Darkest Love by Melody Tweedy Page A

took my sorrows with it.”
    Annie wished Princess Sola would not look so alluring. The younger woman continued, “When I heard my men say the name Rain I knew you were him. I didn’t tell them about the dream. I was worried they would feel…”
    â€œJealous,” Annie offered.
    â€œJealous. They would feel jealous if they knew about my dream. So I made a decree.” She smiled. “I told them I would walk free for the next few months and meet the man named Rain.”
    She nuzzled Rain’s fingers again, and Annie laughed. “Rain, she doesn’t mean to flirt. It’s the Kaamo sexual openness.”
    Rain didn’t look perturbed about it at all.

Chapter 10
    â€œWasn’t Sola’s dream a lucky break?” Annie said to Rain after the princess had left. “Perfect timing. A convenient little bit of bullshit.”
    â€œDon’t talk about Kaamo beliefs like that, Annie,” Rain said, still reeling from the shock of meeting the princess. She was so alluring! The nuzzling of her nose on his hand had gotten his heart thumping. And his penis had definitely stirred as he watched her backside retreating into the night.
    He was making every effort not to look at Annie as she peeled her t-shirt off. It’s tough being surrounded by hotties. Those big breasts bouncing in the lantern-light could spring him up again. At this rate Rain’s brain was going to short circuit from the constant re-routing of blood: head to heart to dick and back again.
    â€œYou know what I mean.” Annie yawned, snuggling under the blankets. Rain watched her in his peripheral vision, waiting for her luscious bosoms to disappear under the blanket before he looked at her straight on.
    â€œRain.” She laughed suddenly, smacking him on the arm.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œRain, after Sola had that dream, and she found out about you, she ordered her warriors to do a kulku dance in your honor. A war dance to welcome a stranger. She changed the incantation, made them say they are at your service. I saw them chanting: All my arms and all my blood! All my arms and all my blood!”
    â€œWere you watching?”
    â€œI was far away, under the limestone cliffs. It was an amazing sight. Imagine it. Two dozen men the size of trucks, beating their chests and chanting their allegiance to you. Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain! They screamed it again and again. Do you remember Mytu…?”
    â€œUh huh.” Rain remembered the man very well. Scars crisscrossed the guy’s arms and legs like a network of New York streets. He had an angry spark in his eyes. The Kaamo said Mytu broke native bear’s spines over his knee.
    â€œMytu had to make an offering at the end of the chant. A bit of a homage.” Annie winked. “A homage to you! He cut his arms and let the blood spill on the dirt, flinging his arm back and forth. Buckets of it must have shot out to sea. It looked like he was throwing paint at the sunset, to add a new pink tinge to the sky.”
    â€œOh, God.”
    Annie shook her head. “I know. He volunteered for that part. It is a point of pride for them.” She smiled, cheeks rosy, and rested her head on the pillow. “An honor.”
    â€œSo he’s got a new scar?”
    â€œA big new scabby wound in your honor, Mr. Mistern. It hasn’t healed into a scar yet.” Annie patted Rain’s arm. “Just think. While you were in New York, doing whatever you were doing–book signings, fucking Mandy, whatever—”
    â€œPlease don’t start—”
    â€œWhile you were doing all that stuff,” Annie hurried on, “a group of men were screeching your name at the sky. Blood was shed in your name. And a beautiful princess,” her face fell slightly. “A beautiful princess made a pledge to you.”
    â€œI don’t do long-distance relationships.”
    â€œWhat a shame. She’s from a different culture. Probably