“You startled me,” I said.
“Apologies.” He took a step toward me.
“Did you sleep at all?” I asked.
“No.”
“You should have woken me. I would have taken a watch.”
“You needed rest.”
“So do you,” I said pointedly.
“I’ll sleep when we get there.”
“Are we getting close?”
“If we move quickly, we’ll arrive by midday tomorrow.”
“Callan will complain,” I said.
His gaze darkened. “Then he can find his own way.”
“You don’t mean that.”
He glowered. “Sometimes, I wish I did.”
My mouth curved. “You know, you’re not as grumpy and scary as you pretend to be.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”
Shadows leaked from his feet, crawling over the groundand whispering up my legs. Their touch felt like a second set of hands, trailing lightly up my body. I found myself leaning into it. Into him.
I watched as he took another step toward me. Then another. Until he was standing over me. His hands remained at his sides, but his shadows swirled and caressed me, leaving small, phantom strokes along my hips.
“What about now?” he asked in a low voice.
“I’m not scared of you,” I whispered.
His eyes flashed. Not with fury. With desire. “Maybe you should be.”
I swallowed hard as he leaned down until his mouth was only a breath from mine.
“And now?”
My heart stuttered, and I felt my own desire stir in every cell of my body.
“You two are nauseating.”
Rydian’s shadows abruptly vanished.
I whirled to find Callan, his lip curling in disgust, his eyes still lined with sleep.
“At least wait until we’ve had breakfast,” he added before turning away and sauntering off behind a tree.
When I glanced back at Rydian, I expected him to be upset. Instead, his smirk was anything but.
“What is that look for?” I asked him.
