Page 15

Chapter Fifteen

VAARIN

“H ush and let me focus,” she demands, and something in me stills because there is confidence in those words. An age of experience, and she proves it a moment later as she swings her sword up to counter the wraith’s attack.

She dances around it, dodging its blows yet somehow managing to remain on the same square. How is it that a princess can fight like a seasoned warrior? This level of skill cannot be learned in a training room. But my questions will wait until she subdues the wraith, and there is only one way to do that.

“You must land a strike!” No easy feat against these ancient warriors, but with Thalia, the way that she parries and evades, I have hope. There is a shrewd look in her eyes, focused and intense, that tells me that she’s gauging the situation and biding her time. Still my muscles strain, the urge to leap to her defense coursing through me, but to do so would be to bring the whole army on our heads.

She was wise to counsel me to halt.

Beautiful, accomplished, wise, this woman is a unique creature indeed. My heart flutters.

A moment later, she spins on her heel, bringing her body low to avoid the swipe of the wraith’s blade and taking advantage of his exposed torso with the slice of her sword.

The wraith shatters silently into fragments of spectral energy.

She stares at the spot where it stood a moment ago and then straightens to look at me, her stormy eyes bright with the thrill of triumph, waiting for me to congratulate her. I want to. She deserves it, but the hammer of my heart and the strange sensations blooming in my blood confuse me so that when I speak my tone is brusque and angry.

“Hurry up!” I beckon her to join me. Her mouth tightens, but she obliges by leaping onto the square beside me. I want to hug her, but I instead I bark instructions. “Focus and stay close.”

I move off, slowly this time, checking back to make sure she’s watching, taking one step at a time so that she’s only a step behind me.

We make our way across the battlefield in silence, and it’s only when we reach the other side that I breathe a sigh of relief.

I turn to her, shoulders relaxing. “You did well back there.”

She lifts her chin. “I know. I don’t need you to tell me.” She shoulders past me into the woodland. “I’m cold. Get me to shelter.”

I’ve upset her. Good. That’s good. It will add a distance between us, one that I believe is much needed if I’m to keep myself from crossing a boundary that could ruin everything.

* * *

Shelter is in an ancient everness tree surrounded by barbed brush and brambles. Getting past the defenses is no easy task. We chose it all those solar revolutions ago for this very reason, and I etched a path to the center, to the hollow nestled at the base of the tree, hidden by a berry bush.

I lead the way now, holding back the brush so it doesn’t scratch at Thalia’s skin. She slips past me, her body lightly brushing mine as she enters the short tunnel that leads into the earth and to our shelter for the night. I allow the berry bush to fall back into place, trapping us in gloom.

She glances back at me. She’s pulled down the scarf now, and the little light filtering in from between the tight-knit branches of the bush finds her face and highlights every plane, dip, and angle.

I want to touch her.

She arches a brow that asks what now ?

She hasn’t spoken to me since the battlefield, and although it has not even been half an hour, it feels like an age. I miss her voice. I could pretend not to see the question in her eyes and make her speak, but that seems petty.

“There’s a door ahead.”

She nods and continues deeper into the gloom, reaching out with her hands as it gets darker.

My eyesight adjusts so that I can see the path clearly. The ground is about to dip, and I open my mouth to warn her, but something stops me, long enough for her to trip. I grab hold of her and hold her against me for long seconds, reveling in this excuse to touch her before I say, “I forgot there was a step there.”

“Oh really?” Her voice touches me in hidden places, and I can’t help but sigh. “I doubt very much that you forget anything, King Vaarin.”

I bite back a smile because although she’s talking to me, her use of my royal title makes it clear that she is still annoyed.

This woman…

She pulls out of my grip and continues into the dark, finding the roughly made wooden door. She pushes it open to reveal yawning darkness and falters.

“Let me…” I move forward, and she shuffles back to allow me to take the lead. I fumble at the threshold, fingers searching for the small table and the lantern that should be there. I find it, and a moment later, the chasm is filled with light.

Her gasp of shock brings a smile to my face. “It’s a room. An actual room.”

The sitting room with its soft furnishings, neat rug, and hearth makes a pretty picture. There is a bed to one side and a dresser also. I can’t claim credit for this place; we found it years ago. An abandoned hovel, home to some creature who was unable to return to it. There is a story here but no one to tell it.

Part of me hoped to spend this night in silence. Best for us both because tomorrow we will be on the ship to Merida, and she will be married to my son, and these feelings burgeoning inside me, emotions that I do not wish to examine, will be quashed.

But the stiffness has melted from her demeanor now. There will be no silence tonight. Not until we sleep.