She looks up at him, unable to believe this is happening.
“I have never lost my control with a woman before.” His beard tickles her ear, leaving her breathless. “But I have never desired anyone more than you, little one.”
Her heart pounds, imagining him rutting between her legs. Her skin is lit with a burning flame that only this mysterious man can tend to.
“Please.” Avina isn’t sure what she is begging for; she only knows she needs more of him.
Someone coughs at the door, shattering their tender moment. Avina lifts her head to see her cousin Bertie, hands deep in his pockets with a twisting look of disgust.
The stranger stops his machinations.
“My Lord, you are missed in the ballroom,” Bertie instructs with a clipped tone.
The Stranger lowers Avina back to the floor. His fingers tug into her curls as he whispers, “I will find you again, my lady. Know you are the most beautiful woman in all of Treland.”
“Sleep with the stone, Stranger.” Avina recites the Ridge goodbye.
With that, he vanishes into the hallway, leaving her alone with Bertie’s judgy, albeit furious expression.
“I cannot believe you! What were you thinking? This is beyond reckless! Your actions are downright stupid. Do you even know who that , cousin? Do you understand the gravity of what you have done?”
Avina shimmies back into her saturated ballgown, still reeling from her first kiss and the more sensual deeds bound to accompanyit. She joins her cousin at the door to the now-empty hallway, her heart twisting in pain at the thought of never seeing her stranger again.
“Nope.” She says, emphasizing the last syllable.
Irritation is an understatement. Bertie ruined what could have been between her and her Salt Warrior.
But what could that have been?
For one, she was to be married, and two, she still didn’t get the stranger’s name. The kiss was nothing more than a secret moment they would share forever. She hesitantly touches her fingertips to her lips as a blush settles along the apple of her cheeks.
Someone liked me. For a fleeting moment, I was the center of the world for another person.
Bertie seems to relax that the stranger’s identity is a mystery to her. “Never mind who he is. You nearly caused a damned civil war.”
10
AVINA
September 19th, Year 100, 9th Era
Treland Arena
The crowd roars as Beast deals his final blow to the combatant Face.
Avina pales as the dead man’s identity curdles her stomach. He was one of Rendel’s men who happily participated in Rendel’s abuse.
She shivers, wishing those haunting memories would remain as lifeless as her late husband.
She glances at the two Timber Viscounts in her box, who have been whooping and hollering throughout the fight.
“I can watch Beast dismantle trash all day.” One of them raves as the entire Arena chants his name.
“My Arena guard friend told me Beast beat Face nearly to a pulp. The Arena Masters pushed their fight up two weeks to have it out now.”
“Based on this display, I think one of them slept with the other’s woman.”
“That is the rumor. I heard Face shared some story with Beast, and Beast attacked him! Broke every bone in his hand.”
