Although abandoning him at an inn in the middle of the Crescent Hold is certainly a gray area.
“You pledged fealty even in death to me. Did I permit you to embark on your own?” His words reverberate in the depths of his chest. “Finish your bath, Princess.”
His command warms more than her cheeks.
Should I jump on my horse and ride away? Surely he doesn't intend to restrain me just to drag me to Viktoft?
Why does that arouse me?
As she soaps her breasts with the bar she purchased in town, she catches the tension in his jaw as her hands massage the suds around her nipples.
Don’t push him.
And yet, the thought of driving him mad with lust stirs a wild excitement to finally lose herself to the Iss Drengr.
Gently, she stands up straight in the shallow spring to provide him with a better view of her nakedness.
With slow and methodical movements, she bends to gather water between her palms and rinses the soap suds from her skin. Her fingers linger over her sensitive areas, enticing him with a temptation they both know he shouldn’t accept.
Her hungry gaze finds him as her motions grow rougher, more controlled.
The outline of his thick member grows as she pants, thinking of all the despicable ways he could make good on his threat to defile the Princess.
What is he doing to me?
She watches as the rise and fall of his chest intensifies at the sight of her groping, and she knows that whatever invisible line in the sand he has desperately sought to maintain has surely been crossed.
When she discards the soap and climbs out of the water, she meets him with defiance.
She can no longer dance around her need for him.
Glaring up at him with all the unspoken passion she can muster, she coaxes him to finally seize her and indulge in this yearning.
As the hot water pools at her feet, something much more frigid pierces the autumn air.
“Run.” He growls low.
Has he chosen to dismiss me so casually?
“Run, girl.” He turns to block her from heading to the camp and her horse.
What is happening?
Does he want me to leave and return to Treland?
Or should I simply leave his sight?
She takes a hesitant step backward, which he mirrors. His sturdy boots serve as a reminder that he is more than twice her size.
Every hair on her body stands on end in anticipation. Cold chills chase along her spine yet leave a fire burning in her blood.
He is the apex predator in the forest, and something about his fierce focus unsettles her nerves.
Her gaze drops to the discarded blackwood axe.
Before she can react, his right boot steps on the handle, shaking his head. “Three.”
She treads on a patch of fallen autumn leaves as she approaches the forest.
