“He’s funny.” She shrugs. “And he saves my feet from all this walking.” She hangs the piece of dried meat from her mouth and reaches down. With a tug, she removes her boot and shakes some pebbles out. “Better,” she says around the jerky.
I turn and look the other way, straining my eyes through the darkness. Nothing. No sign. And the Abyss seems to be messing with my sense of direction. Which way is forward? Which back?
“You, um, okay over there?” She takes another swig of water, then stands.
“Fine.” I stretch. “You ready?”
“Yep.” She hands me the canteen. “Onward to Clotty.” Her trust in me is perfectly clear, shooting down the bond like a golden rope.
I stow the water and take her hand. “A kiss before we go.”
“I can’t say no to my hero.” She bats her lashes.
And even now, in this barren waste of death and darkness, my heart burns for her. I claim her mouth in a searing kiss, plundering her with a recklessness that kindles a deeper need. Running my fingers through her hair, I angle her head to deepen my kiss, and she grips my shirt as I take and take. She freely gives, reinforcing our mate bond and sharpening me. After all, I’m her instrument, hers to command, hers to wield. And I will never fail her, not in this life or any other.
When I finally pull back, her eyes are half lidded, her lips swollen, and her mating scent permeates the air. I want to make her scream here and now, but we can’t dally. I need to take my time with her, to taste every bit of her again, to revel in her wild rainstorm. That’s not possible here, not when the spiders are still quietly clicking along in hidden flutes of stone all around us.
“Come, my beloved.” I drop one more kiss on her forehead and pull her down the road.
“I didn’t pee myself,” she announces.
“What?” I look over at her.
“When the monster had me in that cage. I could have peed myself, but I didn’t.”
“You’re brave.”
“I think I was too scared to get a drop out.” She shrugs. “But I’m going to count that as a win. I didn’t piss myself, and I only panicked a little. Well, a lot.”
“I heard you trying to talk to it, to get it on your side.” I squeeze her hand. “That was smart. You have a way about you.”
“I do?” The way she says it stings. I wish she could see herself as I do. Fierce, intelligent, beautiful.
“Yes, you do. You make friends wherever we go. Have you not noticed?”
She scrunches her brows together as I guide her around a jagged scar in the road, the Abyss dropping away beneath it. “I mean, I’m friends with Taylor. And Silmaran. And, I think Chastain is a friend now. Even Parnon, yeah. And I was always pretty close with Emily back at Granthos’s place.”
“Raywen,” I suggest.
“Yes, I think we could be friends.” She stares down into the nothingness. “I think … you know, I think I could even be friends with the scary sea fae.”
“Calyto?”
She nods.
“I’d rather you didn’t. She seemed a bit too—”
“Scary? Toothy? Hungry?”
“Yes.” I try not to smile. I fail. “But you’ve made my point. You make friends. You once told me that Clotty wasn’t a friend, that until Taylor, you had no friends. I don’t think that’s true. I think plenty of people are proud to call you a friend.”
“You included?”
“Oh, my beloved, you are far, far more than just a friend to me.” I lean down to her ear. “I’m still thinking of the way you taste.”
A shiver rushes through her, and I have to keep my blood from surging hotter, tamp the feral back down even as it demands I mount my prize right here and now.
She lifts her free hand to the mark on her neck. “I guess you’re right.”
