He doesn’t let me go, kissing me again, his big hands supporting my back and head. As he draws back, he runs his fingertip across the frown forming on my forehead. “What is it?”
“Fear has dictated my actions for so long. Fear and rules. Now you’re here and I can finally be with you. But I’m terrified that when we go back out there…”
This night is not over. Not by a long shot. There’s a whole world of trouble waiting for me as soon as we leave the deep springs. I still have to convince the clan leaders to accept me as their Queen. That’s if I even want to be their Queen…
He strokes my back. “Marbella, you have the weight of this world on your shoulders. My shoulders are pretty broad. Let me share the burden.”
I break into a smile. Broad shoulders is an understatement. I gesture at the stones with bewilderment. “I have to figure out howthishappened.”
“We’ll figure it out together.”
I blush. The last time he said that to me we were in a very similar position to the one we’re in now. He lowers me to the ground, helping me find my feet. After he returns to the edge of the water to retrieve the rest of his armor, he holds his hand out to me. I take it willingly. But very soon I remember there’s one more thing we need to talk about before we leave the springs.
Baelen was present in the room when Howl forced me to dine with the Elven Command. He must have heard all of their plans, including the truth about his father’s death.
I tug him to a stop. “The Elven Command conspired to kill your father.”
The muscle at the edge of his jaw ticks as he turns. His hair has grown over the last month and now wet brown strands frame the sides of his face. “They will pay for what they did.”
“They’ve imprisoned my Storm Command. I can’t abandon my ladies. Eli Elder said he was doing everything he could to make sure they were being treated fairly but I’m worried about what will happen when word gets out that I’ve killed Howl. I have to go back to Erawind. I have to free them…”
He squeezes my hand. “We will go back, Marbella. I know you’re worried about them. I am too, but the Priestess is right. You have to secure peace here first.”
“To do that, I have to get the clan leaders to support me. Which involves finding out how this happened.”
And… I’m back to the stones again.
As we continue to walk up the side of the mountain, I shiver again—this time because I’m cold. “Do you think it would be unwise to use my power to dry off?”
Baelen responds to my violent shiver by swiftly pulling me into his arms, his skin blazing and warm light glowing around both of us. Within moments, water steams off us and I’m toasty warm and completely dry. I gasp as sensation trickles through every nerve in my body before he releases me with a self-satisfied smile. “Let’s use mine.”
Llion once told me that I smelled like clouds and ice. I discovered how true that was when I lived so close to the Queen’s heart and froze everything around me at nighttime. Llion also told me that Baelen smelled like scorched earth and acid rain. It turns out that scorched earth isn’t all that bad.
