“It’s fine.”I say shortly.“I’d do it again.”
She looks pleased, which isn’t exactly what I was going for. I just meant I would do the same for anyone, but before I can clarify, my gaze flies up and I see Aurelia walking into the camp. Fuck, she’s beautiful, even looking like she just rolled out of bed. Especially looking like that. I glance around quickly, suddenly bothered by the idea that anyone else might be noticing her too. I immediately get to my feet.
Runa remains sitting, watching me. She follows my eyeline, glancing over to Aurelia, and then back to me.“Can we talk about this later? I want to know what happened in all these years.”
My attention is completely elsewhere, as I can’t stop looking at Aurelia crossing the camp. She angles her body, and I notice the absurd squirrel riding on her shoulder.
I cross the camp in two strides and intercept Aurelia before she reaches the porridge and shove my bowl at her. “Here.”
She glances up at me, startled. “Good morning. What’s this?”
“Breakfast.”
Aurelia looks like she’s still half asleep as she pushes the bowl back at me, shaking her head. “I can get my own.”
I let out an involuntary growl. Aurelia has no idea that pushing the bowl away is equivalent to a rejection as bad as…well, as bad as how I rejected her the other night after Daemon and Alix’s wedding.
“Just go sit,” I grumble. “I’ll get you another bowl.”
She looks confused, but to my relief she walks over and sits down by the fire, then moves her squirrel to her lap and begins petting it as if it were a cat. Shaking my head, I go to get her something to eat.
When I return and sit next to her on the log, she stiffens almost imperceptibly. I growl again, and the squirrel startles, leaping off Aurelia’s lap and darting off toward the woods.
Aurelia makes a dismayed sound and glares at me. “You scared Eugene.”
“Good. Maybe next time you’ll leave him in the damn tent.”
She scowls, but doesn’t say anything. Aware that there are eyes on us, I shift over so we’re sitting closer together. I put my hand on the small of her back. Aurelia noticeably jumps as if burned and gives me a reproachful look. “What are you doing?”
I shake my head and stand up. “Come on.”
She looks up at me with confusion. “Where are we going?”
“Back to the tent.”
“But we were just about to eat.”
“Bring it with you.”
I know even more people are watching and listening now, not least because we’re speaking out loud. The best I can hope for is that they think I want to get her back to the tent to fuck so badly I forgot to speak mind-to-mind. It’s not actually as absurd as it sounds, because if that were an option, it’s exactly what I’d be doing.
I steer Aurelia through the camp, which is growing more crowded by the second. I can tell just from the unspoken energy radiating off her that she’s pouting. When we reach the tent, I immediately cross to the desk and scribble a quick note.
Do the thing that blocks sound
Her mouth falls open in shocked indignation. “You hypocrite!”
I point to what I just wrote with the end of the quill hard enough that I stab a hole through the paper.
Aurelia rolls her eyes and waves a hand in the air. She always makes things look so absurdly easy, like just a flick of her fingers could bring down an entire army. I’m really hoping we don’t have to test how accurate that is.
“Did you do it?” I ask.
“Yes. I still think you’re being a hypocrite, though. What happened to ‘magic has a smell. The wolves will notice.’”
“We have bigger problems than your magic. They’re going to notice that we can’t stand to be near each other.”
She doesn’t bother to deny it. “This was a terrible plan. You should have told them something else.”
