“Absolutely not.” Zadyn makes no effort to set me down.
“I’m not going back to the castle.”
“We’ll discuss that when we get somewhere safe,” Jack says flippantly, patting his horse.
Neither Zadyn nor I move. Jack pauses, looking back at us.
“Would you rather the two of you walk? It’s just a ride. You can go with Max,” he tells Zadyn, jerking his chin toward one of the twins. “Or Mal, if you prefer. Come on, friend, I won’t bite her.” Jack flashes him a condescending smirk, and he tenses, tightening his grip on me.
“Zadyn,” I say, snapping him out of their little pissing contest. “Put me down. It’s only a ride. I’m fine.”
Reluctantly, he sets me down beside the black beauty, his eyes never once leaving Jack’s.
“I’ll be right behind you,” he assures me and helps me into the saddle to sit in front of Jack, who’s already mounted. Thewarm smell of a campfire hits me as he scoots closer, reaching around me to grip the reins.
“You need to hold on, witch. This won’t be a leisure ride.” He takes my hands and places them on the reins just above his. His voice tickles my ear, and I want so badly to lean back into him. To rest my head on his shoulder. To have his arms pull me back against him.
But I can’t. And he won’t.
He kicks the horse and leads us through the forest at a punishing pace. I bounce so hard that my hips leave the saddle with each gallop. Just when I think I’m going to fly clean off, Jack’s arm presses against my stomach and locks me in. I settle on his lap as he roots me to the horse and pulls me flush against his hard body. It’s tough not to let his nearness get to me. Him holding me like this doesn’t mean what I want it to. It doesn’t mean anything at all.
We make it to the edge of the Bone Forest without another hiccup. I loose a breath of relief as the horses touch down on rich green grass.
I’m surprised to see that where we stop, a camp is already set up in the center of a large clearing. A handful of horses graze beneath thick-trunked trees while a pack of gray bloodhounds nap lazily beside the crackling fire. Five or six guards occupy a fallen log, holding skewers of dark meat to the flame. My stomach rumbles at the scent.
Jack helps me dismount, and I pull the heavy cloak tighter around myself as the chill of night sends a shiver through my body. The cloak is better than being topless, but it’s open down the front and doesn’t offer much protection against the elements.
“I’ll find you a shirt,” Jack says quietly enough that only I hear. He ties up his horse as Zadyn approaches.
“Come on, let’s get you warmed up.”
I lean on him for support as we make our way to sit by the fire. I’m given a piece of meat to nibble on, and someone passes a canteen of water around.
“You and that Bone Forest,” says a deep, husky voice.
I glance up and am met with the auburn-haired, green-eyed twins. Identical, chiseled faces of elemental beauty peer at me from across the fire. One wears his hair twisted up into a man bun and the other lets it flow softly over his shoulders.
“Thought you would have learned the first time,” the man bun on the left says with a wink. I quirk an eyebrow.
“Hello, nice to see you again.” He dips his head. “I’m Max. Andthisis Mal.” He claps his brother hard on the shoulder, knocking the skewered meat in his hands to the ground. His twin slowly turns to glare at him.
My eyes dart between the two of them.
“We’re twins,” Max explains.
I nod.
“I hadn’t noticed.”
Max bursts into a loud, infectious laugh. Mal does not join him. He just watches me silently, intently, with preternatural stillness. It’s slightly unnerving.
“She’s funny. The witch is funny, Cap,” Max crows as Jack walks around him and wordlessly extends a blousy white tunic to me. He barely acknowledges his soldier’s epiphany as he stalks away, silent and aloof.
I twist my torso, facing the trees so as to not flash tit at the circle of guards while I slide the top over my head. The shirt fits me like a dress and smells deliciously like Jack. I turn back to the hoots and hollers of the fae males around me and flip them off, earning their respect in the process.
I lock eyes with Jack. He doesn’t smile or join in his men’s jovial quips. He sits across the fire, quiet and brooding, hismolten eyes looking like a part of the flame itself. A glowing ember in the night.
“And you,” Max says, wagging a finger at Zadyn as he chews loudly. “You must be the rabidOrCatMal shot in the forest that day. Glad to see you made it. Had we known?—”
