Read Mathis, Jolie for Free Online Page B

He heard their whispers.
    Unworthy. Unwanted. Soon to be forgotten.
    He released her. To Vekell he ordered, "Take the children to the keep."
    Kol caught the nearest boy and lifted him by the nape of his tunic into the saddle with Ragi. When he removed his hand he froze. A dark hand print—his own—stained the coarse wool of the boy's garment. He lifted his fingers to his nose. Instantly he recognized the scent. Blood.
    He spun around, searching the darkness. The princess had been the only one he had touched. The blood must have come from her. She stood beneath an ash tree sparring with one of his men over possession of her son.
    Her voice rang with authority. "You will not touch him." When the warrior stepped toward her she slapped him away.
    Taking full advantage of her distraction, Kol approached from behind. Before she could react, he stole the boy from her arms and passed the warm little body to the man. The child, now fast asleep, did not waken. Though the princess tried to pursue, Kol blocked her path.
    "Vermin!" Panic tainted her voice. Small-fisted blows jabbed into Kol's chest. He caught her hands.
    "I hate you," she hissed, her face a mask of feminine rage.
    "Really?" He bent so low, so close, their noses almost touched. "I had not noticed."
    Her eyes flew wide in astonishment. For a moment they shared breath. How lovely she was, even pallid from cold and reeking of ditch water.
    The sound of horses and men grew faint as the last of me soldiers departed with their small passengers.
    Kol released her. She stumbled backward and fell onto her bottom.
    "Your wound," he demanded. "Where is it?"
    The princess snatched up a stick and hurled it at his head. Had his mood not been so foul, he would have laughed. He caught her weapon midair and cast it to the ground.
    Pointing at her, he warned, "Cease your foolishness."
    With the intention of helping her rise, he bent but she scooted away like a retreating crab. She sprang to her feet and fled toward the narrow path as if she too intended to gallop the entire distance to Calldarington.
    He caught her; gently, given the injury he suspected.
    "You bleed." Frowning, he ran his hands over her rigid shoulders. "Tell me where."
    So dark was her gunna, he could not perceive any trace of blood or injury and her softly curved lips held their silence. Impatient for an answer, he smoothed his palms over her breasts. The princess jerked back.
    "Stop!" The clearing echoed with her shrill command.
    He grasped her arm.
    "Ow," she yelped. For a moment her face lost its expression of hatred. But in the next breath, her fist almost contacted his jaw.
    With her hand held in his, he growled, "I vow if you do that again I will smite you in kind." He wouldn't of course, but his threat achieved the desired effect. Defiance lit her eyes, but she yielded to his touch.
    Be gentle, Kol reminded himself. Admittedly, he had little understanding of the female mind, having grown from child to man in the company of warriors.
    With a deliberate lightness of hand, he inspected the princess's arm. He bit down a curse. The night was dark. He could not see. Abandoning his own caution, he grasped her woolen sleeve and ripped it, and the linen beneath, from cuff to shoulder.
    She tried to shrug free, but he held her still. Beneath the moonlight her skin gleamed as exquisitely as Quanzhou silk.
    At his touch, she gasped. Blood surged to his groin. The sound of the wind in the trees mingled with the rush of blood to his head. Thankfully, his jerkin fell to the tops of his thighs. Doubtless the princess's alarm would grow tenfold if she saw the robust tenting of his braies.
    He commanded his attention to her arm and quickly found the source of the blood. A small, perfectly round puncture wound on her forearm, and another just above her elbow.
    "Tell me how this occurred."
    She glanced at her arm. Again, bewilderment softened her scowl. Had she even been aware of the wounds until this moment? But rather than