Her eyes widened, and she placed a hand on her hip. “Theron,did I?”
I cleared my throat and dropped my gaze. “You… made advances. On me.”
Eira’s face slackened in shock. Then she covered her face with her hands. “Holy gods.”
I chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad. It was only for a few minutes.”
To my surprise, she punched me in the arm. It wasn’t very hard, but it was enough to make me stumble back in surprise.
“Bastard,” she muttered.
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“Right. And I’m sure it wassodifficult for you to endure my flirting. You poor thing.” She rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t hide the blush creeping into her face.
I said nothing as she turned away from me with a noise of frustration. I couldn’t exactly respond to her.
Not without telling her exactlyhowdifficult it had actually been for me. Or how we had struck another bargain.
No, those words were better left unsaid.
My head hurt like hell.I could only remember short snippets of the morning. Merriment, drinking, dancing… It was all a blur.
But one thing was certain: there was an aching, burningneedthrobbing between my legs that hadn’t been there before.
And, regardless of how frustrated I was with him, the timbre of Theron’s low growl only made that ache worsen.
After our awkward incident in the cave, Theron and I quickly packed our things to continue our journey through the mountains. We rejoined Frisk, Mauro, and Kendra and bade the pixies farewell. Theron begrudgingly thanked them for healing him, and I promised I would be in touch with Nyra regarding relations between our people.
Assuming I survived long enough to do so.
The weight of Calista’s mirror hung heavily in my bag, and I was itching to pull it out and see the truth.
But I couldn’t. Not with Theron watching my every move.
The steep, slippery slope was too treacherous for us to ride Mauro, so we continued on foot. Thankfully,we were so focused on trying not to slip and fall to our deaths that there was little time for chitchat. My face was still on fire from what had happened with Theron, and I felt his dark eyes drilling holes into me, despite how I avoided his gaze.
I was hopeful we would continue our journey in silence, but half an hour after we left the pixies, Theron disappointed me.
“I, uh, owe you thanks,” he said gruffly. “For bargaining for me.”
I blinked, frowning. I hadn’t expected that. When I turned to glance at him, his eyes were fixed on the ice beneath him. A wrinkle formed between his brows.
Then, I understood. He was feeling awkward, too. Perhaps this was an olive branch, of sorts. An opportunity for conversation thatwasn’tawkward.
I could handle that.
“Yes, well, I can’t fulfill my terms with you if you’re dead, now, can I?” I asked, breathless from the climb.
“If I die, our bargain is nullified.” There was a note of confusion in his voice.
“I still need you to get me into the palace.”
“Ah, yes. This palace you grew up in and likely know all the passages leading into. And you need the help ofme, the assassin everyone at the palace recognizes, to sneak you in without notice.”
I shot him a glare. “What’s your point?”
“I don’t think you need me at all. I think you can get in yourself.” He paused to take a breath as we maneuvered around a snowcapped boulder. “I think there’s something else you need me for. Something you’re not telling me.”
