She feels it, too. Shit.
I released her like she was on fire.
“Sorry,” I said tightly.
She didn’t step away. In fact, if I wasn’t wrong, she was a little bit closer.
Shit, shit, shit.
“He likes you being here,” she said, glancing at Ribbon, but her voice had a second meaning threaded through it I couldn’t ignore.
“He likes shiny objects and food scraps,” I said, my own voice gruff and hoarse. “And anyone who scratches his head.”
“And you,” she whispered, softly. “I think he has good taste.”
The world went still for a heartbeat. I looked at her—really looked—at the light catching her hair, the quiet sincerity in her expression, the lingering sleep-softness in her voice. The bondhummed low beneath my ribs.
Want. Fear.Need.
All tangled together, impossible to separate. I stepped back from her. Not far—just enough to attempt a few breaths that didn’t clog my senses with her sweetness.
“Ribbon needs to come home now,” I said, even though it sounded weak to me.
Ribbon croaked loudly in protest, puffing up like a marshmallow of pure defiance.Hanna giggled—giggled, not laughed—and something in my chest clenched tight.
“I can walk with you,” she offered. “To help coax him.”
“That isn’t necessary,” I told her, gruffly, struggling to not just dash away in the opposite direction from her.
“I want to,” she said simply.
Andthat. That undid me a little. Not enough to admit anything, but enough that when she slipped on her shoes and stepped out into the hallway, I found myself falling into step beside her without a word.
Ribbon followed, smugly herding us like a toad-shaped chaperone. I was going to threaten to skin him and cook him later. Knowing him, he’d just gloat that he’d gotten his way.
And I tried,very hard, not to think about the warmth of her elbow in my hand, or the way her sleepy smile had settled under my ribs like something I couldn’t put down.
Ribbon didn’t follow us. Heledus.
The moment Hanna stepped around him, he puffed himself up, hopped in front of us, and started down the path like a royal escort guiding two problematic children who couldn’t be trusted to walk unsupervised. Hanna laughed under her breath.
“He has a very high opinion of himself,” she joked, probablytrying to lighten the mood. And I couldn’t stop myself from joining her.
“He learned it from the orcs,” I muttered.
“What was that?” she asked, tilting her head to look up at me andGods,but she was beautiful.
“Nothing,” I blurted, clearing my throat, averting my gaze.
She snorted, nudging my arm with her elbow—barely a brush, but it sent heat straight through my chest. I tried to pretend it didn’t.Ribbon stopped ahead of us, glanced back with a wide golden eye, croaked impatiently, then kept hopping.
“Bossy,” Hanna whispered.
“He’s insufferable.”
“He’s adorable.”
I gave her a flat look, but she only smiled wider. And Gods… it was getting harder not to look at her. Harder to keep my gaze on literallyanything elsebut her.
