I stiffen and then scoff. “Beautiful? That’s one I haven’t heard before.”
“It is,” she says, voice barely above a whisper.
I tilt my head, smirking. “Careful, keep saying things like that and I might start thinking you actually like me.”
Her eyes widen slightly, but she doesn’t deny it. And I don’t push it. We’ve crossed some lines, ones we never should have, and I don’t want to think about it, but every moment with her is dangerous and tempting.
As we continue walking, I stay slightly ahead of her. I can feel her stare burning into my back.
The road soon winds along the base of the mountains, the air thinning as we climb. The sun is still low, painting the rocks gold, and for a while, the only sound is the crunch of gravel beneath our boots. I slow down so we fall in step as the road gets rockier and more dangerous. She’s quiet, focusing on herfootsteps. She’s not used to climbing, and she slips several times. She’s from nobility; that much she didn’t lie about.
“You always this quiet?” I ask after she slips again. “Or is this your way of sulking because I didn’t sing for you?”
She shoots me a look from beneath her lashes. “I’m just focusing on what I’m doing,” she grumbles, much to my surprise.
I smirk. “For a fae, you aren’t as elegant as I would think.” She simply glares at me.
Her lips twitch despite her struggle. “You are so arrogant, you know that?”
“I prefer to call it confidence,” I counter cockily. “It’s not my fault I happen to be right most of the time.”
She lets out a short, breathless laugh and shakes her head. “You really think highly of yourself, don’t you?”
“I’m a sky siren,” I reply, feigning thoughtfulness. “It’s practically part of our anatomy. Somewhere between lungs and charm.”
She rolls her eyes, but that smile has returned to her lips. “As I said, arrogance.”
I glance at her before grabbing her elbow, saving her from her next tumble, my lips curving. “Careful, if you keep falling, I might start to think you want me to catch you.”
“I do not!” she exclaims, her cheeks flushing. “You are so annoying!”
“And yet,” I murmur, leaning slightly closer as we walk, “you’re still here.”
“Because you won’t let me go, remember,” she points out.
“You haven’t really tried, though, have you?” I remark.
Her gaze flicks to mine, sharp but uncertain. “Would you?” she asks softly.
I’m quiet before I look at her, all amusement gone. “No. Not really.” Because I plan to keep you.
“Exactly.”
She looks ahead before she focuses on her footwork as we continue walking.
We kept moving, and thesun is up in the sky even though it’s bleak. The silence has remained between us, although I don’t think she’s upset, but is genuinely struggling to walk. I debated asking if she wanted me to carry her, but didn’t.
We stop when we reach a wide flat area, enough to sit down comfortably. The wind tugs at our clothes, and we sit down. I open up the food bag as Siralaine collapses onto her back, breathing hard. I’m impressed she kept up despite being exhausted. She’s resilient.
“Here.” I toss her the water flask and open up the wrapper that is around the bread and dried meat Dorene packed and tear into it like I haven’t eaten in days.
She watches, amusement flickering in her eyes as she gulps down the water. “You seem ravenous,” she says as she crawls over to me. My eyes flicker to her cleavage before flicking up to her eyes.
“Well, if I were alone, I might not have had to walk at all.” I take a few gulps of the water. I’ll have to ration it until we find somewhere to top it up.
She flushes slightly, glancing away. “Well, you want me tohelp you get to Morcant or not? We both know you need me, remember? And not to mention you don’t want to let me go?”
“True,” I murmur, smirking as I tear into another piece of meat. “So, you’d better eat up because we have a long way to go.”
