The Paradise Gate

Ch. 5 And If You Wrong Us

"Where are we going, my lady?" Lycinder asked as he and Dalliance made their way down the treacherous, crumbling steps of the tower and stepped out into the chill of a late winter's afternoon air.

"Home," said Dalli. "To Na'Roscalen."

"Ah, we're in Tyr'Tiel, then? I'd wondered," he replied, glancing around at the rolling hills of defoliated forests that surrounded the tower as far as the eye could see. "Capital, let's be off."

Without warning, Lycinder bent down, sweeping an arm behind Dalli's knees, and she fell backward with a yelp.

Expecting her skull to make contact with the stone steps of the tower's entrance, she was even more surprised when he caught her around her waist and pulled her up so that she was seated on his forearm.

She threw her own arm around his broad shoulders, clinging for dear life as she suddenly found herself considerably farther from the ground than was her custom.

When she got her bearings, she snatched it back like touching him had burned, and, with no graceful way to arrange herself, sat rigid with her grey eyes huge and her slim shoulders practically at her ears in discomfort.

"What are you doing!" she squeaked.

Lycinder looked at her in confusion. "Taking us to Na'Roscalen."

"What? No! You can't carry me there. Or anywhere! Put me down!" Dalli wiggled in his hold until he released her, her heels making a loud click when she landed in a puff of petticoats. Smoothing her skirts, she glared up at him in irritation.

"Why ever not?" said Lycinder. "Granted, you're heavier than you look, but I can manage." He smirked, pleased to see her face pinch from a wide-eyed glare into that rather adorable scowl once more. "It will be much faster than any route you could devise," he added as though he was clearly the one being reasonable.

"Just because a thing is easy doesn't mean that it's proper," Dalli said primly. "We will be walking out of the woods like civilized people. Besides, I have a footman waiting."

"Ah," said Lycinder, dipping his chin and closing his eyes in a nod of acquiescence. He presented her his arm.

Dalli just looked at him, expecting some new trick.

"I thought we were being civilized?" he prodded.

"Er... yes," said Dalli. "We are." She accepted his offer with as much poise as she could muster and stared straight ahead, waiting for him to lead her.

And waiting.

After a few moments, she turned her head and looked up at him with questioning eyes. He was already looking back with a patient but amused look on his face.

"Which way is Na'Roscalen?" he asked.

Dalli rolled her eyes hugely and tugged a chortling Lycinder down the stairs after her own lead.

* * *

As afternoon faded, they made their way along a narrow footpath. Lycinder waited, expecting that it would be any moment now at which his new mistress would choose to explain to him who her enemies were and what had been done to her that she was willing to give up her soul to seek redress. The girl remained stubbornly silent, her thoughts apparently a million miles away.