“They aren’t ssssupposed to be here,” she slurred. “They belong in the valley.”
“Someone forgot to tell the snails that. I’m going to lift you into my arms and carry you until it’s safe.” He tried to do just that, but she grabbed his hands, wriggling against him. If his inner dragon had wanted her before, any effort at cooling his libido was undone by her exuberant closeness.
“Dance with me, Colin,” she said, wrapping one arm around his neck. “I’ve never danced with anyone.”
“Mountain help me.” He tried to hold her so there was a bit of distance between their bodies without setting her feet on the snail-infested trail. “Just… just hold still, and I’ll pick you up.”
“No! I want to dance.” She giggled like a child and squeezed his neck harder.
He cursed again and rolled his eyes heavenward. “Fine, but I swear you’re going to regret this later.” He positioned one hand at the small of her back and gripped her right hand in his left. “Hang on, darling, I’m taking you for a spin.” He moved up the hill, snails crunching under his feet, in a way that couldn’t be mistaken for dancing.
In his arms, Leena glowed. She tipped her head back and laughed, the sound ringing through the woods like silver bells. Damn it, but he loved that sound. Soon, despite himself, he broke into an actual dance, spinning and swaying to a song he remembered from Paragon. He hummed it to her as he picked up the pace.
“Oh goddess, it feels like flying.” She arched her back in his arms. “Not as wonderful as before in the tent, but so freeing.”
He slowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “So, you liked what happened before in the tent…?”
“Goddess, yes. It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before, like unraveling and then being knitted back together.” She smiled up at him, and his chest swelled with satisfaction. But then her brow puckered with worry. “Only I don’t think you liked it as much.”
“I liked it very much,” he admitted, searching her wild violet eyes and wondering how much of this she’d remember later. “Too much. I had to stop, or I wouldn’t have been able to stop. Do you understand?”
A laugh bubbled out of her throat and between them. “No.”
He found the genuine honesty in that answer endearing. She was completely innocent. And didn’t that make him a lecherous asshole for putting his hands on her?
They’d covered a considerable distance, and he didn’t feel the crunch under his boots as before. Once he confirmed the trail was safe, he stopped. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips full and velvety pink.
“Why are you stopping?”
“It’s safe now,” he said. “You can continue on your own.”
Her eyes met his, their electric intensity driving straight through to his inner dragon. “But what if I’m not ready to be on my own? What if I want to hold on to you while I can?” Her lips parted, her head tilting to the side. She leaned closer.
Don’t kiss her, you fool!But who was he kidding? Her hands were in his hair, and his inner dragon had already rolled over and was begging for a belly rub. Her lips met his, and this time, his trill filled the space around them. The kiss went deeper, and he showed her with his tongue exactly what he wanted to do to her.
“I’m going to need you to come with us,” a male voice said.
Colin stopped kissing Leena, turning his head toward the voice… and got a close-up view of the sharp end of an elven arrow.
Chapter Ten
Leena spun off Colin’s feet, drew one hand back, and released her invisible arrow into the nearest male. The curse landed in his gut. He staggered back, black veins spreading out through his arms and climbing his cheeks. He swore before toppling over.
“Was scribe magic necessary?” one of the other two elves said to her, his arrow still drawn. “We’re just doing our job.”
Leena turned toward him, arm cocked back, hand raised. “Lower your weapons, and I won’t do it again.”
The two uninjured male elves stood down, while the one on the ground groaned and writhed. Her poison would wear off in a moment—it wasn’t designed to kill other elves.
“What was that?” Colin whispered, but she silenced him with a raised hand.
“What do you want with us?” she asked, and even she could hear how she slurred the end of that sentence. The world tilted and she steadied herself.
“We’ve been ordered to escort you to the palace,” one said. “We thought he was… bothering you.” The guard gestured toward Colin.
“Not bothering me,” she mumbled to them. “It was the shhhnails!” She pointed a finger at the trail behind them.Shhhnails? Was her tongue swelling?“But…why did you say you are here?”
The blond elf nearest her relaxed a bit. “We’ve come to collect you. Lord Niall requests an audience with you and the dragon immediately.”
