“I’m sure you have a girl in every village,” I said, needing to convince myself that it was true. There was an awful warm glow in my chest at his attention, and I needed to smother that flame.
“Are you sure of that?”
I bit my lower lip because I wasn’t about to gush out the truth: he was too handsome, too charming, too powerful. It seemed highly unlikely thatIwas special to him.
“I guess you’re right,” I said with mock lightness. “We barely know each other at all. I shouldn’t presume anything, except that you’ll kiss me again.”
His lips tilted in the most irresistible smirk, and his hand flattened on my lower back, pulling me closer.
As his kisses deepened, the world narrowed. There was nothing but the slide of his lips against mine, the teasing flick of his tongue, the heat coiling low in my belly.
His hand trailed along my spine, setting every nerve alight. My fingers curled into his shoulders and felt tension there, as if he was holding back something barely leashed.
It seemed unreal that I could provoke such feelings in this beautiful creature.
Then his hand drifted up my back until it wrapped the nape of my neck. It was only when I felt the warmth of his hand against my skin, pushing down my collar, that I realized my skin was already feverishly hot there.
The mark.
I’d lost track of every sense buthim. But the mark was burning, and he must feel it, mustn’t he?
My breath hitched, my panic slashing through the haze of desire. I scrambled off his lap, breaking out of his grip before he could process what he was feeling on my skin and what it meant.
“Cara?” His eyes widened, unexpectedly boyish. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” I said hastily, worried I’d hurt him when I had no reason to do so. He’d been nothing but kind. “I just have to get home.”
“Did I scare you?” He stayed sitting down, though he looked restless, and I realized he was trying to make me comfortable.
“No, that’s not it at all. I’m sorry. I just…I shouldn’t have. I have my family to take care of…”
“As long as that’s all.” He still looked troubled.
“It is. Thank you. That was nice.”
“Nice,” he repeated, still looking dazed.
“So nice!” I followed up, too upbeat, and then wanted to die spontaneously right there. “Good night!”
I fled home, feeling shaken.
But a few times, I found myself smiling anyway.
Six
The next day, I fought to forget Fieran, and Lidi and I went out picking berries. We ate one for every one that went into the baskets until our fingertips and our mouths were stained. We stuck our tongues out at each other and laughed at the sight.
The berries were sweet and juicy on my tongue. Despite how many we ate, the basket was heavy on my arm as I carefully pulled myself loose from the thorns, which scratched me even through my pants. When Lidi noticed that I was a little bit stuck, she smiled up at me. The next thing I knew, I was free, the thorns bending away from my feet as if they bowed to her.
We’d found such a bounty of berries, more than Tay and I ever found rambling together when we were kids. I wasn’t sure she even realized she was using her magic.
And, of course, I’d heard adults in the village grumbling that she wasted her magic on weeds.
“Look, there’s Mam,” Lidi said happily. She threw up her arm and waved as our mother made her way through the berry thicket toward us.
She carried her own basket, though it wasn’t like my mother ever did much picking.
My stomach felt as if it flattened out, as if I already knew that shewas going to find an excuse to send Lidi away and to talk to me about something that I did not want to hear.
