Page 18 of Wicked Sea and Sky

I ducked, desperate for cover before he spotted me, only to dislodge a display of rings with my elbow. Metal bands clinked against the cobblestones, a few rolling under the table.

“I’m sorry,” I said to the old woman, sinking to my knees to collect them.

I placed them back on the table as I found them. One more had scattered a few feet from the stall, just out of reach. Crawling forward, I stretched to capture it, when another hand swiped it away.

“We can’t take you anywhere.” Gavin’s teasing tone had me tilting my head back to find him standing over me. “You’re left alone for a little while, and I find you crawling around the market on your hands and knees. You’re going to get trampled, and then I’ll have to explain to Bowen how you can survive a swing blade and not someone’s shoes.”

Perfect. I’d wager my last coin the witch never got caught rolling around in market dirt.

I dusted my hands on my thighs and curled my lip. “I saved you from that swing blade, and I already have regrets.”

“I bet you do.”

He offered me a hand, then frowned, bending past me to pluck something else off the ground.

It was a folded slip of paper. The same one I’d concealed in my palm after showing the crest to the old woman. A flush burned across my neck as Gavin unfolded it and stared at the drawing.

He was motionless, utterly silent, and I cringed.

Forget the blade. This was death by embarrassment. A trampling sounded fantastic right about now.

Unfortunately, Gavin had other plans. He helped me to my feet, his hand pressing the small of my back as he maneuvered us out of the crowd and into a lantern-lit alcove.

The soft glow illuminated the sharp angles of his face, but it cast shadows too, darkening his expression and turning it into something that made my blood run sluggish.

“Why do you have this?”

“My secret’s out,” I said with a nervous laugh. “I had Reid draw your crest. Figured I'd show it around and hope I got lucky.”

Gavin didn’t respond, but he moved closer. The alcove wasn’t big enough for the two of us, or maybe it only felt that way. His presence was impossible to ignore, even in an entire cave.

“Why?” he asked again, his rasp deeper. Not asking why I had it, but why I’d want to.

My gaze was level with the middle of his chest, and Iglimpsed the compass between the open collar of his shirt. Its polished wooden base with a center point made of gold was as simple and unassuming as its sturdy chain.

I reached for it. My fingers did the thinking before my mind got the better of me, and when they brushed against his skin, his chest rose on a sharp inhale.

Had he moved even closer? Maybe the alcove had gotten smaller. Cold stone pressed against my back. But there was warmth too, from the air that was too hot, and the heat radiating from him.

My throat felt dry as I answered his question. The finality of this hunt, the ale, my jealousy, all of it melded into a truth set free by the look in his eyes.

A look he hadn’t given the witch.

“Because you deserve to know where you belong.” I angled my chin up like the brave adventurer I was. “I’m not sorry. Two searching is better than one.”

Gavin’s throat worked. His gaze slipped to my mouth in a way that made me lick my lips.

His voice was like a distant rumble of thunder over the ocean. The promise of a storm you still had time to run from.

“No one has ever helped me before.”

“You’re a good man, Gavin… and occasionally selfless.”

The corner of his mouth curved slightly. “You haven’t even mentioned my extraordinary good looks.”

He was teasing me again, except this time, the bait didn't feel like a trap, but an invitation.

Ah, the ale's going to my head.