Page 24 of The Princesses of Ruin (The Princesses of Ruin #5)

Chapter twenty-two

Adrik

I look over my shoulder, watching Alastair and Liliana watch us go.

I worry for them—not because I think they’re incapable but…

the princess has been different. Her playful nature is gone.

It’s as if the cold has sapped her love of life away.

She and Emillia had been getting on, and then Liliana shut down, closed off.

The weight of the quest affects us all differently…

The cold wind blows through the gaps in my coat buttons, snapping me from thoughts that I can do nothing about.

I must focus on our hunt. Even if Emillia doesn’t need my help finding the wolves, she needs my attention on the here and now.

She needs me watching our backs, our flanks, and caring for our journey.

We’re quiet as we trudge through knee-high snow toward the towering mountain peaks. When we near the thick deciduous forest, the snow thins to ankle height. There are tall drifts between trees that create choke points and hiding spots I don’t trust, but Emillia walks on.

We stop for a break at a small cluster of rocks. The snow glitters against the gray stone as I wipe it away to set my pack down. I retrieve the canister of water that I’ve been moderating the temperature of to keep it from freezing, and pour the captain a cup .

She pushes her goggles onto her forehead and pulls down her scarf before accepting the drink. “Thank you,” she says with a pant that fogs the air around her face.

I realize my breathing is labored, too, and pour myself a drink.

“There are several families of smaller fauna nearby, rabbits and other rodents,” she says, pointing around us as if I can see them. “We should set traps now before we get closer to the beast’s territory.”

“I’m not skilled with traps,” I say.

Her brilliant smile warms my skin. “I’ll show you how, if you want.”

I nod. “Yes, of course. Always willing to learn new things.”

“Good!” She pats me on the shoulder, spilling my water.

Her cheeks look rosier than they did a moment ago, but it could be the cold.

She clears her throat and slings her pack down beside mine.

She removes a wrapped coil of brass wire and a pair of pliers, then turns away, nodding for me to follow.

We walk a few paces into the trees. I look back at our packs with a tight, anxious feeling.

It’s not as if there’s anyone else out here with us, but…

“I’ll hear anything trying to sneak up on us,” Emillia says.

“I’m not worried.”

She chuckles. “Sure.”

Within a few minutes she finds a burrow and points it out to me. Beneath a dense tangle of spruce roots, the snow dips in a shallow hollow. A few stiff strands of grass peek through the white crust, their tips rimed with frost.

The Captain crouches, her dark blue eyes scanning the faint indentations—rabbit tracks leading to a slight mound at the base of a half-buried fallen tree. It’s a perfect shape to ward against the cold and protect from nosy predators.

“Don’t get too close, or they’ll smell us,” she whispers .

She unspools two feet of the coiled brass and snaps it off, creates a tiny loop at one end, then pushes the other end through to make a noose.

“We’ll use this sapling,” she says, pointing to a smaller spruce that hasn’t yet hardened its bark. “You can see they’ve been eating the softer exterior to get the sap.”

There’s a trail through the snow leading from the burrow to the little tree.

She collects a few twigs of various lengths and thicknesses, then stops midway along the trail.

She stakes one of the thicker sticks into the snow and hammers it down with her pliers.

When it’s secure, she tightens the opposite end of the noose around the thicker stick and puts a smaller twig below the noose to help support it.

“The rabbit will jump through and dart when it senses the wire around its neck. Its panic will tighten the noose, choking it within seconds.”

The solution is simple and elegant. Something I could easily do.

I hold out my hands for the tools. “May I?”

“So eager,” she murmurs, the lusty undertone obvious in her voice.

She grins, passing me the wire and pliers. I swallow the rising sensation in my stomach, trying not to let my hands shake as I take them from her.

I unspool three hands of wire, then clip it off. The captain watches without comment as I create a small loop on one end that’s a little bigger and sort of mishappen. I push the other end of the wire through and then collect sticks while hunting for another rabbit trail.

I find the depressions of long feet and tails in the snow and follow it until I find the food source they’re feeding on: a small patch of moss surviving under a hollow log.

I push the free end of the wire through a crack in the log and twist it on tight, then rest the noose on a Y-shaped twig like the captain had done.

“You’re so trainable,” she whispers behind me. “Such a good boy.”

The desire is dripping from her words, making my blood pump straight to my groin. Gods damn Dee and Leslie for awakening these hidden proclivities within me.

“Let’s go set camp,” she says.

Sharing a tent with her the past few days has been uneventful, but I sense the shift in the air, in our dynamic. She can hear my heartbeat. She knows what her words are doing to me.

“We’re not worried about losing a day?” I ask, dusting the snow from my knees when I rise.

“We need bait as well as food, so we’ll set camp and make more snares, setting them throughout the area.”

Right. The other reason I’m here. Poison the wolf to make sure we survive the encounter.

“That’s very smart.”

She winks at me. “I’m more than just my womanly charms.”

She turns away, sashaying her hips. My gaze drifts down her body, and despite it being cloaked and well-covered, I’m still finding things to appreciate. The dagger strap on her thick thigh. The dip of her ankle under her boot. The swell of her chest beneath heavy furs.

I catch her gaze and find myself blinking at her stupidly.

“Are you coming?” Her voice is loaded with salacious intent, and I find myself wanting to be playful back.

Enjoy the sun in the darkness.

“Not yet,” I say, attempting a bedroom voice.

It mustn’t have landed right because the captain laughs. My face heats and I dip my head, avoiding her stare. The snow crunches under her boots as she comes back to me. Her gloved hand comes up to my chin, lifting it. We’re eye to eye, the captain just as tall as me with the lift in her shoes.

My blood sears my heart and throbs in my cock. She’s so beautiful. So powerful.

Her gaze darts between my eyes, then to my lips as she mumbles, “You’re too cute to ruin.”

Heat returns to my face and I swallow to wet my dry mouth. I think I would like her brand of ruining, but before I can tell her so, her face hardens. The playfulness is gone, and she turns away.

“We should set camp before what little light we have is gone.”

Fuck.

Me.

I sigh, taking one last look at my handiwork in the snow. I need to work harder if I’m going to impress her. I need to be less cute so she doesn’t fear ruining me.

I want her light in my life. I need it.

I will seduce the captain before the trip is through.