Page 32

Chapter

Nineteen

ARLON

I stare at Tessa, at her serious eyes, the grim set of her mouth.

She means it.

She thinks she’s not good enough for me. Something ugly twists in my gut, and for a moment, I remember that she is a thief. I’d thought the worst of her when I realized who she was to me. She’d robbed me, and she might’ve stabbed me on that rooftop if I hadn’t knocked the dagger from her hand.

But she didn’t stab me—not then, and not while I was lying unconscious on that dusty, grimy floor. She could have gutted me with my knife and ended it there. Instead, I’m here now, tying her boots because she’s too chilled to do it herself.

“I don’t think that’s true,” I rasp. I tie the bow on her right boot and rise to my full height. “Besides, I don’t want anyone else. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”

Her eyes are luminous as she looks up at me, chin tilted with defiance. “Really? You want to take me back home and introduce me to your parents? Your sister?”

I think of what Irrin would make of Tessa.

She’d probably be best friends with her by nightfall, and she’d absolutely spill every embarrassing story from my childhood.

Like the time I climbed a tree at four years old, searching for walnuts, and got stuck because I was too scared to come down.

She’d had to climb up after me, guiding my feet from branch to branch until I was safe on the ground.

“They’d accept you,” I tell her slowly. “Unless you tried to rob them. Irrin is partial to her gold.”

Tessa’s expression betrays her doubts, but I don’t want to debate this with her.

Not right now. I don’t know what will happen if she returns to her usual pursuits, climbing on rooftops and stealing from people’s homes.

But it’s too soon to tell her she’ll never have to worry about money again.

Then I’d have to explain where all my gold came from, and that’s a secret I need to protect with my life, especially here, dangerously close to the Stonefrost Clan lands.

I offer her my hand. “Come on. We need to move if we want to reach the other edge of this plateau by nightfall.”

She puts her cool hand in mine and lets me pull her to her feet. “You’re the one who insisted on washing. I would have gladly gone with smelling a bit ripe for the rest of the day.”

“Why did you bathe, then?” I arch an eyebrow at her.

At that, she ducks her chin and mutters something about oversensitive noses, but her flowery scent takes on a warm whiff of embarrassment that has me stifling a laugh.

She didn’t want to smell bad in front of me?

It’s almost as if she cares.

I walk up behind her, grip her by the waist, and lift her onto her horse.

Her sharp intake of breath sends a jolt of lust through me, but I release her right away.

She murmurs a quick thanks, her eyes lingering on me as I move past. I swing myself into Pip’s saddle, jaw tight.

Riding with a hard cock jammed in my leather pants is going to be uncomfortable as fuck, but this is my reality now.

Aching balls and a full knot that won’t go away, because I can’t exactly sneak off into the bushes for relief.

Not that my own hand would help. Now that I’ve smelled Tessa and felt the touch of her skin against mine, nothing else will do. And she’s nowhere near ready for me.

She might be starting to trust me, and that was arousal I scented earlier, I’m sure of it. But until she makes the first step, until she comes to me, I’ll be patient and wait.

I lead Tessa back to the road in silence, her question from earlier replaying in my mind. Can I accept the fact that my mate is a thief? If that’s what she wants to do with her life, would I try to stop her?

“Why did you break into the Ravens’ mansion?”

The question escapes me, though I hadn’t planned on interrogating her. But now that the issue is out in the open, I add, “And why are you following the caravan?”

Tessa eyes me from the side. “That’s two questions.”

I press my lips together and remain silent, challenging her. She’ll either reply and tell the truth—or not. And I’ll know, perhaps once and for all, if we’ve been doomed by the Fates from the start. If this woman will be my downfall.

She blows out a long breath. “My friend disappeared. Lindie. She’s…

one of them. A Raven.” She sends me a cautious look, then continues.

“I’ve been trying to find her for more than a week, but Damen wouldn’t tell me anything.

I tried some of his men, too. Didn’t get anywhere.

I thought she might be working a job, but she always tells me if she’s set to leave Ultrup. ”

I stare at her. That’s not what I was expecting. I thought she might be after another score, that she might know why all those people disappeared from Ultrup. But Tessa shakes her head and continues, oblivious to my surprise.

“And why wouldn’t Damen just confirm what she was working on? He said she was safe, but I wasn’t going to trust that without seeing her.”

I mull this over, staring at the road ahead. “You’re sure she didn’t just take off for a while? She might not be in danger. But you will be if you keep heading east.”

“I couldn’t let it go.”

Tessa’s voice trembles, and I snap my gaze to her in surprise.

“No one came after me when I disappeared.” She tightens her grip on the reins, her knuckles turning white. “No one cared. Not one friend was interested enough to search for me. And my family…”

Her throat bobs as she swallows, pain radiating from her expression.

Lindie must be her closest friend now. I imagine what lengths I’d go to if Sarrai suddenly vanished, or any of my other friends from the clan. I’d go after them too, so I understand this compulsion perfectly.

“I had to know what happened.” She shakes her head and gives me a rueful smile. “So I broke into Damen’s office that night and unlocked his safe. You know what happened after.”

“Aye. The burns.” I scrub a hand through my still-damp hair, which I really should’ve untangled, but I was too eager to get Tessa moving so she’d warm up again. “What did you steal from him?”

She bites the inside of her cheek, measuring me with her gaze. I stare right back, willing her to give me a chance. If she trusted me, we could work together.

When she twists away from me, my heart plummets—only for a second, though, because she’s reaching for her saddlebag. She holds onto the pommel of her saddle with one hand and rummages around in her things, then pulls out a sheaf of folded pages.

“I ripped these out of his business ledger.” She moves her mare closer to Pip and hands the papers over to me.

“I figured if he did send Lindie off on a job, he’d write it down, right?

But it’s all written in code, and I can’t understand a thing.

I’ve been trying to work it out for two days.

” She huffs a breath. “It’s annoying, especially because I painted a target on my back trying to get these. ”

“That’s it?” I ask, surprised. “You went after the ledger?”

Tessa’s cheeks turn an interesting shade of pink. “Well, I also took his money and some jewelry. I gave the money away, though.”

I snort out a laugh. “And the jewelry?”

“Payment for my trouble,” she quips, wiggling the fingers of her injured hand.

“Right.” I twist Pip’s reins around one hand and unfold the torn-out pages with the other. “Let’s see.”

I study the neat columns of letters and numbers. The handwriting is cramped and nearly illegible in places, but the entries show that Damen takes care with his ledger—and his business. The issue is that the columns and rows aren’t labeled, making it impossible to tell what the numbers signify.

“Huh.” I leaf through the pages, comparing the entries. “Aye, this complicates things.”

“You see?” She leans over and plucks the papers from my hand. “So rude of him. I thought it might be just me. I’m not the best with numbers.”

“Well, I’m no prodigy either,” I admit. “We have a steward at Bellhaven Hill who takes care of the ledgers, and she has an assistant to help her. I’ve seen those books, and they weren’t nearly as cryptic as this. Damen is a paranoid bastard.”

“You don’t say.” Tessa stuffs the pages back into her saddlebag.

“We can study them after we’ve stopped for the night. Maybe we’ll find something if we try together.”

I push away a damp branch hanging over the road, but droplets of water still splatter my cheeks. I wipe them off with the hem of my sleeve, and when I look up again, Tessa is watching me, eyes alight.

“What?” I glance down at my sleeve to check if I’ve smeared something on my face.

“Nothing,” she says, glancing away. “It’s just interesting, how your first thought is to work together . You came to get me last night, too, when I would’ve been fine under that tree. Damp, sure, but fine.”

“Well, there were the wolves…”

She raises one eyebrow at me. “Were they really a danger? If the pack was so hungry, wouldn’t they have gone after our horses? They were tethered, after all. Easy prey.”

I purse my lips, unable to deny her claim. “Fine, the wolves weren’t a real danger last night. But your shelter was pitiful.”

“Hey, I did the best I could,” she protests. “I don’t have magical eyesight.”

Smothering a grin, I shoot her a mock-glower. “Well, tonight, you won’t need it, because we’re sleeping in an inn. With beds. And a hot meal I won’t have to cook over a fire.”

She sobers, her shoulders dipping slightly. “Ah, I don’t think I thanked you for that, actually. The breakfast, I mean. It really was good.”

“I didn’t mean to say it was a problem. Tessa…” I exhale slowly, searching for the right words, something honest, but not overwhelming. “I don’t mind spending time with you in the wild. I didn’t mind the hunting, the cooking, or anything else, as long as you’re there with me.”

Her eyes widen, then she ducks her head, as if my confession embarrasses her. An unfamiliar sensation grips me, squeezing my chest, and it takes me a moment to recognize it for what it is. Shame.

I told my mate how I feel, and she’s embarrassed because of it. She—she truly doesn’t want me.

But when I look up, I find Tessa swiping at her eyes with her sleeve, just as I did earlier, only there’s no branch to move away, no raindrops falling to wet her cheeks.

“Are you crying?” I nudge Pip forward, then move him across the road so Tessa is forced to stop, too. “Why are you?—?”

She lifts her head, and I see all the telltale signs: the pinkened nose, the flushed cheeks, the tears glistening in her beautiful hazel eyes.

She sniffs, brows scrunched in a frown. “Why do you keep saying things like that?”

“Like what?” I shrug, confused. “You spoke as if you thought making you breakfast was a burden for me. It wasn’t, and I told you so.”

“That’s just it!” She flings her arms wide. “You didn’t even know me three days ago, and now you’ve left your friends and family to follow me. Are you bewitched? Or did that hit to the head damage your mind somehow?”

I laugh at the absurdity of it. “Tessa, nothing’s wrong with me. I’ve been waiting for this my entire life. This is how it is with orcs. You’re my mate.”

She opens her mouth as if to protest, but I lift my hand to stop her, because I’m not done.

“I know you don’t feel the same way. And I don’t love you yet, either.

You’re right in saying it’s too soon for that,” I admit.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re in this together.

If we’re lucky, if we both wish for it to happen, we’ll become lovers.

If we both want it, we’ll have a family.

Unless you send me away, I’ll never leave you. ”

Tessa’s face crumples, and she buries it in her hands, sobbing softly.

I stare at her, stunned, then guide Pip alongside her mare.

Reaching over, I lift her from her saddle into mine.

She lets out a startled yelp, but I pull her into my arms, tucking her head beneath my chin.

There’s a heartbeat of resistance, then she yields, her sobs muffled against my jacket and shirt.

“Hey, hey.” I stroke the back of her head, unsure of what to do. “Tessa, love, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

She heaves a deep breath and presses the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Damn it. You’re entirely too nice to me.”

I inhale her sweet scent. “No such thing.”

“It’s…a lot.” She peers up at me, her long eyelashes clumped together from crying. “This whole mate thing, I mean. It might take me some time to get used to. But if you’re serious about-about working together, I can accept that.”

“Aye, we have a deal, then.” I allow myself another few moments with my mate in my arms, then take her waist and set her back on her horse. “Now, let’s get going. We have a fair distance to cover before nightfall, and I wasn’t joking about wanting to sleep in a bed.”