Page 12 of The Warlord’s Princess (Warlords of Tempest #3)

ASHA

Blinded?

Dread twists my gut, because if I were to go blind, the Tempest men would never agree to keep me around, and Elena can only convince the women of so much.

“I didn’t know?—”

“I had thought you were weak, but now I know you are also stupid,” he growls, his grip tightening around me.

Despite my now-burning eyes, my treasonous body comes alive at the way he effortlessly hauls me to the cleric’s hut, and for a moment, I allow myself to imagine what it would be like to be coveted. To be loved. That he’s saving me not out of obligation, but because I mean something to him.

That feeling quickly leaves me when he slams me down onto the cleric’s table.

I open my eyes, but my vision is blurred, and the burning has grown.

Panic rises in my chest at the thought of never seeing again. Of being left in the woods because I’m so weak.

“What happened to her?” Orvell says.

“She rubbed thearnroot all over her body and her eyes are burning.”

“Why would she do that?” Orvell says, clearly astonished. “It is nonsensical.”

“Just fix her.”

A moment later, something cool presses against my eyes, washing away the pain, and I breathe out a sigh of relief.

I’m pushed back into a supine position, and my eyes are forced open, revealing how blurred and distorted my vision is.

“Hey!”

A cooling sensation washes over my eyes. The pressure lets up, and I blink slowly, seeing more clearly.

“Will she be all right?” I hear Kairi ask.

“Yes, but she needs to wash the thearnroot off her body and find new clothes,” Orvell says.

Kairi squints down at me, looking into my eyes with curiosity. “What happened to her?”

It’s Ramsey who answers. “We spice our meat with thearnroot because it is hot and kills parasites and their eggs. She slathered so much of it onto her body that the thin skin around her eyes began to burn, and eventually, the eyes as well.”

Wonderful…

Orvell shifts my clothes to the side. “It is taking longer, but it is starting to burn her skin.”

I’d been so concerned with my eyes that I hadn’t felt the itching sensation that now grips my armpits.

“I will take her to the cave to wash it off.” Ramsey slides his arms under my body and lifts me. Instinctually, I wrap my arms around his neck. Thankfully, he doesn’t bark at me.

“Take this.” Orvell places a jar on my abdomen. “Rub it into the places that are red.”

I look over at Kairi. “You might want to check on Nori.”

“I thought she was the smart one?” Orvell blurts.

“She didn’t cover herself in spice, but she was around me, and her eyes were glassy.”

Orvell shakes his head. “Sweet Tempest, what is wrong with this one?”

Ramsey starts from the hut towards the cave, grumbling in displeasure.

“I’m sorry.”

“From now on, ask before you bathe in spice,” he growls.

“I truly thought it would be more pleasant for you than my own odor.”

“It is, but I will not have you blindly weaving inside my hut.”

Instead of letting me down at the cave, he walks right in, over to the stone lip leading into the pool.

“You can’t be in here,” I tell him.

“Your Penticari do not bathe during midday, so there is no need to worry.”

“Still.”

He sets me down next to the water.

I wait for him to leave.

He doesn’t.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“You need to leave.”

“Not with that spice still on you, burning through your flesh.”

“I can clean myself.”

“I do not trust you to.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“What is ridiculous is that you rubbed spice all over your body.”

It’s hard to argue with that.

I look at the water, then back at him, unsure of what to do.

Before I can decide, he yanks at the drawstrings on his clothes, pulling his shirt and pants off.

The sight of his nudity startles me, as I’ve never seen a grown man naked before. That the men were all muscle was obvious, as they often walk around shirtless, but I could have never guessed all that was hidden beneath the rest of their clothes.

And by that, I mean that his manhood is shocking in size, and the way the surrounding skin is bare of hair.

I force my eyes from the offensive appendage but can’t help but study the rest of his body, from his broad shoulders to his etched calves.

Give him cream-colored flesh and all the women of Penticar would lose their minds over him, even if he were just a stable boy. Being of princely blood, they’d lose more than their minds.

If he notices me looking, he doesn’t say anything. He simply folds his clothes neatly and enters the water.

“You need to bathe quickly so that your skin does not burn,” he says.

As I’m about to voice my dismay, a needling sensation at my armpits and inner thighs tells me I have no choice but to get into the water.

Reluctantly, I shed my outer layer and the thin shift underneath, along with the finely stitched cloth at my loins. Then, I quickly enter the water.

It covers my belly button, hiding my sex, which I’m grateful for, but I mislike he can see my torso, more specifically, my small breasts.

“Come to me,” Ramsey growls, sounding more animal than man.

“I’d rather not.”

“We must rid your skin of spice.”

“I can do that on my own.”

“Your soft hands do not have texture. Mine are rough from hard work, and will better cleanse your body of the thearnroot.”

He’s right.

Slowly, I go to him, covering my breasts. Not that he’s at all interested in them.

He kneels in the water, making him only a few inches taller than me.

Somehow, he’s even more handsome under the lights of the floating orbs, which further frustrates me, as nothing good could come from fancying this grumpy man.

But with the way his two silver eyes stare at me, I melt.

My heart races in my chest as my mind wanders to places it ought not to. To what his skin feels like under my soft hands. Of what his cock would feel like between my thighs.

Elena seemed to enjoy coupling immensely, as does Meg.

If only I weren’t so weak.

“You should not have rubbed this spice into your flesh,” he scolds again, his tone losing its edge.

“I know that now, but you hate the way I smell, and I was trying to make it so you weren’t so mad.”

“I never said I hated the way you smell.” He sighs. “I said that you smell.”

“But you were mad about it.”

He opens the salve Orvell gave me and dips his fingers into it. “Lift your arms.”

In doing so, I’d bare my breasts to him, which is something I’ve never done before.

A small part of me wants to, though I know I’ll only end up disappointed when he says something rude to me, like how they’re weak-looking, or they’re not worthy.

And he would definitely say that. He’d take joy in it.

“You need not feel shame if that is an issue,” he says, his voice strangely soft. “When I was much younger, I bathed the Great Princess Kasmina and never once overstepped. I cleaned every part of her as powerful temptation needled me.”

“You bathed with a princess?” I ask, shocked.

“I was hers.”

“Well, I never once thought you were going to overstep with me,” I scoff.

“Regardless, the quicker you lift your arms, the less damage the thearnroot will do to you.”

I want to argue with him, but there’s no point. He won’t take no for an answer, and I desperately need his help.

Pressing my eyes closed so I can’t see his disdain for my body, I lift my arms, immediately feeling pressure from his hands on my armpits.

My eyes pop open, and I jerk back, giggling.

His brow narrows at me. “Do you think this funny?”

“No, I’m just ticklish?”

“You are what?”

I sigh. “Of course, you don’t know what it is.”

“What is this ticklish?”

“If you touch a Penticari woman in certain spots, it makes us laugh.”

He looks at me skeptically. “When Grixis touches Elena, she does not laugh.”

“Not…like that. That’s a different touch.” I lift my arms back up. “Just don’t press too hard.”

This time, I don’t close my eyes, and I watch his brow narrowing as he softly touches where I’ve spread the thearnroot.

He’s gentle, which is odd, as I’ve never seen him be anything but rough. Especially toward me.

After a few gentle rubs of his textured fingers over my armpits, he looks into my eyes, asking, “Is this agreeable?”

“The tickling sensation is mild,” I tell him, stifling a giggle. “But I can handle it.”

His silver eyes narrow as he rubs. It takes me a moment to realize what he’s looking at—my breasts.

I feel my cheeks flush with heat, and I suck in a breath, wondering what’s going through his mind. His expression doesn’t give way to satisfaction or disappointment. It’s…neutral.

As though suddenly realizing where his gaze is directed, Ramsey lifts his eyes to my neck, which is also covered in spice.

“You were really thorough,” he says, bringing his hands up, coasting along the edge of my breasts as he does so in a motion that feels intentional.

“You work hard for your tribe and I didn’t want you to have to come home to unpleasant odors.”

“It is not that your odor was unpleasant. It was just strong.”

I remember Nori’s words and wonder if there is a kernel of truth to them.

He massages my neck firmly, and an unfamiliar feeling stirs in my loins, causing me to gasp.

His hands pause and he licks his lips, and a strong pulse livens between my thighs.

“Are you well?”

Do I step away now that he’s gotten most of the spice off of me?

I don’t want to.

What does he want?

Ramsey likes your scent, which is why he tells you he hates it, Nori had said.

Is that what this is? Could he possibly…

No. It’s absurd that I should have such thoughts, considering how he feels about me. I’m just being wistful. Wanting something that wasn’t meant for me.

“Yes, I was just startled.”

He goes back to rubbing, his hands slowly moving over unspiced flesh.

I wonder if he’s taken notice of my impossibly hard nipples, or the way my breath is now rushing to a pant.

I wonder if it would offend him if he did.

Despite how enticed he’s making me feel, I force myself to say, “The burning has subsided.”

As though not hearing me, his hands still travel over the tops of my breasts and down the sides.