When thebikkuslid away, as silently as she’d come, I didn’t even notice.
“You’ll hurt me,” Mina whispered.
She was speaking of what would come tonight.
“Only for a little while,” I murmured, brushing my fingers over her lips. “And then you will come to crave it.”
Her throat bobbed again. Her tongue wet her lips and I growled, acting on impulse for once, leaning forward to steal a kiss. She held perfectly still as I brushed my lips against hers. A chaste kiss. Almost sweet.
“Rowin,” she whispered, turning her head away, not meeting my eyes. “Your horde.”
I grunted, pulling away. MyMorakkariwas shy. I would have to keep that in mind.
Turning to inspect the tray thebikkuhad brought, I lifted a goblet of wine first. Made of white bone inlaid with gold, it was filled to the brim with dark, fragrant liquid.
I offered it to Mina first. We would drink from the same goblet and feed one another from the same plate. Though she’d already fed me before, I remembered.
She kept my eyes as I tilted the goblet to her lips. The intensity of my gaze seemed to make her shy too because her lashes swept down as she swallowed the wine. Once she was done, I took a healthy swallow of it before replacing it on the tray.
There was still a mottling of bruises across her cheekbone and I brushed my fingers over them.
“Humans heal slowly,” I commented.
Her eyes flickered to my shoulder, which had been without a bandage for the last two days.
“Did you expect them to be gone? Since you haven’t come to me for two days?” she asked.
“My apologies,Morakkari. I did not think you noticed my absence, considering the last conversation we had,” I pointed out.
Her lips pressed together at the reminder—the reminder that I’d threatened her and that was the only reason she was sitting on my lap right now, dressed the way she was, as our horde celebrated before us.
“I didn’t,” she protested softly. “I mean, I didn’t care.”
“Mmm.”
Her skin was soft and warm as I slid my palm to wrap around her waist.
“I don’t care for you, you know,” she informed me, sounding surprisingly miserable about that fact. “I don’t even like you.”
“That’s a lie,” I replied.
She gaped at me. “How so? You’ve been nothing but terrible to me since we left the Dead Mountain. After all I did to help you—”
“Including plotting to capture me in the first place,” I murmured easily, my hand tightening on her waist. “Let us not forget that very important fact,rei sarkia.”
“You know I had no choice in that,” she said. “You know that.”
My jaw tightened but my touch on her gentled.
“You cared for me under the Dead Mountain,” I said. “You liked me then.”
Her eyes flickered down my chest, though her gaze was unseeing.
“I liked the male who talked with me,” she said quietly. I stilled at the softness in her voice, feeling discomfort swim in my chest. “I liked the male who spoke of the frozen northlands. Who comforted me when I needed it.” Her eyes lifted and met mine. “Who warmed me when I was cold. Who made me feel a little less lonely.”
Swallowing hard, my brow drew down. “Kalles…”
“I liked that male,” she said. “But then I realized that he never truly existed. That it was all just a farce. A manipulation to make me trust him, to make me care for him. And the worst part is that I cannot even blame him for it. Because I would try to do the same thing.”
