Asterious rubbed Frasya’s forelock. “Because I saw you. I've been waiting for you to wander out here. I know the horses fascinate you.”
“So?” Caramyn huffed. “Are you going to bribe me with one of them in exchange for completing your mission?”
“No,” Asterious said simply. “But despite traveling for days together, I realized I never had the nerve to apologize for what happened at dinner. So here I am.” His gaze held hers, and silence fell, except for a snort from a horse in the distance.Caramyn wanted to believe him, but she would not be so stupid as to fall victim to his charming manipulation tactics again. He ruffled his hair with his hand before speaking again, and she felt a rush of warmth that she didn’t want to acknowledge. “I know you mentioned wanting to learn to ride and train. Terrin tells me you favor Frasya. She can be your personal mount.” He paused to pet the mare’s neck as she grazed beside them. “It…it can be my way of making it up to you.”
Caramyn shook her head, sucking down the flutter in her heart. “I’d rather Terrin teach me. Not you.”
“Well, he can, if that's what you want.” Asterious looked back towards the stables, then back at her. “But either way, if you’d consider it, I’d like for you to join me for a ride soon. Just for fun. No talk of the Shadow Woods or magic or Sinevia or any of that. I truly just want to get to know you, Mystery Girl.”
Caramyn scoffed. “I have a hard time believing you have any time for fun.” She would resist him. She kept reminding herself that even if he meant it, it was all just an attempt to get her to let her guard down for his benefit. She'd learned not to misplace her trust again simply because he riled up something fiery within her that she wished she could ignore.
Just then, Frasya returned to Caramyn’s side and touched her muzzle to her chest before lowering her head so that her large brown eye was level with Caramyn’s. The horse stared deeply through her, as if she was seeing through to her into her very soul. Then she nudged her with her velvety nose, knocking her off balance enough that she brushed into Asterious.
Caramyn flushed as she stumbled into the prince’s solid chest. Heat rushed through her at the contact, his steady hands catching her before she could falter, but not before she could keep her gaze from snagging onto those star-rimmed silver eyes. She glanced away just in time to see the horse behind her tossingits head with an energetic whinny, looking far too pleased with its own mischief.
If horses truly could read hearts, then Frasya certainly saw right through to hers. No matter how fiercely Caramyn fought the feeling stirring inside her, she could not vanquish it. She knew that she had every reason to hate Asterious, and her conscious had no difficulty reminding her of that. But her heart betrayed her, blurring the line between hatred and desire until she could no longer tell where one ended and the other began.
24
The Perfect Pairing
Asterious
Asterious let out a quiet laugh, shaking his head. “I truly didn’t expect Frasya to take to you,” he admitted. “She’s… selective.”
Caramyn arched a brow.
“She’s always had a mind of her own,” he went on, clearly amused. “Doesn’t suffer fools. Won’t tolerate mediocrity. She certainly makes youearnher trust.” He glanced at the mare fondly. “She once nearly took my head off with a back hoof just to make a point.”
“A perfectly acceptable statement,” Caramyn snipped. “I’m sure you deserved it.”
“I probably did,” Asterious shrugged. “Which is why the more I think about it, the more perfect of a pairing it seems. A fiery mare who speaks her mind and refuses to settle for less…of course she’d choose you.”
He pretended not to see the tender smirk that slid across Caramyn’s face as she turned to stroke the horse’s forehead.
She looked so lovely here in the golden haze of morning, her loose braid coming undone so that her hair tumbled over her shoulders—where those faded scars from the claw marks that made his blood simmer if he focused on them too long. So instead, he focused on her. He'd not been able to get the vision of her unclothed out of his head since that day, and it was enough to drive him to madness now seeing her in this dress that was almost ethereal against her smooth, flushed skin. Her radiance would've drawn any living creature to her right then. For a moment he wondered what it might feel like to have her lips against his, to tangle his fingers in those beautiful brown tresses—but he knew better. This wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan. Just get her not to hate him.
He'd hoped Misthelm might have cracked open the part of her she kept so fiercely guarded, or at least forced her to see what was truly at stake. Instead, she only deepened the mystery, giving him no sense of whether it had changed her, or simply taught her to hide herself better.
“Let's make a deal,” Asterious began, still letting his gaze softly travel over her as he fought back more unholy thoughts about her. “Let’s get you some breakfast, and then we shall start your first riding lesson today. If you still can't stand me afterwards, then I promise to never speak to you again. You can have Terrin teach you all you want, and I’ll never interrupt your time here again.”
“Today?” Caramyn tried to maintain her indifference, but Asterious could plainly hear the excitement in her voice.
“Why wait?” Asterious shrugged. “You want to learn horsemanship? There’s no one better to learn from than a Blackwynd prince.”
Caramyn only responded with an eye roll, but he also saw the faint smirk she was trying to keep him from seeing. She crossed her arms, pretending to consider, until she finally offered an outstretched hand. “Deal.”
He placed his hand in hers for a firm shake, and he could’ve sworn she almost laughed. “I'll get the horse’s ready. That should give you plenty of time to change into something more suited for riding.”
“Perhaps there is hope for you yet, Prince.” She pulled her hand from his and stared at him with a gaze that could pierce a man’s heart through those amethyst eyes like veiled depths, guarding secrets she would not name. She turned to go, a flicker of that half-smile still teasing him with its elusive ambiguity. And as he watched her leave, that lovely dress flowing behind her as she crossed the meadow, he flexed his fingers, fighting the trace of warmth her touch had left behind.
25
Trust
Caramyn
Caramyn observed with careful eyes as Asterious showed her how to harness the horses using their head collars. She watched him lead his stallion through the stable, finding herself staring longer than she should have at the slip of bare skin and muscle peeking through the open collar of his shirt and the taut strength of his scarred forearms rippling beneath his rolled-up sleeves. She'd never seen him look so casual as he did then, wearing a simple pair of charcoal pants, a light grey shirt, and his black riding boots. She couldn’t help noticing the fit, powerful lines of his body, so often concealed beneath those dark coats, and heat curled low in her stomach before she couldstop it. She cursed herself for the traitorous thought that she wouldn’t mind seeing more—far more.
