Tivi's Dagger Read Online Free

undergarment
at his crotch – he peeled off the silver covering his face and
head.
    Shiny black hair fell down his back in thick
curls, tapering toward the end into thin ringlets that brushed the
top of his undergarment. It was hair that had never felt the touch
of a blade. When he turned to us, I observed that his jaw was
pleasingly angular with his chin strong and dimpled in the center
and his mouth wide and honest. There was a small gap in the front
of his white teeth which he flashed to us in a shivery smile as his
dark nipples hardened against the wind. I wondered how we could
ever have mistaken him for a woman.
    “ Are you waiting for the mists to
swallow you? Let’s lie in the warmth of the spring!” And with that,
he whipped off his undergarment and stepped into the steamy pool,
flashing a glimpse of dark arse-crack and firm buttocks.
    Kel slipped into the water like an eel and
scooted to the far side where he clung to the edge and stared into
the expanse of gray sky. Brin kept his back to us, muttering
mutinously, until he was up to his ears in the water, one hand
covering the apostate’s brand over his heart and the other his
genitals. Lana was frozen in the middle of removing her final boot,
open-mouthed at the sight of Kari, who was now floating shamelessly
in the water on his back, eyes closed, tiny bubbles clinging to his
hair as it spread out all around him like seaweed, a look of free
contentment on his face.
    I took Lana’s hand and we stepped into the
water together. The stones underfoot were warm and slippery. It was
a wonderful feeling to be immersed in the steaming pool with the
air so cold around us. Kel was doing a very poor job of trying not
to ogle Lana’s body. She relaxed into the wet warmth with a sigh of
joy and I was gratified to see a faint blush darkening my brother’s
cheeks as he kept his eyes fixed on the horizon.
    Completely in tune with my desire to
surreptitiously annoy my brother at every opportunity, Lana unwound
her hair from its long braid and made a good show of washing
herself. By the time the skin on our fingertips was starting to
wrinkle, Brin’s face was almost purple and Kel was trying covertly
to tame an obvious erection. Kari seemed oblivious to the tension
in the air and stepped out of the water into the bitter wind with a
shiver. He pulled a towel from one of the boxes and began to dry
himself vigorously as he shone a smile on us. “Was it not
glorious?”
    “ Glorious indeed!” I affirmed
heartily, getting out beside him and grabbing a towel as Lana did
the same.
    “ Are you planning to stay in there
forever, Brindar?” Lana spoke brightly through chattering teeth, as
she rubbed the cloth around her crotch.
    Brin needed both his arms to haul himself
out of the water and for a few seconds he was exposed completely.
The brand on his chest had faded from a seared, angry red to a
shade of brown. He had battle scars as well: the circle on his
shoulder from an assassin’s blade, a jagged cut on his neck from a
drunk wielding a broken bottle while the Protectors were shutting
down yet another tavern, a Y-shaped burn on his leg where the skin
still stretched red and raw-looking after all these years. That one
was all me, a clueless child playing in the apothecary who had
thought it would be most amusing to throw a vial of green bubbles
over my older brother’s trousers. As he seized a towel he glared at
me, and I dropped my gaze.
    The wind was all the colder now we were so
warm and I lost no time pulling on my clothes, one eye on Kari who
was winding the length of silver about his lithe body with
practiced ease. When we were all fully clothed once more, Kari led
us back to our quarters and paused by the door as Brin pushed past,
clearly fallen into yet another foul temper. Kel wandered off in
the direction of the latrines and Lana went to the stables to see
to our donkey.
    Kari smiled at me again with his eyes. “I
hope you will sleep well, Nedim.”
    “ Just call