If I was going to be honest, I could not give him the answer he wanted…but at least I could answer with whatIwanted.
My stomach glowed with warmth as I shifted my hips closer to him and stretched my spine to reach as high as I could. “I can give you something better thanan apple.”
I placed my hand on the right side of his face and kissed him on his left cheek. His skin flashed hot underneath my lips. He held his breath and the muscles in his neck tightened as Ipulled away.
My lips flushed. Riyan looked down at me with eyes so intense that he stoked my desire to kiss him again. I started to reach up when Riyan hooked his arm around my waist and pinned me down onhis leg.
His voice was hard and strained. “You shouldn’t havedone that.”
“Why?” I asked. “Riyan Iwas just—”
I cut myself off when I shifted my hips and felt the hard muscle underneath me. Riyan was not angry with me for kissing him, hewas aroused.
My mouth watered as heat pooled betweenmy legs.
I glanced across the empty meadow. No one was around, so what if I followed my throbbing heartbeat to see where our…feelingswould go? Maybe we could eventry to…
A twig snapped behind us. Riyan’s head whipped around. His face was tight and his eyes vibrated as he stared at the line of trees behind us. His entire body tensed up as heheld me.
“Riyan?”I whispered.
He sprang to his feet, picking me up and holding me tightly against his chest with both arms. I dropped the book and it landed in the meadow with a thud. Riyan’s forearms squeezed into me with a fraction of his strength, but still hard enough that I thought he was going tocrush me.
“Riyan,” I squeaked, my chest cramped and tight under his grip. “The book—”
“Forget the book,” Riyan said, his eyes darting back and forth as he scanned the trees. “Something isbehind us.”
A whistle sliced through the air as Riyan bolted throughthe meadow.
“Hang on to me!”Riyan shouted.
I flung my arms around his neck, locking my hands in place around each wrist, as Riyan shifted the weight of my body into hisleft arm.
He jumped and his body rattled as he grabbed onto rock. I squeezed my eyes shut as he scaled the side of one of the rocky cliffs with his free arm. He panted as he heaved us up as quickly ashe could.
With one final pull, he dragged his chest and my curled-up body over a ledge. I kept my eyes tightly closed as he stood up. Riyan’s chest heaved with his breath and he squeezed me withboth arms.
“We are safe, Serafina,” he said between breaths. “You can openyour eyes.”
I slowly fluttered my eyes open. Riyan stood at the top of a tall ledge, what would be nearly eight stories from the ground. I gripped my wrists even tighter as I dared to look down. The meadow of lilies looked like a large puddle of blood below us. Above us was the ominous peakof Nordingaard.
“Look over there,” Riyan said as he pointed across the ledge. “It’sFraleigh’s palace.”
I looked into the distance at a small palace of shining gold that stood on a cliffside overlooking theWestern Sea.
“Do you think she is there?”I asked.
“Most likely,” Riyan said. “We should visit next time we need to borrow a cupof sugar.”
I laughed, but Riyan’s strong arms were still trembling as he held me. I looked down to the meadow and expected to see a wolf or some other beast chasing after us, but whatever we had run from wasnot there.
If it was ever thereat all…
“Riyan, what did we run from?” Iasked softly.
“No idea,” Riyan replied as he looked into the clearing again. “I just have a sense of when dangeris near.”
“I told you a gentleman puts his body closest to danger!” I cried. “You held me out in front of you likean offering!”
