“To the west, just the direction I was going,” Magda said. “Finally, some luck. We will travel together to speak to Ouda. If you are who this nymph claims you are, then we will discuss what must be done.”
Hero paced at the edge of the gully. She reached up and put her hand on his head.
“I’m sorry for all of this.”
“You’re apologizing to a rat?” Damion said behind her.
Hero burrowed his head under her hand. “That one used to throw rocks at me.”
She glanced back at Kaelan who was in tight conference with Honey, their voices soft, yet strained. He ran his hands down her bare arms and Magda looked quickly away.
“I’m doubly sorry,” she said, heaving herself up onto the soft ledge. She crouched next to him, lowering her voice. “You can bite him if you want.”
THEY MADEcamp not far from the gully. Tamia had kindly provided plenty of dry wood for their fire. Exhausted as she was, Magda’s mind was restless. While Kaelan and Honey cuddled in their slumber on the far side of the fire and Damion patrolled, she sat and watched the firelight dance deep into the night.
“How did you become so muddy again?”
She shot up, the tips of her knives pressing under his chin, his back to a tree.
“Mistress?” Damion called in a hush from the distant darkness on the other side of the fire.
“I’m fine,” she said to Damion, glaring into Endreas’s sparkling black eyes. “I’m stepping away for a private moment.”
Damion was silent, but she knew he wouldn’t disturb her.
“Who’s that?” Endreas asked softly, his breath settling over her lips, tugging at them.
“My warrior, my cousin.”
“No, I mean that.” He gestured to Kaelan’s back.
“You know who that is,” she said. “Lavana’s lost Prince. We made a trade.”
The lights in his eyes darkened. “If he’s yours, why is he spooning a nymph?”
Keeping her knives at his throat, she hauled him away from the firelight, deeper into the shadows and pushed him up against another tree.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I told you to stay away from me.”
He seemed to think on it. “I missed you?”
“Are you telling me or asking me?”
“I can’t sleep,” he said, running the backs of his fingers down her cheek. “I keep thinking about you. Is that why you’re awake too?”
Her face burned. “No.” Half-truth. She had been thinking about him, some. Mostly, she’d been trying to figure out how she’d gotten into this mess and brooding over how much she missed her quiet, pointless life back in California.
“You’re lying,” he sing-songed, brushing his finger down her lips.
“Stop that.” She batted his hand away. “How is Riker?”
“Lavana’s Prince?” he asked with a smirk. “He’s quite docile, isn’t he? Lavana likes him. I think he’s starting to like her too.”
“Of course he is. Princes are fickle that way.”
“Perhaps Pixies are—”
“We’re not different,” she said, pushing closer. “Pixies and Elves are the same race, but you knew that, didn’t you?”
