"Navarre..." Needing to comfort him, she wrapped her arms around him. "Do not cry,Navarre ..." she whispered. "Please... do not cry..."
It was the pattern of their days and nights for two months, and then he woke one morning to find her cage empty, the linen stripped from the bed, the door open.
"Katlaina!"
He screamed her name over and over again until one of the guards came.
"Where is she?"Navarre demanded. "What have you done to her?"
"Done your part, you have," the guard said. "Your seed has taken root. She's breeding, the woman is."
Navarre's hands curled around the bars, his knuckles white. "When will I see her again?"
The guard stared at him for a moment, and then he shook his head. "You will not," he replied quietly.
"Please, tell me where she is."
The guard started to shake his head, and then he sighed. "She is in a room abovestairs. You needn't worry. They'll take good care of her now."
"Please, let me see her."
"I cannot."
"Please."Navarre blinked back the tears that burned his eyes. "Please."
"I cannot."
"Shall I beg? Is that what you want? I'll go down on my knees, down on my belly, whatever you ask. Only let me see her one more time."
The guard toyed with the hilt of his sword, and then he sighed. "Tonight," he said. "If I can, I will bring her tonight. But for a few moments only."
Navarrenodded, unable to speak past the lump in his throat. It was the first kindness that had ever been shown him.
It was in the last dark hour before dawn when the guard brought Katlaina to him.
"I'll be back for her in a quarter of an hour," the guard said.
"Wait!"Navarre called as the man turned to leave. "Can you not put her in here with me?"
"I haven't got the key," the guard said. "Best make good use of the time you have."
Navarrewaited until the man was gone, and then he reached through the bars, enfolding her in his arms. "Katlaina, are you well?"
"Do not worry," she said quietly. "No harm will come to us." She caressed his cheek. "My poorNavarre . You will be alone again." A tear slid down her cheek as she placed her hand over his heart. "I will never forget you."
"Nor I you."
"I shall pray for a girl," she said tremulously. "Perhaps, if the gods are kind and my child is female, they will let you go."
"Perhaps," he said.
She slid her arms around his waist, drawing him as close as she could with the bars between them.
"Kiss me, myNavarre ," she whispered fervently. "Kiss me until they take me away."
Slowly, reverently, he lowered his head, his mouth slanting over hers to sip her sweetness. She tasted of milk and honey, and he drank deeply, imprinting her taste, her scent, on his memory. His fingers moved in the black silk of her hair, slid inside her robe to caress her breasts, memorizing the softness of her skin, the feel of her in his hands.
"Katlaina..." He breathed her name, and then he kissed her again, silently cursing the iron bars that kept them apart.
"I love you," she whispered. "I will love you as long as I live."
"Katlaina, I..." The words died in his throat as he heard footsteps, and then the guard was there, taking her by the arm, leading her away.
And he was left alone.
Part Two Chapter Five
He had been lonely when they took his mother from him, but it was as nothing compared to the desolation he felt now. He ached with loneliness, with desire. For two months, he had known the love of a woman, had known what it meant to experience a man's desire, a man's fulfillment.
And now she was gone, and he would never see her again. Nor would he see the child he had fathered.Navarre stared at the ceiling, unseeing. Once the child was born, his own life would be over, unless his offspring was a female. What would happen then, he didn't know. Nor did it matter, because he knew, deep inside the dark well of his soul, that he had sired a male.
Katlaina. She was in one of the rooms upstairs. So near... Katlaina, Katlaina.
He mourned her loss as though she had died. He refused to eat, couldn't sleep, only lay in his narrow cot, one arm over his eyes, thinking of her, remembering the nights they had shared. The love they had shared.
Katlaina.
Days that had seemed long before seemed endless now.