Impossible Things by Kate Johnson Page B

boy comes back we’ll get some rest, have some supper and wash the sea off us, then you’ll be perfectly presentable to see the council tomorrow.’
    She nodded silently.
    ‘Don’t mind sharing a bed with me, do you?’ he probed. ‘Just for one night. Wouldn’t want to leave you all alone in a strange place.’
    ‘I—’ she began, but couldn’t seem to go any further.
    ‘I won’t do anything you don’t want me to,’ he added with only a hint of mocking.
    ‘Yes, my lord,’ she stammered.
    ‘Ah, come on Ishtaer, you’re bad for my ego. Can’t I tempt you a little bit?’
    ‘No, my lord, sorry, my lord,’ she gasped, as if simply refusing him was the hardest thing she could do. He supposed slaves weren’t used to having much choice.
    ‘Well, your loss,’ he said as the boy came running back to them.
    ‘My lord, I’ve found you a room.’
    ‘Good lad,’ Kael said, striding on into the inner courtyard. ‘Somehow I knew you would.’
    She didn’t know why he insisted on keeping her with him. Did he think she was going to run away? She might be terrified of this big, dangerous man, but for the first time she could remember she was clean, healthy and not hungry, and it was all thanks to him.
    If only Ladyship had offered her those basic comforts, Ishtaer might have stayed.
    She was so shocked at that thought that she hardly noticed the warlord pumping water into a bucket and taking his clothes off. It was only when he touched her arm and she turned, startled, that her body came up against his and she realised he was naked.
    ‘I’ve clean clothes for you, once you’ve had a wash,’ he said. Ishtaer nodded automatically. ‘You might need to get undressed first,’ he added when she just stood there.
    ‘I—’
    He sighed. ‘Said I wasn’t going to touch you, Ishtaer, unless you wanted me to. Do you want me to?’
    She shook her head rapidly.
    ‘Sure? It’s an experience most women would pay for.’
    I know. I’ve been paying for it for years.
    That thought shocked her too.
    ‘Come on, get your clothes off. I ain’t sharing a nice clean bed with you all covered in the sea. Funny how you notice it all the more on dry land, eh?’
    She nodded stiffly and began to undress. He’d seen her naked before, of course, and had hardly been inflamed with passion. And she knew he’d taken off his clothes in her presence, quite often actually. She could hear the rustle of cloth, smell the scent of his skin. He seemed to do it on purpose, to needle her.
    He probably wasn’t used to women turning him down.
    She washed herself quickly and put on the nightshirt the warlord handed to her, just as someone knocked at the door.
    ‘Your supper, my lord, and … um …’
    ‘Lady,’ the warlord said absently.
    ‘Er … yes.’
    The door shut, and the warlord said, ‘Well, you’ll be a lady when you graduate. Assuming those marks of yours aren’t faked.’
    It was a loaded statement. ‘No, my lord.’
    ‘And for the love of the gods stop calling me “my lord”. My name is Kael. We’ve shared a cabin for weeks, girl. You can at least call me by my first name.’
    ‘Yes, my … Kael.’
    He laughed softly at that, and told her to eat.
    She’d learned to eat carefully, slowly, her stomach still unused to such huge amounts of food. A few pieces of meat and one bread roll and she was stuffed.
    ‘You’ll soon get used to eating more,’ the warlord – Kael – said.
    Ishtaer nodded politely. She didn’t think she ever would.
    He told her to get into bed and she did, lying stiff and trembling as he climbed in beside her. But all he did was settle beneath the covers, not even trying to touch her. She heard his puff of air as he blew out the candle, and silence settled over the room.
    ‘Ishtaer?’ he said after a few minutes.
    ‘Yes, m—Kael?’
    ‘Stop bloody trembling. I can’t get to sleep.’
    ‘I—I’ll try.’
    ‘Are you cold?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Pity. I could have warmed you up.’
    She