Cool air caressed my cheeks, which felt as if they hadn’t stopped burning all night. I inhaled deeply, breathing in a faint scent of smoke that seemed to float through the air.
“Running away?” It was a deep, familiar voice. “And here I’ve been telling everyone how courageous you are.”
“Yes, I noticed. I haven’t been sure what to do with your banter.” I turned to face Fieran, wondering if he was going to confront me about who I really was. Before he could open that topic, I blurted out, “Why did you defend me earlier?”
Fieran shrugged. “I watched you face down a wyrm with a shovel today. I figured if I didn’t take care of that rude louse, you’d bury him.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I’m not that tough.”
“Aren’t you?” He leaned against the stone wall surrounding the pub, his hands in his pockets. I had the feeling he was shrinking himself down, slumping so I felt a little less intimidated next to him. He was still far taller than me. He was taller than any mortal man. “We’re staying around another night or two. In fact, there are a few members of another clan coming in to provide reinforcements, since they were in the vicinity.”
Alarm swept through me. “Are we in danger? Should I be worried—should I be home?”
“We’re here. We’ll know if there are monsters attacking, and we’ll take care of them,” he promised me.
“It must be nice to feel so confident that you can deal with whatever comes your way.” I immediately regretted the words and the way I’d just revealed my inability to do so.
“I don’t think any of us feel sure handling everything, Cara,” he said, his voice quiet. “I’m sorry if I made you afraid you needed to sneak out the back door. That was not my intent.”
I needed to stay away from Fieran, and I needed for him to stay away from me, and yet somehow the thought of him feeling like I was afraid of him bothered me. He had been kind and decent, and the only thing I was afraid of was that he saw who I really was.
But maybe I did want Fieran to see me. Not all of me, but…I’d never had anyone look at me in his admiring way, and he was the most fascinating man in the village.
“No, I’m sorry,” I told him. “I’m not scared of you.”
“That would make you the only one in the village who’s not at least a little bit scared.” He raised a finger and beckoned me toward him. “Are you sure?”
There was a challenge in his voice.
He was trying to tease me closer, and I didn’t enjoy being manipulated. “I’m not afraid.”
“Then why does your heart beat so fast every time I’m close to you?”
I met his gaze brazenly. I couldn’t tell him the truth, but I could tell him a different truth. “That’s not fear.”
“Is that so?”
The two of us were close together now. He was still leaning back against the wall. He looked so big and relaxed and alluring, and I wanted to reach out and touch him.
And it made sense to do just that so that he wouldn’t be suspicious of my reactions. I put my hand on his warm chest, which was at my eye level. Then I slid my fingers up his shoulder, feeling all the hard planes of muscle beneath his shirt.
He stayed very still, letting me touch him, as if he thought I could be startled away like a frightened rabbit.
“Are you going to kiss me, Cara?” he asked me.
He lowered his head so that I actually had a chance of reaching his lips. Those golden eyes on mine were mesmerizing.
“What do you think I am?” I asked, as ridiculous as it was, when I was touching him.
“I think you’re a girl who wants to kiss me as much as I want to kissher. I think you’re a girl who knows what she wants. And I think you’re a girl who should take it.”
Even though he was flirting with me, for some reason his words made me think about the other things I wanted. About trying to protect Lidi and save Tay’s life.
What I wanted didn’t matter.
All that mattered was taking care of my people.
“You don’t know me.”
