He snags my wrist, tugging me onto him so abruptly that I can’t help the yelp of surprise that slips out. “Shh,” he says, his smile wide as he presses a finger to his lips.
“Then don’t surprise me like that!” I say through my giggles.
His grin only grows wider. One hand splays across my back while the other slides up into my freshly washed and braided hair. My breath catches, my heart thumping so hard I’m almost certain he feels it through my back. “I thought we were here to talk?”
“We will,” he says into my mind as he presses me to him.
I’m still holding back giggles when his lips find mine, but instantly the heat of it silences me. I press my hand against the prickly stubble of his cheek as he draws me deeper into the kiss. His hand shifts from my back, gripping my waist as if he’s afraid I’ll let go.
An aching, wanting need clenches deep in my gut, spreading down through my thighs until my breath grows shorter. I close my eyes, trying to find my composure. We’re bare to the elements and not very far from the rest of the group. But this feels like a relief from everything—something mind-numbing against all the fear and uncertainty of this mission.
My knees end up on either side of him, my arms over his shoulders, brushing against the tree as I wonder if he’s only doing this to distract himself from everything. My lips part to ask him to talk to me—for the umpteenth time.
When he kisses me again, I’m overcome with images of darkness, of a sword slashing through the air. I see throats slit, blood flowing, manacles snapped onto wrists. There are uniforms, a familiar sneering face, lines upon lines of soldiers saluting. I smell blood and taste fear and regret. It’s pungent and leaves my stomach churning and my heart pounding as though I’ve just run across an entire village.
I pull back from Tiernan, but his fingers dig into me.
His eyes fly open, his face draining of all color as he releases me and presses his back into the tree.
I practically jump off his lap as he tugs his hands through his damp hair. “Tiernan,” I whisper, my hands shaking as I try to make sense of the images I’d caught. His fear radiates from him, so strong that I’m forced to step back, my hands flying to my temples.
Tiernan’s hands shake as he pushes them against the ground before getting to his feet. “What did you see?” he asks. All the light is gone from his eyes.
“I don’t know,” I say.
“Durvla,whatdid you see?” He steps closer, panic lacing his features so strongly that I take another step back.
“Tiernan, I told you I don’t know! What is going on with you?”
He rakes his fingers through his hair, his chest rising and falling with panicked breaths. I’ve never seen him this way. It crushes me. I step closer, reaching out to him, but he recoils.
His reaction is like a mortal wound. Bitterness and fury seethe in my chest and crawl out of my throat before I can stop them. “Why don’t you trust me?” I don’t even bother to sign. I try to tamp down my words, but more fly out. “I’ve set my heart before you on a golden platter while you hide yours away like a dragon’s hoard.”
“You won’t understand,” he signs.
“How do you know that without eventryingto explain?”
His jaw clenches, his words locked away.
I feel like a kettle bubbling over, and I fear that I’ll say something regrettable. I turn to walk away, but he grabs my arm.
My gaze snaps to his. “Let go of me.”
He releases me like a hot stone but follows infuriatingly close the whole trek back to the camp. I need some time alone to gather my composure.
With a glance back at Tiernan, I sharply sign, “Don’t follow me,” then I rush right past everyone.
I eventually stop and lean against a tree trunk to catch my breath when I spot a glowing light moving toward me. As I snatch my dagger from my waist, ready to throw it, Chiyo emerges from the shadows.
She holds her arms up, the lantern dangling from her fingers. “Just me,” she signs after a moment. With a rushed exhalation, I slip my dagger back into its sheath and sink down against the rough bark of the tree to the forest ground.
Chiyo crouches in front of me, holding the lantern up beside her face. She doesn’t say anything, and at first, I’m grateful. Until my mind replays everything—the avoidance, the kiss, the inexplicable images. The fact that, for the first time, I’mtrulyangry at Tiernan Kilkenny, and I’m not even sure if it’s warranted. I feel like I know so much about him and, at the same time, so little.
“I’m not a Mind Whisperer,” Chiyo says. “So, you’ll have to spell it out for me. What happened? Do I need to slap Tiernan again?” She holds up her hand, the rings shimmering on her fingers. “I’ll do it, you know.”
I prop my chin on my knees, wrapping my arms around my lower legs. “I don’t know what to say,” I admit.
She makes a thoughtful face. “What happened between you two? The appropriate version, if possible.”
