Chapter 16
REDVYR
“This will do.” I didn’t like that we were surrounded by woods in this small clearing, no defense at our backs. But it was nearly dark already. “We should reach Ghasta Vale before midday tomorrow.”
With that, the men started unloading the wolves of their burdens. Bezaliel helped Tessa and the baby down from Mishka, and Jessamine walked toward the trees. I instantly followed.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked when she stopped to pick up a fallen branch.
“We will need kindling for a fire. I want to be useful.”
She walked on. I followed.
“Female, you should know by now that it is dangerous in these wilds. You can’t walk off anywhere by yourself.”
“Then come with me, my lord.” She smiled at me over her shoulder, a provocative look in her gem-green gaze. My knees went weak.
Of course, I followed, picking up branches in her wake, that sea-flower scent luring me closer.
“I noticed,” she said casually, “that you don’t use King Goll’s title when you speak to him. Isn’t he your king?”
“He is King of Northgall, yes. But I am the lord of Meerland. I don’t call him king because he doesn’t rule here, and because Goll needs to stay humble.”
Meerland was a specific territory of wildlands in Northgall where only beast fae lived.
She laughed, sending my heart rate racing. “Doesn’t he find that disrespectful?”
“Probably. But we understand each other well enough.”
We were quiet as we collected the kindling, a pestering thought bothering me.
“Did you want to go with him? To his castle at Windolek?”
“No.”
“But you did think him pretty, I wager.” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Some masochistic part of myself needed to know what she thought of him.
“How could I not? I have eyes.” Her tone was teasing.
I dropped my kindling. She spun and faced me, her eyes wide but daring.
“Tell me what you liked about him,” I demanded, corralling closer.
She walked backward, her bundle of kindling held in both arms. “His face is very pleasing.”
“What else?”
Her back hit the thick trunk of a birch tree. “His eyes are a beautiful blue with a ring of gold circling the center.”
“Drop the kindling, Jessamine.” My voice deepened to a raspy whisper as I loomed over her now.
She tossed it aside, flattening her palms against the trunk beside her hips.
“What else?” I demanded.
“His horns are smooth and glossy,” she said breathily, her chest rising and falling quickly, the green of her eyes swallowed by black.
A need beyond my control burned hot and fierce inside my chest, a need to claim her as mine. Even though I knew that was impossible, I was reeling, falling, catapulting into a pit beyond desire or desperation. It was like a will outside my own guided me, demanding to let her know that she belonged to me even if it was only for now.
