I slapped his leg again, and he laughed and then made a low groaning noise and shifted in the saddle behind me.
His thighs on the outsides of mine tensed, pressing my legs harder against Cimmerian’s sides.
Pharis leaned forward, his mouth close to my ear.
“Stop that, Wildcat” he whispered. “Or I shall have to return the favor and make good on my threat to giveyoua spanking.”
Shivers raced across my skin, and I put my hands back in safer territory on the pommel where they would remain for the next month.
Chapter13
Poor Girls
Pharis
The old man was sharp.
While he kept his unseeing eyes pointed straight ahead, I’d noticed him several times leaning toward our horse, listening in on my conversation with Raewyn.
Conversation that had strayedfartoo close to the line. I couldn’t seem to keep myself from going there with her. She was simply too stimulating for her own good—or for mine.
The folded blanket, by the way, did no good whatsoever. I’d hoped its presence between us would make the ride more comfortable and less torturous.
We rode for several hours, alternating between a gallop and a canter and a trot. We were making good time, and the farther we got from the royal city, the easier I breathed.
I’d been hoping when we got far enough away we’d be able to use the roads where travel was smoother, but some of the villagers had seen us leaving Waterdale.
It wasn’t practical to stop and sway all of them, and there’d been no time. That meant my father and his troops were most likely aware now that we were a party of five.
Much more noticeable than a man and a woman on a horse.
An Elven man traveling with a human woman, two little girls, and an old man would stick out unfortunately.
We’d be too memorable, and when Father sent out scouts, which he would at some point soon, I didn’t want to give the travelers using the roads anything to report.
We’d have to do it the hard way, traveling to the deep south without the benefit of roads.
“At least it’s a nice night,” Raewyn said, speaking my thoughts aloud.
“A fortuitous absence of rainstorms,” I agreed, looking up at the array of stars and the bright moon overhead. “No caves in these parts.”
And now my mind was back in that cave where I’d held her against me for hours, listening to her breathe, drinking in the warmth and softness of her as she wore nothing but my thin shirt.
Where I’d used the reflective surface of my flask to watch her change back into her own clothing.
What are you doing, idiot?
I could not allow myself to have these thoughts. Raewyn was the woman my brother loved.
Stellon and I had always been completely loyal to each other. Nothing had ever come between us—until she had shown up.
It was pointless anyway. I was taking her as far away as I could from Seaspire, my home. The place where my life and all the people I loved were.
Once I deposited Raewyn and her family somewhere in Sundaris, I’d leave them and their new horse behind and return to my own world.
Or would I?
If one of the villagers really had recognized me as being the one aiding the “fugitive,” it was going to be awkward to explain to the King.
