Page 15

I woke to a pleasant, unhinged sort of feeling throughout my body. The smell of smoke and cooking food made my stomach rumble, and I rolled onto my back, stretching my arms over my head. Luken was close by, working over a fire. My stomach clenched as I remembered our fevered activities. And now he was making me food again. My cheeks warmed. I hadn’t had anyone take care of me since Mom died. Even the nuns who looked after me while I was recovering from my burns were cold.

Luken glanced over at me and smiled. Everything about him was relaxed, and my stomach squeezed again. I did that. He was so relaxed because of me .

“Morning,” he said. “You slept for a while.”

I glanced at the sky and started. The first tendrils of darkness were beginning to tinge the horizon purple. I jerked into a sitting position, crossing my legs. Ooh. That let me know just how deep Luken had been; I could almost still feel him inside. It caused my clit to swell, but I pushed aside my lust. I was still stark naked, and he was dressed.

“Where’re my clothes?” I grunted.

Luken pointed. “I remembered them just before the tide came in. Didn’t you pack extras?”

“I did, but that doesn’t mean I want to change out of them. Especially if we’re going to see this elf queen.” I wrinkled my nose as I smelled my clothes. “Yeah, I’m going to have to put on clean clothes before seeing her.”

“Oh, I doubt we’ll have the chance for that. But…” He leaned back and let his eyes trail over me. “We could have another romp before you get dressed.”

I rolled my eyes. “What happened to me begging you for it, huh?”

Luken shrugged. “I’m allowed to change my mind. As it turns out, all you have to do is say you want me, and I’m putty in your hands.”

Heat rose through me, turning my chest and face red. As tempting as it was, I pushed those thoughts aside. We’d lost a whole day. I couldn’t believe I’d let myself sleep so soundly. I yanked on my bra, now crusty with salt, and my shirt over it. After I pulled on my pants, I glanced at Luken again. He was still in his true form, no more glamor. The self-satisfied smirk on his lips did weird things to me, things I didn’t want to acknowledge.

“Here, I found some oysters and clams,” he said, handing me the pot. “I’ve done a serviceable job of making you a seafood stew. Though…” He looked me up and down, his smile widening. “Maybe you’re going to want something a bit… stouter?”

I wrinkled my nose at him and grabbed the spoon. The food smelled heavenly, or maybe it was just because I was so hungry.

“I hope that you’re full,” I mumbled between mouthfuls. “We wasted so much time already. We have to get moving.”

“Wasted time?” he repeated, lifting one dark brow in what was becoming a very familiar gesture.

I narrowed my eyes and pointed upward. “I slept all day!”

“After swimming all night, then donating enough blood to heal me from a serious curse, and then some rather… enthusiastic exercise. I wonder why you were tired.” He winked at me before settling cross-legged next to me. “How are you feeling? Are you sore? Or…?”

There was a serious note to his voice. He wasn’t just asking me physically. I avoided thinking about the gentleness with which he asked me as I pointed my spoon at him. “I’m pissed that you ruined my panties. Am I just supposed to run around commando?”

“I thought you packed extra. Though I must say, commando suits you. I certainly enjoy the thought that there’s nothing but skin under your clothes.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “Underneath your clothes, you’re naked. How scandalous.”

Luken leaned over the pot of food and pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead. It made my skin tingle, and a shiver ran down my spine. I closed my eyes, feeling myself relaxing despite myself. I didn’t want to waste time with these feelings, but how could I simply push them away? After our connection earlier, it was harder for me to hate him.

Even though he was only helping me because of my threats.

Even though he forced me to marry him.

Even though…

“I was thinking, it might be a better idea if you were to return to the palace,” Luken said casually, putting handfuls of sand onto the fire. “It will be more efficient if you are safe and I can continue on this quest by myself.”

By himself? I paused with the spoon in my mouth. Did he really think that it would be that easy to make me forget about this? He was oh-so-determined to see me locked away safely so that he wouldn’t get hurt. He wouldn’t become weaker.

“No,” I said, struggling to keep my voice level. I didn’t want this to devolve into a fight. Not yet, at least. “You’ll waste more time taking me back and then coming back here. Time Thessa and Darcie don’t have.”

“They won’t be sacrificed for a few months yet—” he started soothingly.

I turned on him. “If the Gods are out to get you like you think, what’s to stop them from killing them early? If this is all about you, then don’t you think they’ll do whatever it takes to drive further wedges between us? If anything happens to them because you delayed us, I will never forgive you. I’m not letting you off the hook, letting you pretend like you’re going to get them back only to turn around and make up a story about being too late!”

Luken’s jar tightened. I resisted the urge to push aside the food he’d made for me as I stared challengingly into his eyes. Refusing to eat was stupid. He was right. I needed strength. So I angrily shoveled a few more bites into my mouth, not breaking eye contact. He was going to have to answer sooner or later.

“ If the Gods are after me?” he repeated. “I told you, there was a prophecy. With my mate, I can defeat them. And you are my mate. Why else would they keep sending Draven after you?”

“Then you agree they are targeting Thessa and Darcie because of you,” I said caustically.

Luken roughly covered the remains of the fire, smothering them. “Why are you so convinced that everything I do is a trick? I want you to be happy with me, Elara. I don’t want you to lose your sister. Why would you make love to me if you don’t trust me?”

His voice rose with frustration with every word.

“That wasn’t making love. It was just fucking,” I said, making my voice go flat.

Luken opened his mouth, but apparently couldn’t find a good way to argue because it was true. Our union had been desperate, reckless, full of primal lust. It wasn’t tender the way lovemaking ought to be.

“Are you saying you didn’t enjoy it? That you wish we hadn’t?” he asked, his voice growing deeper and gravelly.

His questions brought me up short. My chest constricted as confusion swirled through me. Neither of those things was true. Even now, when we were on the brink of another fight, I was glad we’d been intimate like that. It was what I needed at that moment, what I craved. Yes, part of it was because I knew that it helped him recover from his injury, but there was more than that. It was proof that he wanted me for more than just my blood.

“That’s not what I mean,” I mumbled, breaking eye contact. “But just because we fuck doesn’t mean that anything has changed between us. You can be hungry for my blood and body and still be mostly interested in using me as an instrument against the Gods.”

It didn’t mean he loved me or cared about me beyond what I did for him. Not the way I wanted, at least.

Luken closed his eyes, his body going very, very still.

“What do you mean?” he gritted through his teeth.

“What I mean is that I’m not going back to the palace.”

Luken nodded once. “And about us? Is what you’re saying that it’s just sex and will only be just sex between us?”

“It’s the only thing I can see between us,” I said, slumping.

If he heard the wistfulness in my voice, it didn’t change the tense way he helped himself.

I wanted to explain, and that only made me more frustrated with myself. The simple truth was I wanted far more between us, and I didn’t know how that could happen. Not without me reverting to the na?ve girl I’d once been. There was only pain and disappointment in that path.

“I want you to be happy, Elara. And that means getting your sister and Thessa back,” he said finally, opening his eyes.

“But you’d kill them yourself if it meant keeping me alive and by your side,” I said.

He opened his mouth and closed it. He didn’t need to say anything for me to know I was right.

“That’s just the problem. You’re interested in me being happy on your terms. You want me happy so I don’t leave you. Not because you want me to be happy,” I said, trying to convince myself at the same time.

“You are cruel.” Luken’s words were clipped.

I clenched my fists. “Prove me wrong.”

“You won’t let me.”

“I can’t stop how much I want you. That doesn’t mean I’m going to let my hormones blind me.” I bit the tip of my tongue to stop myself from saying more. Cruel. Was I being cruel, or was he just turning this thing on its head, making it my fault?

I wished it could be as easy and simple as sexual desire. I felt him playing the bond, trying to ease it open. No. I held it tighter shut. Our bond was something I couldn’t stop, but I wasn’t letting him in so easily. Except when I thought I was going to die, apparently.

A bitter laugh burst from my throat. “On the bright side, we’re sure to end up in life-and-death situations as we continue.”

“That’s a bright side?” Luken snarled.

I shrugged listlessly. “It seems like we only come together when one of us is dying. Maybe we’ll be lucky next time and won’t start fighting afterward.”

He stood and grabbed his sword. “I’m going to check around the barrier and see if there’s any evidence of anyone else around. Stay in here this time. And don’t worry. I won’t make the mistake of trying to connect again.”

He stalked out of the boulders without a word. I scrambled to my feet, fully prepared to argue, but I stopped myself. There wasn’t anything he could do to convince me otherwise, and if we kept talking, I’d only say more hurtful things. Honest things, at least from my perspective, but hurtful all the same. Just outside the camp, he looked back. This time, I prodded our bond. This time, he was the one who put a wall of steel between us, leaving me nothing with his burning gaze.

And in that gaze, anger and hate.

He walked away, leaving me to slump over my food. Of course, he hated me. He hated how I made him feel vulnerable, how I was able to resist his charms. He wasn’t used to people telling him no; he wasn’t used to people falling all over themselves to love him because he was the most important man in any room he stepped into. I had no reason to wish he actually cared about me more than his ability to gain power.

So why did my heart feel as though I’d sliced open my chest and ripped it out?

***

Luken didn’t stay gone for long. I’d just finished eating when I realized he’d taken the key with him. I didn’t have time to work up any sort of accusations, though, because he returned moments later.

“All we have to do is touch the border with the key, and a door will open,” he told me, packing the still-dirty pot.

“That’s good, right?” I said cautiously.

Luken nodded once, but the movement was jerky. “It means we can get to the Silver Forest easily. But it also means there are other methods of protection that we’ll have to be wary of. We’ll have to move quickly.”

I grabbed my stuff and pulled the pack onto my shoulders. Luken moved around the camp, removing the magical protections. As I watched him, I knew I had to say something. Maybe we couldn’t have any sort of real emotional connection, but… but this bond was still powerful.

“If you need to drink from me again, I have no objections.” My cheeks flushed as I spoke. “If we can’t get along, at least we can still have sex. So whenever you need to drink from me, let me know. And we can decide to fuck or not before it reaches that point. Because regardless of everything else, I do like it when we fuck.”

Luken didn’t answer. It was probably for the best that he didn’t.

“Are you ready?” he asked, shouldering his pack.

I nodded, picking up my staff, and we headed back to the shimmering barrier. Once there, Luken held out the bronze key. He touched the tip of it to the barrier, and a ripple appeared in the shimmer. A hole opened at the point of impact and opened wider and wider, until there was a large enough space for a person to step through. Luken wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me up close to him. I yelped in protest, but he ignored me as he stepped through, pulling me with him. The door shut instantly the moment we were free. The key disappeared from Luken’s hand.

“Welcome to the Silver Forest,” he said, releasing me.

I looked around, and my jaw dropped. No wonder they called it the ‘silver’ forest. Everything was soft and pale, even the light. It looked as though we’d stepped into something spun from moonlight. Giant ferns surrounded us, and the trees were unlike anything I’d seen before. They were fuzzy, the trunks covered with rippling tendrils that reminded me of a moth’s antennae. No branches crowded the canopy, just these tall, straight trunks that seemed to reach up forever. It was also quiet, no sounds of animal life anywhere.

“Is it always like this?” I asked as I inspected the white fronds of the fern closest to us.

“Yes. Elves see color differently than the other species, so this place is bursting with color to them. And magic.” He touched my hand, bringing my attention back to him. “I believe that if we were to open the bond fully, you’d be able to use and sense magic the same way I can. This place is beautiful, if you would let me show you.”

It was an olive branch. But if he was sharing that much with me, how much would I share in return? “I think I’d rather stick with the status quo right now. I’ve never wanted to use magic.”

If he was disappointed, he didn’t show it. Instead, he started to walk. I followed after, our footsteps unnaturally loud in the forest. How did he know where to go? I kept close to him, not wanting to get lost. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light, but when I glanced back the way we’d come, I saw no sign of our passage.

I wasn’t sure how long we’d been walking when the ferns ahead of us shook.

“Halt.” A man dressed in leather armor stepped in front of us. He carried a spike, holding it upright in a way that would make it easy to swing it into action at any moment.

“I am Luken Holokas, King of Taimarah,” Luken called, his expression disinterested. “My wife and I have come to see Queen Donelle of the Silver Forest.”

More guards materialized around us, all heavily armed. Their armor was the same design as Draven’s mercenaries. My heart jumped to my throat as I gripped my staff tighter. The first of the elves viewed us both with a gleam in his eyes. No surprise showed on his face.

“The Queen is expecting you,” the guard said. “Hand over your weapons, and we will take you to her.”

Luken hesitated, but unsheathed his sword. I made no move to hand over my staff. The elf cast me a dismissive glance and didn’t seem to think I was a threat. Good. My greatest strength was people underestimating me. I leaned on the staff, trying to make myself look weaker.

“Come,” the elf said, turning on his heel. He marched through the moonlit forest. Luken tucked an arm protectively around me, and we followed.