Now, her hand rests upturned on my thigh. My knees are a bare inch away from nudging her folded legs. I lean toward her, close to cupping my hand around her cheek.
Close to brushing her lips.
But, dammit, I can’t risk it.
Constraining my dangerous impulses while I touch her arm is hard enough.
It’s foolish to believe I could connect fully with her body and not destroy her.
No woman survives me.
I may have told her the truth about Mother’s crimes, but I’m no fucking better than Mother is.
We’re monsters, both of us.
Slowly, I lower my hand.
Disappointment flashes in her eyes. I read it in the drop of her shoulders and the softness of her exhalation in the breeze.
I assume it’s because she thinks I’ll deny her request for help.
“Okay.”
Her lips purse, and her head tilts. “Okay… What?”
I clear my throat. “I agree to help you. We’ll walk this path together.”
“Oh.” It’s a soft exclamation, followed by a small smile and a lifting of the darkness in her eyes.
The strangest sensation floods my chest. A kind of warmth. Like drinking hot, thistleberry wine on a cold night.
It isn’t unpleasant, but I don’t like that I can’t classify it.
Unsettled, I rise to my feet faster than I intend, and the circlet rattles as its loose end slithers to the ground. I ignore it for now, letting it clatter against my armor to remind Thyra of the danger it poses to her.
I add gruffly, “Only if you do everything I say.”
Her sweet smile grows. “I said I would.”
She looks up at me from where she continues to kneel in the grass, and the unfamiliar warm sensation in my chest grows stronger.
Fucking warmth.
I want it to stop.
“Get up,” I snap. “You need a bath.”
Her smile doesn’t fade, remaining soft and small.
Damn smile, putting me off balance.
As she rises to her feet, I gather up the loose circlet, wrapping it around my armored left wrist before catching my forefinger against the small, sharp protrusion on its final link.
The merest smear of my blood is all it takes for the latch to click closed.
Only with my blood can the circlet be opened. Since I wear steel all over my body, it adds a layer of protection against someone cutting me and using my blood to override the chain.
“When the sun rises, I will put this on you again,” I threaten, expecting her smile to vanish.
