“I think you underestimate your mom,” Clarissa chimed in. “She’s run the Three Sisters for most of her life. She herself told me the restaurant is steeped in folklore. Maybe she’d take it in stride.”
With a shrug, Nathaniel raised his pipe in her direction. “If it goes terribly wrong, I can always wipe her memory.”
Raven looked to Gabriel for backup, but her mate wasn’t any help. He had the look on his face of a man who desperately wanted someone else to solve this problem.
He growled deep in his throat and rumbled, “If she did know the truth, it might make it easier for us to find what we are looking for. She could be a huge asset.”
Raven crossed her arms and stared up at Charlie. The babe pushed off the cabinet, her little wings catching the air, and soared down into Raven’s arms. Her big blue eyes seemed to hold a question and an apology. Raven hugged her and kissed her cheek. “I love you, but no cat. Artemis isn’t food.”
Charlie giggled in response.
Raven sighed. “So we tell Mom the truth. What could possibly go wrong?”
“Why focus on the negative?” Clarissa said, cutting around Charlie’s bite marks to serve herself a chunk of meat. “Think about all that could go right.”
Avery lifted her glass of wine and tapped the glass to her chin. “Personally, I’ll consider it a win if Mom doesn’t die of a stroke.” She gave a breathy chuckle.
Raven met Gabriel’s gaze. Neither of them laughed.
Chapter Five
Aeaea Island
What had she done?Leena bolted to her tent, so distracted she almost ran into the wrong one. All she’d wanted to do was feel what it was like to be kissed. She’d never been kissed. She’d lived in the temple since she was nine years old. Who would she have kissed?
Oh, but she hadn’t realized what a single kiss could do. It seemed so innocuous from the outside, a simple touch of lips. With Colin, it had been so much more. She pressed her fingers against her mouth as she remembered the heat of it, the way her stomach had dropped and her body had tingled deliciously in his arms. That kiss had kindled an ache in her she’d never experienced before.
His flesh had been sinfully hard against her chest, but his lips had been soft and welcoming. And the longer their mouths touched, the more a strange and wonderful pressure had built inside her. It lingered even now, her inner self fluttering like a leaf in the wind while an unexpected weight pooled between her legs. How could one both ache and feel light as a feather at the same time?
The way his tongue had danced with her own enchanted her. She might have explored that dance for hours had the rumble in his chest not alerted her to how the encounter was changing. His hands, his mouth, had grown more demanding, and when he’d asked her to behis, she knew she was playing with fire.
Of all the sensations the kiss had ignited in her, the warmth that had blossomed at the center of her chest at the sound of his trill had been the most surprising and alarming. At that point, she knew without a doubt that the kiss would never be just a kiss. It wasn’t only an experiment. The feelings it stirred up were far more permanent, more dangerous. She shook her head.
“Leena?” His voice came from outside the door to her tent.
She tangled her fingers together in front of her stomach. If she remained quiet, would he assume she wasn’t there and go away?
“Leena, I know you’re in there. We need to talk about what just happened.”
Drawing a deep breath, she released it slowly and steeled her spine. She was an adult and an elf scribe. She could handle this.
“Come in,” she said in the lightest, most unflustered voice she could find, even though inside she was trembling.
He slipped through the tent flap and moved to stand in front of her. Dear goddess, his gray eyes sparked silver in the dim light, and the muscles in his arms bunched as he crossed them over his chest. Nothing short of stunning. That fluttering ache grew stronger still.
“You kissed me.” He stared at her as if he was expecting an explanation.
“It was an accident.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “An accident?”
“Can we forget it ever happened?”
“No.” He chuckled, low and gritty as if his throat were lined with cinders. “Your lips didn’t fall from the sky and land on mine.”
She focused on his right biceps, on the wavelike scar that ran its length. He was not a man who was easily distracted from his goals. He wouldn’t be the type to let this go.
Turning from him, she rubbed her palms together in tiny circles and paced the length of the tent. How could she explain? “I just wanted to try it. This was my one and only chance. Once I go back to my old life, I won’t be free to… indulge in any… experimenting.”
