“Absolutely,” he said, sounding relieved as he pulled her towards him again.
This kiss was firmer, needier. Ena followed Ty’s lead as he naturally guided her mouth open with his own. She gasped slightly, breathing in his air.
Ena had kissed boys before, but it was nothing like this. Kissing Ty felt so natural, so right. He tasted like mint and honey, and when his tongue slowly slipped into her mouth and swirled against hers, she couldn’t help but meet it greedily with her own.
She took a step closer to him without thinking, pressing her body flush with his. His chest was hard and warm, and herbreasts pressed against him, tingling at the contact, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him.
The feel of him heated her blood to boiling, every nerve in her body coming alive. She let out a small whimper as his hand left the side of her face to twine into her hair, making her breathless as the kiss continued to escalate. His tongue expertly delved into her mouth, coaxing her, tantalizing her, and then she broke. Losing awareness of the world around her, Ena wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, letting one hand roam into his hair. She wanted more, wanted everything, and couldn’t get close enough.
Their mouths and tongues began to move together like they were starving, like they’d been waiting their whole lives to taste one another. Ty seemed to sense her desperation as his hand left her hair and roamed slowly down her back to grab her ass through her thin dress, pushing her aching center against him. She felt his cock grow hard between them, pressed against her belly, and arched her hips into him. His touch was electric, his taste was addictive. She lost herself to the feeling, to him, and she wantedmore.
The overwhelming feeling of it was so strong it shocked her, and all of a sudden, Ena hesitated. This was all happening so fast, and everything she was feeling was so intense it scared her a little. She pulled back, both of them breathing heavily.
Ena stared up at Ty, his eyes heavy lidded with lust. Clearing her throat, she suddenly felt awkward and didn’t know what to say, how to explain her hesitation. What could she say?“I’m worried that I want you too much? That kiss was too fucking good and I was scared I wouldn’t stop and we’d end up having sex on this cliff but I just met you yesterday and you’re leaving soon?”Lowering herself back onto flat feet and pulling back to put some distance between them, she felt his grip around her loosen as a brief look of confusion fell over his face.
“It’s… uh…starting to get dark,” she said. “We should probably head back.”
It wasn’t totally an excuse. Looking around as if he, too, had completely forgotten where they were, Ty seemed to realize that it was, in fact, getting dark, and that they were on top of a cliff with a long hike back to the village.
Ty cleared his throat before he spoke, his voice coming out rough. “Yeah, yes. You’re right. We should head back.”
Ty released her fully from his grip, and she took another step back from him. She saw him release a deep breath, as if to calm himself, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t need the same herself.
Seeking to break the tension a little, she looked cautiously down at the rock wall they’d climbed up to get here. “Please tell me you’re okay to walk back on the path this time.”
Ty chuckled, watching her every move like she was impossible to look away from. “Whatever you want, Ena,” he said.
She smiled at that, and turned to walk down the path, making him follow her.
Chapter Eight
Ena’sbodyhurtallover. Her wrists were chafed raw from the handfast bindings, her thighs were shaking from holding herself upright on the horse for hours, and her head pounded. The sun was just starting to crest the horizon, bathing the forest in a delicate blue light. Birds were starting to shuffle around in the trees, and in the distance, Ena heard a creek bubbling cheerfully. She wasn’t sure which direction they had been riding all night, but she figured the creek must be one of the smaller tributaries that ran into the River Wry.
Her theory was confirmed once the creek came into sight. It was a decent size, about ten feet across, and filled with large boulders and downed logs which formed small eddies and rapids. But just glancing downriver, she could tell it meandered widely, which meant that if she were to escape, she could try to follow its flow to the River Wry, but it would likely take her far longer than the route they’d just taken from her village.
She’d had a million thoughts like this all night—thinking through every possible escape route, every possible way she might be able to slip away from them and find her way backbefore they got too far. But they’d ridden fast all night without stopping, and not a single opportunity had presented itself. Besides, her hands and mouth were still gagged, which put her at a significant disadvantage.
As they approached the bank of the creek, the man in the hawk mask, who she’d refused to even glance back at while riding all night, called to the others. “We’ll stop here to water the horses and take a short break, then we’ll ride on. We need to put more distance between us and her Coven in case they come looking.”
The man pulled their horse to a stop, then dismounted. He turned to face Ena and gripped her waist with large hands. Lifting her off the horse after him, he put her down directly in front of him. Ena was too tired to fight him, and her legs wobbled as she tried to stand. The man held her by the shoulders, his grip somewhat gentle, as he said, “I’d like to remove your gag so I can give you some water. I know you must be thirsty. If you try to scream and draw attention, I’ll just have to put it right back in. You should know, we’re far enough away that I don’t think anyone will hear you anyway, so it would be useless to try, but I won’t take any chances. Do you understand?”
Ena stared daggers at the man, but nodded obediently nonetheless. At this point, she had no choice but to acquiesce. She wanted water and this gag out of her mouth so badly.
The man reached behind her head to untie the gag and pulled the cloth out of her mouth. Ena sighed in relief, using her tongue to remoisten her impossibly dry mouth.
“Here,” he said, offering her a leather waterskin that he pulled from one of the saddlebags. “You’re also welcome to relieve yourself behind that tree over there if you have to, but if you go too far, or try to run, I will just have to catch you. And I will, so don’t even try it. Understand me?”
“Yes,Master,” Ena replied sarcastically, venom dripping with every word. She meant it as an insult. Only daemons calledIblis “Master,” and among witches, to call someone that was like calling someone a sadist. But it clearly didn’t have her desired effect, because the man just looked satisfied as a small devilish smile graced his lips.
Turning away from him, she lifted the waterskin to her lips and chugged the cool water. It felt like heaven in her mouth and down her dry, scratchy throat. Taking a peek over her shoulder, she saw the three men leading the horses to the creek and talking quietly amongst themselves. She felt relieved at their momentary distraction and wandered over to the tree the man had pointed to. As she crouched down to relieve her bladder, she took the private moment to frantically think of a plan.
She had to get her bearings and figure out where she was. Now that the sun was up, she would hopefully be able to see landmarks more clearly, or if they came to a high point in the land, she could try to orient herself to the Chasm Mountains and the sun’s angle. As it were, being this deep in the heavily canopied forest, it was hard to tell from which direction the sun was even rising.
Coming back around from behind the tree, Ena saw the men washing up and filling up their waterskins in the creek, and it was the first time she’d gotten a good look at them in the daylight. They were all dressed similarly, in the same type of clothing anyone would wear this time of year: gray or brown woolen trousers and leather boots, linen shirts, and thigh-length black woolen coats with polished bone buttons. They carried more weapons than usual travelers, which made sense now that she knew their purposes. Each of them had a dagger strapped to their sides, and the tall one she’d been riding with had an axe strapped to his back. Weapons for killing other people were usually hard to come by on this side of the Chasm Mountains. The villages and the Covens usually existed in peace, and any skirmishes between mortals were usually brief andstayed confined to those villages involved. People more often than not used the farming and kitchen tools they had to defend themselves if anything went wrong, but there usually wasn’t much theft or violence. The fact that these men had weapons at all was certainly suspicious.
As they turned away from the creek to huddle together in conversation once more, she realized that they’d also removed their masks and she could see their faces clearly for the first time. When the one she thought she recognized turned to face her, her heart leapt to her throat.
Seeing his face, maskless, in the early-morning light, there was no doubt. It was Ty.
