Page 95 of Sun Elves of Ardani

Days passed, and Kadaki was surprised to find that the ruins were not uncomfortable to live in.

The people of Refka quickly adapted. The ruins were filled with abandoned buildings that soon became un-abandoned. In a matter of days, a new temporary town was created. To maximize their heating and lighting resources, they slept communally on the floors of some of the larger, more structurally sound buildings, but during the day, people spread out and explored.

Rhian’s soldiers had rounded up the rebels that remained—the ones that had neither died in the battle nor run when Kadaki had turned the tide against them—but what would happen to the rest of Refka’s inhabitants remained to be seen. If word about what had occurred got back to Ysura, there could be dire consequences for the town. Ysuran punishments were typically swift and severe.

Roshan gathered the remaining members of the council to reorganize themselves and discuss the situation in which they found themselves. On their second day in the ruins, they invited Rhian to talk with them. With Caradoc dead, Rhian was the highest ranking Ysuran in Refka. Talks between the two groups gradually became more civil. Roshan and the other council members explained that the council, and the majority of the town, had had no knowledge of what the rebels were planning.

Roshan told Kadaki that he’d more or less begged Rhian for mercy. To everyone’s surprise, she had listened to what they’d had to say, and though she had not said outright that there would be no retaliation from the Ysuran government, she spent many hours with them discussing how to move forward.

“Wishing you’d kept one of those collars?” Kadaki had asked when she’d spotted Rhian watching her take magic from the obelisk. Neiryn had burned Kadaki’s collar beyond repair, and the Ysurans had no more to replace it.

Rhian had looked amused. “I think we’re past that, Lady Kadaki.”

Kadaki had thought the other Ardanians would be angry with her about the anomaly, and the magic-eater, and the fact that they were all stuck in the ruins. Usually when something this strange happened, the local magic-users were blamed. She’d been avoiding them until Safana had pulled her into a group as they ate dinner one night. People greeted her with smiles and praise. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

She was also surprised to find several Ysurans in the group tentatively discussing the local weather with some equally tentative humans. Then she discovered the reason they’d been bold enough to infiltrate the group of Ardanians: Neiryn was standing over the fire, cooking.

“An Ysuran serving food to Ardanians?” Kadaki asked as she sidled up beside him. A large piece of meat was roasting on a spit while something simmered in a pot at the side of the fire. “Isn’t that too menial a task for one such as yourself?”

He glanced at her, arching an eyebrow. She saw the stitches in his throat move as he swallowed and carefully prepared to speak. He had recovered enough to speak under his breath, for which Kadaki was grateful. With luck, he’d keep improving.

“I realized I was never going to get any decent food unless I stepped up,” he whispered. “I don’t want to eat overcooked, overspiced Ardanian stew for every meal.”

“I thought stew couldn’t be overcooked. Isn’t that the point of it?”

He gave her a disapproving glance. “This is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about. There’s no finesse to Ardanian cooking. There’s not enough thought put into it.” His whisper grew hoarse, and he swallowed again. He raised his hand over the fire, which shrank slightly under his control. “You should watch. Perhaps you’ll learn something.”

“I don’t cook. And you shouldn’t be talking. Use the notebook.”

“Yes, Lady Mage.”

She was glad to see him smiling. He had been more serious since the fight. Kadaki found herself wishing she knew exactly what he was thinking and how she could comfort him.

On the third night, instead of going to her own makeshift bed, she went to his. He was lying on his back, his arm draped over his eyes to block out the light from the fire in the middle of the room, but he was not asleep. He looked up when Kadaki approached.

Without saying anything, she lay down beside him. She reached up to run a healing spell over his neck, giving it a cursory check. Finding no problems, she turned on her side and pressed her back against him. He turned to nestle his legs against hers and drape an arm over her waist. The feeling of his body curled around hers was indescribably lovely. She had never felt such satisfaction—not even when he’d made her come. Something was silently decided in that moment, and they slept together from that night on.

It was all she could do not to climb atop him and start pulling his clothes off when his hands began to wander beneath their blankets. She bit her lip to keep from sighing contentedly when his mouth found the nape of her neck, and, conscious of the other sleeping figures around them, she struggled not to react when he stroked the peaks of her breasts into hard points through her night shirt. Even when she felt him growing hard against her, his patience seemed to far outlast hers. Inevitably he would leave her slick and aching between her legs until she managed to fall asleep, but even as her frustration built night after night, she couldn’t bear to have him stop.

More than a few of the Ardanians began fixing her with dirty looks after they stopped hiding their relationship, but more than Kadaki had expected were indifferent, if a little too curious. Roshan and Eliyr had attracted a similar reaction.

“Is he kind to you?” Safana asked her, dubious.

“Yes, Safana. I wouldn’t let him near me if he wasn’t.”

“You might be surprised how many women confuse crumbs of respect for true kindness.” She raised her eyebrows conspiratorially. “If he really cares for you, perhaps you can use him to influence the other Ysurans.”

Kadaki held back a sigh. “Perhaps.”

“Do you know the name of the one with the red hair?” another woman had shyly asked. “How did you get him to notice you? What do they like? Should I dress in Ysuran fashion? Or would that be too much?”

The news of Roshan’s entanglement with Eliyr was met with surprise, but not anger. It turned out that most people had already decided that they liked Roshan and were not inclined to change their minds. Instead, they came to the conclusion that his choice in romantic partners must not be so strange after all.

The magic-eater did not return to the ruins. They’d successfully blocked the entrances to the caverns. It was just about the only thing that had gone right in the past several weeks.

Refka had become a ghost town. Kadaki and Eliyr ventured back into town more than once. Each time, the anomaly had gotten worse. And each time they tried to fix it, the magic-eater made an appearance, as if guarding the place, awaiting their return. It was angry, and it hungered.

No one would be able to go back until the magic-eater was dealt with.

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