“Yes, it is.” James glared at her. “But don’t pretend you were ever fooled by it. You fucking wanted it, Ahnna, and if I am to stand here and spill every dark truth lurking in my heart, perhaps you might be honest about what lurks in your own.”
“Fine.” She lifted her chin, eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “You want the truth, James? I’ll give it to you. I wasn’t fooled. How could I have been fooled when the real version of you was the one I met in the tunnels beneath Northwatch? I knew what lurked beneath the manners and civility, and I wanted it. Wantedyou.I was in Verwyrd to marry your brother, but it was your face in my mind every night that I slipped my hand between my legs to make myself come. It was your mouth I dreamed of kissing me, your hands I wanted to touch me, your cock I desired inside me. I wanted you like I wanted breath, and though it was folly, my heart wanted you as much as my body. Is that the truth you want?”
James’s lips parted, but no words rose to his tongue because he’d not expected her to rise to his challenge. Which made him the purest form of stupid, because Ahnna always shattered expectations.
“You want more truths?” she spat. “Even after you blamed me for a crime I didn’t commit and then hunted me across Harendell, I still wanted you. I couldn’t get you out of my mind, because you have a hold on me that makes every part of me ache in every possible way. Ihate myself for it. Hate that there is a part of me that wants you to pull me off my horse and fuck me in the snow despite evil stalking our steps.”
His cock stiffened, not caring about the threat on the trail behind them because his head was filled with a vision of Ahnna beneath him, those endless legs wrapped around his waist.
Whether it was because his body was betraying him or because Ahnna was just that quick, James was too slow to react as she abruptly lifted her boot heel and slammed it into his hands. James cursed, dropping his sword and Dippy’s reins. She was instantly moving, circling around Maven.
“But here’s another truth, James. You use your name, your size, and your force of will to intimidate people into doing what you want. It’s your way, in all things, and to hell with anyone who has a problem with it. Except I’m Princess Ahnna Kertell. My family has ruled the wildest and most dangerous kingdom in the world for generations, and I have lived and breathed violence since I could hold a blade. No one intimidates me, and you would do well to remind yourself that you live because I willed it so. You stand here now because I chose to free you. And you will ride with me only on my terms, is that clear?”
His knuckles stung from where her boot heel had connected with them, but James barely felt the pain as he slid off Maven’s side to retrieve his sword. Every part of him was twisted up with anger and desire for this woman who infuriated him like no other. Watching Ahnna circle him, James bowed low. “Your will, my sword, Your Highness.”
“Fuck you, James,” she snarled.
“That wasn’t the sword I was referring to, but I’m happy to oblige, Princess.” He gave her a dark smile, feeling the thrill of the chase settling upon him as her lips parted, her throat moving as she swallowed. “Though perhaps we might put some distance between us and the Beast first.”
“We’re riding to the coast.” Her words were an order, but he did notmistake the slight breathiness to them. “Aren needs to be warned that Amarid is no ally, but rather the anvil Alexandra’s hammer will smash Ithicana against.”
That route was a mistake. James knew it was a mistake.
But some mistakes were worth making. “Then let’s ride.”
32
Ahnna
They rode through the night,the path a steep decline from the lofty elevations of the Blackreaches, and as dawn lit the mountains behind them, Ahnna got her first view of Amarid.
Gone was the snow and endless forest of conifers, and before her stretched rolling hills covered with dry grass and rocky outcroppings. Streams fed by the mountains ran narrow and fast, converging into rivers that cut across the landscape. While Harendell was always foggy and damp, Ahnna knew that some trick of the winds made Amarid a much more arid place, and that they relied heavily upon clever systems of irrigation to feed their croplands, including the coastal vineyards that were famous the world over.
The air had grown warmer with every passing hour they’d traversed the steep descent, and she’d already removed her greatcoat and tied the arms around her waist, the sun’s warmth familiar and welcome. “Finally some grass for you to graze on,” she murmured to Dippy, but as he and Maven finished drinking from the stream, she was quick to urge both horses on.
Because every instinct in her body told her that the Beast hunted at their heels.
James shifted and grumbled something in his sleep, and Ahnna cast a sideways glance to him. Hours ago, she’d insisted that he getrest while she led his horse, and he’d obeyed without protest. She’d thought that it was to make a point on the heels of their argument, but in the dawn light, she was rapidly revising that belief.
While she had her share of injuries, Ahnna had been on horseback the entire journey with the Amaridians, stuffing her face with their food, and getting as much rest as she could in preparation for her escape plans. All while James had been dragged on foot through the snow, picking fights at every chance, and using every bit of his strength to try to escape their predicament with force. There was no mistaking the toll it had taken on him. Both his eyes were blackened, the bruises stark against skin that was paler than she’d ever seen it. His knuckles were torn to shreds, and beneath the cuffs of his ruined coat, his wrists were even worse. His beard had grown thick after so many days without a razor, but it did nothing to hide the hollows in his cheeks, the strain of what he’d endured having stripped away spare flesh and left behind only lean muscle.
For all her bluster and harsh words, it had taken all her will to do nothing as Carlo had pushed James to his limit, and she’d marveled at James’s capacity to endure. Her people were as hardy as they came, used to being pushed to the limits, but Ahnna had never met anyone who could have gone through that ordeal and still been standing. Not just standing, but burning with almost feral virility as he’d stared up at her, ready and willing to claim every part of her.
Ahnna’s jaw tightened, but so did parts low in her core, for though James’s hold over her was stupid, foolish, and irrational, it was also undeniable. He was every bit the man she’d always known him to be, good and bad, and God help her, she wanted him.
Except even if they managed to evade Carlo and escape Amarid, there was no future between her and James. How could there be with all that they’d said and done to each other? How could there be when they stood on opposite sides of the coming war?
Maybe he’ll choose to fight for Ithicana,her heart whispered.He wants to bring Alexandra down, too.
“When has he ever fought for Ithicana?” she growled at herself. There was no doubt in her mind that James would do everything in his power to bring Alexandra down, but even if he succeeded, it wouldn’t change that his loyalty was to Cardiff. Which meant Ahnna would be in Ithicana doing what she’d spent her life doing: fighting so her people could survive.
The divide between her and James was not one that could be bridged.
James stirred, then groaned as he shifted upright. “You shouldn’t have let me sleep that long.”
“You needed it.”
James cast a backward glance over his shoulder as he pulled off his coat, his hair damp with sweat from the growing heat of the sun. “I’d love to say that there is a chance Carlo ripped out his own heart in the throes of his delusions, but he’s not that easy to defeat. The Beast is alive, and he’ll drive his men hard. Unlike us, Carlo won’t care if he runs his horses to death. He has the means to switch out mounts once he reaches the farms in the foothills. Villages will have boats and he’ll send men ahead to secure the coast, so not only do we need to be swift, we must be cunning.”
