I smile a little. After a few seconds, I ask, “So what happens if Maliek finds you again?”
His jaw ticks this time.
I push my specs up the bridge of my nose. “He caught me and Torjack in the inn before we made it out the back door. He was…choking me with this invisible grip—almost like the one you used when you tossed me out of the Tilted Crystal. Only his felt colder and sharper.” I shudder at the reminder of Maliek’s harsh magic, the fierce look in his eyes. “He came after me and called methe noble one. I don’t understand what he meant by that.”
Thane looks back toward the inn. “You don’t have to worry about Maliek or anyone else while you’re with me.”
“Because you won’t let anyone hurt me?”
“Glad you’re finally catching on.”
“Why does he wantyouso badly, though?” I prod.
Thane presses his lips firmly together as he steps back.
I stand up to scan the details of his face—those jagged scars and the dark flecks embedded in his irises. The hardness of his prominent features, the slightest hook in his nose, his sculpted lips.
“You’re a man of many secrets, Thane,” I murmur. “I knew that when I first met you. You were this big, blinding mystery, and I’m realizing you like it that way. You like that people don’t know much about you—you don’t want anyone to figure you out.”
“Your point?”
“I just can’t imagine all the things you’re hiding. Or who youreallyare under all that black and leather.”
He matches my stare, allowing several quiet seconds to tick by before stepping in closer. Leaning down, he brings his lips so close to the shell of my ear that a chill runs down my spine, and a tingle slinks from my stomach to my inner thighs. I clench my fists to chase away the illicit feelings that one action alone has brought me.
His warm breath spills down my chest, causing my nipples to pebble beneath my bra. I contain the desperate sigh brewing inside me as he says, “Don’t pretend my so-called secrets don’t intrigue you, Quinlocke.”
I close my eyes and swallow, ignoring the delicious stir in my stomach.
When I open my eyes again, Thane leans back with a faint smirk on his face and gives me a full once-over. He then marches away, and perhaps it’s my imagination, but I swear I hear a dark rumble of a laugh leave him before he enters the inn, as if he knows his words and proximity have gotten the best of me.
I sit on the bench again with a huff.
What the shadows is this man doing to me?
Chapter 17
It takes longer than expected for them to clear the bodies, drag them to the middle of the forest, and burn them. Despite them going deep into the woods, I can still smell the scent of burning flesh, and it’s putrid. It’s so bad it makes me want to throw up.
By the time most (but not all) of the blood is cleaned up and broken tables are hauled out and tossed in a pile, the sun is setting. I didn’t expect it to take so long, but what can we do now? It isn’t wise to walk through any forests at night.
“Just stay the night,” Rynthea says when I make a mention of it to Thane. She’s working on starting a fire behind the inn. “There are plenty of rooms. I already have some dough rising, so I plan on baking bread and making more soup for everyone.”
“Oh—I’ll be happy to help you bake it,” I offer, tossing up a hand. “I work in a bakery in Meriva, so I’m basically married to bread.”
She laughs, and when the flames ignite and the wood crackles, she says, “Come on, then. You handle the bread and I’ll make more soup.”
Within the next couple of hours, the bread is fresh out of the oven and the soup is piping hot. We eat around the fire, perched on thick logs that connect around the firepit to form a square.
Rynthea, Torjack, and Algar chat away about Kamtaur Inn—future plans, fond memories, and past guests.
Thane is quiet…and I realize I am, too.
Baking bread took my mind off the massacre for just a while, but even now I can still smell the burned corpses lingering in the air.
A rustling noise sounds behind me, and Pearl groans a short distance away. I stifle a gasp as I look over my shoulder to where she’s tied to a tree next to a water trough. I forgot she was there for a second.
Calm down, I think to myself.
