Lord of the Abyss - By Nalini Singh Page 0,30

strings. "Hmm."

She dared open her eyes at the change in his tone. When she looked into the mirror again, it was to see his face set in lines of concentration as he laced her up inch by slow inch.

"I can't breathe," she said when he pulled too tight.

Loosening the strings, he said, "What other colors do you not wear?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Brown, gray and black."

He laughed, and she was so seduced by the sound that she made no protest when he finished lacing her up and spun her around with his hands on her hips. Leaning close, his cheeks creased with pure masculine amusement, he said, "Liar."

Jumping at the whisper of his breath across her cheekbone, she turned her head. "I must..." She didn't know what she had to do, was starting to panic at the closeness of him when her eye fell on the comb on the very end of the vanity. "I have to brush my hair or it'll become a rat's nest once more."

Reaching out, he picked up the comb before she could get to it. She thought she knew what was coming, but instead of ordering her to turn around again, he backed off, staring mock-thoughtfully at the comb. "What will you do for this?"

"What?" He was blackmailing her. "I'll tell you the rest of the tale."

He waved a hand. "You'll tell me the rest, anyway, the next time you want a bath."

Putting her hands on her hips, she fought the driving urge to pull him down, bite down on that taunting mouth. "What do you want?"

"Lushberry pie with real cream."

"Lushberry pie?" It was a well-known dessert in Elden.

"Yes." He folded his arms, comb still held hostage.

She knew without asking that he hadn't eaten lushberry pie since the childhood he didn't remember - but he'd remembered the pie. Hope unfurled in her heart. However, she didn't give in at once to his demand. He'd get suspicious of that. "Where am I supposed to get lushberries?" Even in Elden, the trees were dying like so much else.

"I'll get them." A grim look. "You'll make the pie."

"Give me the comb first."

"After the pie."

"It'll be no use to me when my hair's already dry and ratty."

A dark scowl. "Don't think to cheat me, Liliana."

Her abdomen grew tight at the sound of her name on his lips. "I'm not the one who refuses to follow the rules of civilized behavior." She held out her hand. "The comb."

Walking over until he was far too close again, he leaned in, sniffed the curve of her neck. "Pretty." Then he gave her the comb and walked out.

Knees crumpling, she stumbled to sit on the bed. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. The Guardian of the Abyss was not meant to be so very... "Yes. Just very." Realizing she was babbling, she lifted her hand and began to run the comb through her hair. When she was done, it settled in sleek lines over her shoulders, and she knew it would be soft even when dry.

The feminine heart of her sighed in pleasure. Her hair had never been soft or silky like those of other women - her mother, the courtiers, the mistresses her father kept. Until she'd turned seven and learned to use her own sorcery to heat the water, her father had made her wash in an ice-cold bath, use the roughest soap.

Weak, so weak. It might give you a little more spirit.

What it had done was turn her blue and almost give up bathing. The only thing that had kept her going back was the knowledge that the punishment for defying the Blood Sorcerer would be worse than the chill that infiltrated her bones after every wash.

Putting the comb back on the vanity as the memories threatened to steal the warmth from her bones, she got up and brushed down the front of her lovely red dress. Then, checking to make sure no one was at the open door, she twirled in front of the mirror, the skirts flying out around her. "Thank you," she whispered to the dread Lord of the Black Castle.

Lushberries were so called because, when ripe, the fist-size dark purple berries were so lush with juice they all but burst open. It was a favorite trick of travelers to place them in a stream until they were chilled, and then to crush the berries into pulp, creating a thick, thirst-quenching drink.

"Sometimes on the farms," Liliana told Jissa as she created the pulp for use in the pie only