He could look at a situation--be it a problem he intended to solve or a fight he intended to win--and determine the best way forward. More importantly, he could accept when the best way forward was not always through brute strength, but through negotiation. Even manipulation, if necessary.

Last night, when his mate had shifted in her sleep and reached for him, he had awakened to hold her. And in the dark, listening to her even breath, he had decided on a change of strategy.

He would not bend her to his will with force. He was confident such a strategy would work, in theory, but he found that he wanted something more from her than obedience and the promise of power.

He wanted her to reach for him. To admit that she wanted him. And that would only come to pass if he nurtured their connection until it grew beyond the heat of their bond.

He might encourage her, certainly. And if she entered estrous again--a possibility due to their intense proximity--he would not hesitate to follow her. But in the meantime, he could be patient. He would seek to content her to her situation.

#

Lucy turned the taps in the marble bathroom as hot as they would go. When the tub was nearly full, she leapt into the water, ignoring the fact that she sent a small wave sloshing over the side of the tub. She simply reached one foot out of the blissful warmth and turned the tap with a toe, letting a thin stream replace what had been lost.

As she thawed, she became more and more aware of the fact that Warder was only a room away. He had walked through the entire quarters to check for whatever unknown dangers might be lurking. She had trailed him awkwardly through a gilded living room, a large, well-equipped kitchen, and two separate bedrooms. The luxury was a marked contrast to Warder's own quarters, but it fit with the fancy bathroom. Even here, the ceilings sloped at odd angles and the air was dusty and cold. Gilt and soft fabrics could not completely hide the fact that these people lived underground.

When he had swept through all the rooms, Warder had announced that he would wait in the hallway, guarding the entrance. She had been ready to order him away from her before she undressed and he had left without a backward glance.

She suspected he was up to something. As long as he left her alone for a few moments in the bath, she decided she didn't care. She closed her eyes and drifted, nearly asleep as she basked in the warmth. The past few days had been too much.

When she woke up, floating lazily in the cooling water, there was a strange woman sitting across from her on the gilded bench where Lucy had left her towel. Lucy sat up with splash and she was about to call out when the woman raised her eyebrows and held one finger to her lips.

"I saw Warder at the door, if you shout, he'll be here in an instant, and I won't get to talk to you at all." The woman had light blue eyes and the same fair hair as most of the mountain people. Belatedly, Lucy realized that she was wearing warrior garb similar to Warder's. She had noticed that some of the warriors were women, but she had never seen one up close.

"Who are you?" Lucy sat up, covering her bare chest with one arm.

"Cenia," said the woman. She kept her voice low and Lucy did the same. It was true that Warder would come running at any sign of a disturbance, but the woman did not seem dangerous. At least, not any more dangerous than any mountain dweller. While Lucy watched, she began to unlace her heavy boots, sighing in pleasure and rubbing the arch of her foot as she removed first one and then the other.

"What are you doing here?"

"The same thing you are, I suppose," said Cenia. "My mother didn't want me to be a warrior. I have to act as if I love absolutely everything about it. And I do, except for how filthy we get all the time. Grace is in court, so I knew this place would be deserted. But I forgot Warder would know that, too."

In one breath, Cenia had told Lucy more about life inside the mountain than she'd learned in weeks. She sat up, maneuvering awkwardly to try to preserve her modesty. "Lady Grace is your mother?"

Cenia nodded. "I had heard the two of you met. She can be very dramatic, my mother. Especially when it comes to Warder. Am I making you uncomfortable? I forget how modest you islanders are."

"Oh, um..."

"It comes from having space," said Cenia. "We are all so close together in here, we've learned to maintain privacy without any

actual

privacy. Normally, I'd bathe with everyone else in the bath hall, but I still remember the luxury of hot water. As long as Grace never finds out..."

"Would she be angry?" This seemed so foreign from Lucy's own experience. Her mother did not begrudge her anything. In fact, in lean times, it was up to Lucy to ensure that her mother didn't go without to try to give her daughter a larger share. She called to mind the strange encounter with Lady Grace in the hallway. She had been polite and syrupy sweet, but the whole thing had set Lucy a bit on edge. At the time, she had thought it was nothing more than the strangeness that she felt at encountering any of the mountain people. But Warder's reaction to the encounter and Cenia's less-than-glowing account of her own mother made her trust her instincts more completely.

Cenia was quiet for a moment. "My mother does not like anything that slips outside her control," she said finally. "Although, I suppose I ought to be thanking you for making things easier."

"Thanking me? I don't even know you."

"Now that Warder is mated, Grace can stop insisting that I ought to be his mate instead of being a warrior."

"Oh," said Lucy. "That." Again, her stomach did a funny flip at the idea of Warder being mated to someone else.

Hormones

, she scolded herself silently. She didn't want him. She would be grateful if someone else took him away. She reasoned that she would have felt a strange kind of connection to anyone who had managed to take away the sickness that had plagued her for most of her life. That, or one sickness had been replaced with another.

Cenia must have read her discomfort. "Are you not happy at being mated to Warder? He's very strong. Everyone thought he would take an omega, despite there being so few of us. I suppose no one suspected there were still omegas living in your town."

"I don't want to be mated to anyone," said Lucy. "I want to go home." More of what Cenia said penetrated. "What is an omega?"

"You don't know?" Cenia looked surprised. "I guess...I guess you wouldn't, having lived outside all your life. But it's hard to imagine."

"I've worked out it has something to do with being mated, but no one had told me anything. Except you."

"Probably I shouldn't," said Cenia, but she didn't sound all that worried. "Except I feel like I should. Omegas usually stick together. We're loyal to each other long before we choose our mates."

"You're an...omega?"

Cenia nodded. "As soon as my mother figured it out, she was determined that I would be mated to someone powerful. It's always driven her nuts that Hadren has Ysabel. I think she would have given me to him if she could to get Ysabel away from him."

Lucy couldn't believe that Cenia could speak so casually of such twisted dynamics. "Hadren isn't...is he your father?"

Cenia laughed. "God no. My mother is mated, too. To an omega named Alistair. My father. He's a good man. I don't see him often because he avoids Grace all he can."

"On the island, no one would ever have a mate and a husband or a wife or...whatever. Doesn't it get complicated?"

"It's probably complicated either way," said Cenia. "But Warder must have explained all this to you."

Lucy shook her head. "He doesn't talk much at all." The water was quickly turning to ice. Lucy started to get out and then blushed. "Could you--turn around?"

Cenia laughed quietly to herself and turned away, holding out Lucy's towel as she did so. Lucy grabbed for it and wrapped herself in the fluffy cloth. She was already shivering. "Why aren't mountain people cold all the time?"

Cenia turned back to her with a look of concern. "All of this must be a big adjustment. But at least you have Warder to help you."

It was Lucy's turn to laugh. "Warder? Help me? He's my jailer."

Cenia looked troubled. "He is your mate," she said, as if that explained everything. "I cannot imagine Warder treating his mate poorly. Not after waiting so long."

"I don't think we're talking about the same person."

"Cenia."

Cenia's fair head whipped around at the sound of Warder's voice. "Commander," she said. She stood up and assumed a remarkably official pose, considering the fact that she was still barefoot.

"What are you doing here?" Warder asked.

"I was going to take a hot bath," said Cenia, "But--" she broke her official pose and gestured at Lucy with a small smile.

"How did you get in?" snapped Warder. "I was guarding the door."

"Grace has a secret entrance," said Cenia. "I thought you knew."

"I should have known," said Warder darkly. "And she was the one who sent you?"

Cenia looked startled. "No. She doesn't know I'm here. And even if she did try to order me here, I don't take orders from Grace anymore."

"So you say," said Warder.

Cenia shot Lucy a glance and instantly, Warder growled. Cenia looked away, fixing Warder with a glare.

"You think I would let Grace manipulate me?" she asked. Her friendly voice had gone cold.

"Knowingly or otherwise," said Warder. "You had a habit of seeing good intentions in people who don't have any."

"Perhaps that's why I chose you for a commander," said Cenia darkly. "I delivered your message today, in case you were wondering."

Warder seemed to remember that Lucy was in the room. He crossed the distance between them and pulled her behind him, blocking Cenia from view.

"Go," he said. "Report to Rader. And don't let me find you haunting Grace's quarters again. Remember where your loyalty lies."

"You don't really question my loyalty, do you, Warder?" asked Cenia.

"If I did, you would not serve me anymore," Warder said. "Now go, Cenia. That's an order."

Cenia gathered her boots and left the room, shooting Lucy the quickest of glances. Lucy gave her a small smile, careful that Warder didn't see. Whoever Cenia was, she had answered more of Lucy's questions in five minutes than anyone else had since she had been captured. Of course, her answers had been like riddles, leaving Lucy with even more questions.