I arched an eyebrow. “What’s the signal?”
She smiled slyly. “You’ll see.” She strode across the room to the washbasin, dipped a clean rag in the water, and wrung it out. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up, you foul man.”
“Foul?” I drew closer to her, a smirk playing on my lips. She staggered backward, but I continued my approach until I had her practically pinned against the wall.
Her eyes grew wide, and something heated sparked in her gaze.
“Does my scent bother you?” I asked. I’d meant for the words to sound playful, but my voice was husky.
She raised her eyes to meet mine. “No.” She spoke in a gentle murmur, like a whispering wind brushing against my face. Slowly, she lifted the wet rag and brushed it along my cheek. “Your scent reminds me of a snowy forest in the mountains.”
Stunned, I could only stare at her as she wiped away the grime, her movements cautious. The moisture was cool against my skin.
“My cottage,” I whispered.
“What cottage?”
“I have a cottage in the mountains. It’s a… refuge for me. My goal was to fulfill my contract with the queen and retire to live out there on my own. Undisturbed.”
Half her mouth curled in a smile. “That sounds quite nice. Too bad I completely ruined those plans.”
I stilled her hand, forcing her gaze to meet mine. “You didn’t.”
She wet her lips, drawing my eyes to the flick of her tongue. She dragged the edge of the rag against my lower lip, tugging it downward. A groan built in my throat from the slow, seductive movement.
Eira’s eyes burned into mine, but she continued her meticulous work, rubbing the cloth into my beard, sweeping away coats of dirt and blood that had been caked in. With her free hand, she traced a faint scar that ran from my temple to my cheek, then another just above my eyebrow.
“I never noticed these before,” she said. “How did you get them?”
“The small one was from a soldier in the Sea Court,” I said. “I was young and cocky, and he almost got the better of me. The longer scar is from the first Demon Fae I fought.”
Her eyes lifted to mine once more, worry and admiration glowing in her gaze. “You live a dangerous life, hunter.”
“Yes, I do.”
She returned to her cleaning, the rag running down my neck and dipping under my collar. Water trickled down my chest, and I shivered.
“There is… a lot more of you I still need to clean.” Eira dropped her gaze as she plunged the rag into the bowl to wring it out once more. The clear water was now stained with flecks of brown and red.
Need pulsed within me from her words, and I remembered how close we’d come to taking each other in the woods earlier.
Did she really mean it? Before, I hadn’t been certain if she truly wanted me, or just wanted me tofeelsomething, tokeep me from making a stupid choice like getting myself killed.
But now?
Eira withdrew the rag from the bowl and slowly began to lift my shirt. When I tensed, she raised her eyes to mine again. Her eyebrows lifted expectantly. “What, you’re too bashful to let me clean you?”
A heady laugh burned against my throat, but it sounded hoarse and strained. She eased up the edge of my shirt, then slid the rag underneath to wipe across my chest.
“Blood and ice,” I whispered, closing my eyes to relish the feel of the cloth gliding along my skin.
“This will be easier if you remove your clothes,” Eira said. “Unless you want me to do it.”
A hot lump formed in my throat, and I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
Eira was tugging at the bottom of my shirt, and I let her lift it over my head. She surveyed me with heated desire brimming in her eyes. She pressed her lips together before continuing to scrub at the dirt and blood on my chest.
My skin was on fire everywhere she touched me. As the wet rag glided along my skin, all I thought of was how much I yearned to grab her waist and pull her against me.
