“When will you pleasure me over and over, again and again?” I could not believe I was asking it, could not believe my own recklessness.
After a drawn-out breath, he answered, “Some other time, as I said.”
“Yes, but what if I am near death? What’s the point of waiting?”
“So I can better defend you, Robbie. It would be rather difficult to protect you if your murderers attack while I have buried myself inside your sex and I am oblivious to all but the small, perfect bit of divinity between your legs.”
The air in the tent felt like it was made of honey—heavy, sticky, and rich.
“How do you know it’s perfect?” I asked throatily.
“I just do,” Reed whispered after a pause.
My sex was recently filled with a rolled linen due to my courses, and my gut ached with a cramp from my bleeding. I should not have felt as aflame as I did. The pulse in my lower belly should not have thrummed.
“There’s not a hair of extra space in this tent, you know,” I remarked, utterly inane and pointless.
“So don’t roll over.”
“And how will I collect the moss?”
“You’ll tell me when it needs doing. I’ll come with you. And then we’ll return to my tent. My brothers can handle the distribution of it.”
“And we will sleep here, side by side, night after night, not coupling?”
“Not at all.”
65
NOW: PLAN
We were a moon away from Skow. Nearly two seasons had passed since we had left Sheridan. We had left the low country and traversed through the lower reaches of Eccleston mining territory and its allied settlements and towns, along long stretches of the public dust road, some parallel with the Oberlong, some not. It had been arduous, dull, and hot at first. A crispness in the morning and evening air told us autumn was over and winter began. And though we were in the south of the continent and rarely saw anything but a frosty dusting during our winter seasons, something about the sun’s setting seemed more hurried. The nights felt darker and longer. When the dust road kissed the river, our baths were more chilled. It was relieving to a sweaty body but ominous in the mind.
Skow was close and so was our seemingly impossible, unplanned rescue of Adelaide. Tessa and Jade had put their heads together at dinner one night to concoct a scheme to involve the scouts, ignoring any offerings from me and Ilsit.
“Don’t expect a ready yes. It’s a lot to ask of newly made friends,” Ilsit warned.
“I say approach Evangeline, not Keir,” I added.
“Why not?” Jade asked, a sudden coolness in her.
“I only meant,” I rushed on, “he would of course want to assist us, but men have a tendency to be dismissive of women’s concerns. And I don’t want you to have to manipulate your new sweetheart.”
Avery never dismissed us, Fox challenged me.
“He was one of a kind, I’m sorry,” I said. “Be realistic.”
“Don’t listen to Robbie.” Tessa waved me away. “Her brain has gone to rot because all her blood is in her groin all night every night.”
I glanced at Ilsit while they laughed. Only she knew why I really spent nights with Reed.
“I’m not above taking advantage of his infatuation so as to save another woman,” Jade said, giving me a pointed look. “And if you think otherwise of me, well, Robbie, I am hurt. Yes, I like him. Yes, it is more than a dalliance between us, but Adelaide is your family and you are mine. So family comes first.”
I held up both of my hands in surrender.
“Besides, it is not manipulation. He would do anything I asked of him,” she finished.
“Then it’s settled,” Tessa said, slapping her knee. “You tell Keir of our business on this trip, of the code in her letter, of the need. Then we’ll let him help come up with a plan. And afterwards, we’ll go to Eccleston.”
