Splashed across the wide, muscled chest and narrowing as it moved downward to overlap his segmented stomach, was the large tattoo I’d wondered about.
It was a spiral shape, reminding me of a funnel cloud I’d once seen in the sky near my village. But this twister was studded all over with sharp hooks resembling thorns.
“Well?” Pharis said.
I blinked. How long had I been staring?
“Well what?”
“May I have my shirt back, or do you intend to sit there and ogle me all night?”
I got up with a huff and went to gather my now-dry dress and shift from the cave wall where they hung.
“I wasn’toglingyou.” I snatched the dress from the rock, nearly ripping it. “I was wondering why you still look so tired after sleeping all day—asyouinsisted on doing. You have bags under your eyes.”
Pharis chuckled. “You weren’t looking at myeyes, Wildcat.”
“Shut up and turn around,” I said.
When his back was turned, I hurriedly stripped off his shirt and shimmied back into my shift and dress.
Twisting back to face him, I noticed he was holding up the shiny silver flask in front of him at eye level.
“Is it empty?” I asked with no small amount of disappointment.
He turned to face me, though I hadn’t yet informed him I was dressed and decent.
“No, there’s some left—in spite of your guzzling last night,” he said, tossing me the flask.
I caught it and threw him his shirt in exchange. It was only when I held up the flask, preparing to take a drink, that I realized how reflective its surface was.
There was a clear image of Pharis dressing himself on the smooth metal.
An offended noise left my mouth as I whipped my face toward him. He gave me a wink and laughed out loud.
“Turnabout is fair play, my lady.”
I stomped toward the horse, irritable in spite of my satisfying nap. “Let’s just go. How long of a ride do you think it is to my village from here?”
“Shouldn’t be longer than three hours, I think,” he said as he went to put out the Auspex fire. “Unless you attract any more predators.”
We left the cave to find the storm had cleared. The air smelled fresh with a light breeze that was cool but not cold.
The sky was like a diamond-studded tapestry over our heads, though the moon had a bit of lingering haze surrounding it, giving it a gauzy appearance. Its glow on the field and rolling hills caused the droplets that remained at the tips of the grasses to sparkle.
As Dargan drank from a puddle that had formed in the rock outside the cave entrance, Pharis helped me up into the saddle.
This time he mounted the horse in front of me instead of behind me.
“Hold on,” he ordered and urged Dargan into a trot, then a gallop.
Having no wish to fall from the tall horse, I obeyed, wrapping my arms around his lean waist.
As we rode, I turned my head from side to side, watching the woods on one side of us for emerging Dryads and the rocks to our right for that mountain lion’s mate.
No predators appeared, and the next hour passed uneventfully.
My irritation with Pharis faded, unable to stand against the facts that he really had saved my life twice and that we were growing ever closer to my village and my family with each gallop.
