As soon as I bend to crawl in, the spot on my back where I was hit pulses with a fierce ache, but I bite back the groan of pain that threatens to slip past my lips. We’ll be somewhere Seren can heal me soon enough, and I don’t want to worry her in the meantime.
All I need to do is focus on getting into this car.
I make it work, but barely. My wings are crunched tight against my back, my knees folded in nearly to my chest, my back still throbbing, and I’m spilling over into the seat beside me, but I’m in.
“Here, maybe this will help,” Seren says, leaning into the car and over me.
Over my lap.
Seeing her there, long blond hair fanned out over my thigh and face way too close to my groin, sends a shot of fire through my veins. She pulls on something beneath the seat which shifts it back and gives me a few inches more breathing room, but I don’t have the capacity to be thankful for it as all my attention is on the warmth of her, the overwhelming nearness of her scent.
“Better?”
I clear my throat. “Better.”
She looks up, meets my gaze, and a devious little smile plays around the corners of her lips.
My star, the temptress, doesn’t look contrite in the slightest for the havoc she’s wreaked on my senses as she closes the door and circles around to the other side of the car. Sliding into her own seat with much more grace than I did mine, her smile is still sharp and teasing as she inserts the metal key into a small slot and turns it.
The roar of something in the front portion of the car makes me jump and reach for the door’s handle, but Seren lays a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s alright.” She points to the front of the car. “That’s the engine. It’s… a machine, I guess, that runs using gasoline—fuel—and makes the tires turn. I use the steering wheel—” She touches a solid leather circle in front of her. “—to make it go where I want it to.”
With a hand on the small lever between us, she pulls back, and the car starts moving.
“And this is safe?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Safe enough.”
Not a particularly comforting answer, and I’m about to ask if we shouldn’t just walk if portalling isn’t an option, but after a few quick seconds it’s obvious this car is faster than walking or even running ever could be.
We pick up speed down the dirt road, and I grit my teeth even harder, shifting in my seat.
Seren glances over. “It really is safe. And I promise I’m a good driver. It’s been years since I got a speeding ticket.”
I don’t have the faintest idea what a speeding ticketis, but I’m likely not doing Seren any favors by sitting here with my anxiety written all over me, so I make myself relax.
“I trust you.”
A wide, beautiful smile breaks over her face, and I decide it might just be alright if we die in some sort of fiery wreck, if that’s the last thing I see.
“So,” I continue, shifting my wings a little against the seat. “You’ve got an idea who we’re looking for?”
Seren is silent for a few moments, eyes lost in thought as she peers out at the road ahead of us.
“I think the ‘heart’ might be a wielder, what males who practice magick in this realm like to call themselves,” she saysfinally. “I met up with a… a friend recently, and he let something slip about a wielder he knew of who went into Faerie and became a queen’s consort.”
“Who is this friend?” I should be more focused on the details pertinent to the hunt, but the way her voice changes when she references thishesends an unwelcome pulse of jealousy through me.
Goddess, look at me. Like an untried youth losing my mind over a pretty female for the first time.
But this isn’t just any female. This is my mate.
So perhaps I can be excused for wanting to know.
Seren scoffs and rolls her eyes. “He’s old news. Really, no one you have to worry about.”
“And you think I am,” I ask, unable to stop myself from teasing her a little, “in a place where I might be worried? In a place where you’d care if I was?”
