“I have questions.” She poked at the eggs. “Also, I have no gear, no coin, no map. Not a lot of options.”
“You could’ve run.”
“I thought about it,” she admitted. “But I figured the odds were good Jarrik might come back to finish what he started. Didn’t seem right to leave you helpless if that happened.”
I stared at her. Not because she was wrong. But becauseno one—not in over two hundred years—had given a damn whether I lived or died. Not really. I was just one more Death Mage whose soul was tied to the void. But there were dozens of us. If I died, another would take my place. The wheel of the world would continue to turn, with or without me in it.
For some unknown reason, she had protected me. Cared for me. Not out of fear. Not because of a soul contract or alliance. Did she feel this pull between us, as I did? Was her bodypainfully aware of my every breath, the scent of my skin, the way I moved? Was she on fire for me as I was for her? A few hours ago, I’d been in the healing sleep of my kind, my magic taking over, forcing me to lose consciousness, to remain still, to mend physically and spiritually. In that state, I could not protect myself. I could not protecther.
“Staying with me was reckless,” I said, voice lower than I meant. “Lighting a fire. You could have been attacked. There are worse things in these woods than Jarrick.”
“Maybe,” she said, glancing back at me. “But staying felt like the right thing. I couldn’t leave you like that.”
I’d lost consciousness. Burned out and collapsed from my battle with Jarrick. He was a pompous ass, but he was also powerful. Something twisted in my chest. A foreign sensation. Soft. Dangerous.
I watched her quietly as she plated the food on a large, curled leaf and set it beside me. She sat across the fire, legs folded neatly beneath her, keeping her distance.
Smart. Especially if she knew the hunger that raged in me to touch her. Kiss her. Claim her. Shove my cock deep and make her scream my name. She was mine. I adjusted the hard, uncomfortable length in my breeches and picked up the food, studied it for a moment. “You foraged for this?”
She shrugged. “There were nests by the water. The eggs were still warm. The root’s sweet when you cook it right.”
“I didn’t know you could recognize the edible plants. Strange for someone raised in the city.”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “People always underestimate me. You learn things when you’re raised in a place where you go to bed hungry more often than not.”
The thought of her suffering at the orphanage made me want to pull my dagger and go back to the capital, slit the throats of anyone who’d ever hurt her. Instead, I took a bite. My bodyall but groaned in response. I’d forgotten the taste of real food. Earthy. Slightly sweet. Savory from the herbs she’d crushed over it.
“I’m surprised you didn’t put poison in it,” I murmured.
“I considered it.”
That made me smile. Just a little.
Her gaze lifted. And for a moment, we just looked at each other.
Something passed between us. Wordless. Old. Familiar in a way that made no sense.
“You bathed,” I said finally, my voice rougher than I wanted as my gaze lingered on the thin wet fabric that clung to the curve of her breasts. Her hair was still wet, a random drop of water traveled the length of her cheek, down her neck, to disappear in the feminine clothing I longed to peel from her body.
She dropped her gaze, her attention darting to my lips before sliding away. “There was a pool near the stream. The water is cold, if you’re interested.”
I took a deep breathe, drew her scent into my body. “You smell like wild mint and moonlight.”
“Now you sound like a werewolf.” Her brows rose. “Are you trying to be poetic?”
“I simply speak the truth.” I had no idea how the shifter clans survived the pull of their mates. I was a mage, not part beast, and yet her scent lingered in the air between us, a constant tease to my sex starved body. I hadn’t touched a female in decades. Had no interest. No desire.
Until her.
Silence stretched like thin ice between us. I watched her throat work as she swallowed. Her tongue flashed in invitation as she hastily licked her lips. I bit back a groan but could not stop myself from leaning forward. Closer.
“Why are you here? Why did you follow me?”
“You know why.” I held her gaze and hid nothing of my desire. She was young. Innocent. If she knew what I wanted to do to her, she’d run, screaming, from our small camp. Instead, she cleared her throat and leaned back, away from me.
“Tell me everything you know about the Starborn.”
It wasn’t a question. More like a challenge. Like she dared me to confirm something she didn’t want to believe. “What did Jarrik tell you?”
