It could still happen. The darkness pressed in, like a vice.
As Quentin slipped in and out of restless sleep and woke with the dawn the next day, Delaynie still tucked tightly against his chest, there was but one thought lingering in his mind.
One thought lingering as he cleaned up their camp and hitched the mule to the wagon.
One thought as Delaynie settled on the bench beside him, pale and quiet as a wraith.
That wolf should have attacked.
Why didn’t it?
Chapter 41
Gods, that fuckingkiss.
Andrian pushed a hand through his unruly hair, the few errant strands falling right back into place across his brow, and he sighed.
Andrian had kissed countless in his life. It had always been…fine. A precursor to what he really wanted. Something expected, anticipated, a necessary evil to whatever distraction his broken, youthful self had found for the night.
He knew he was good at it—or, at least, that’s what he’d been told. It hadn’t taken long for him to realize that a little bit of thought toward his partner’s pleasure would vastly improve his own. And really, that’s all he’d cared about before.
Beforeher.
Kissing never made sense to Andrian until he met Mariah.
Even when each kiss felt like stolen bites of a happiness he didn’t deserve, never had one felt quite like that one on the cliffside overlooking Eyarfell and its cratered lake of sterling blue waters.
It had rattled him. More than anything Kol had ever said, more than any dark secret he’d ever unearthed. Something hadslipped into place—both in him and in the universe. Something so devastating that he didn’t dare to ask himselfwhat.
“Are you doing all right over there? The reading can’t bethatbad.”
He lifted his head, finding a forest-green gaze. Gods, he couldn’t even fight it. His lips twitched with the beginnings of a smirk, warmth blooming in his chest.
“What if I told you that this one was about an old priest’s bowel movements?”
Mariah’s nose scrunched. She leaned back in her chair, kicking her booted feet up on the desk. “I’d say that’s probably not what we’re looking for, but if it’s interesting to you, then by all means keep at it.”
His smirk stretched into a full grin, her eyes sparkling with humor as she returned it. Fuck, the way she looked at him. He could hardly ever believe that he deserved it.
What in all the gods had he ever done to earn that sort of love and patience? What could someone with so much light possibly see in all the dark crevices of his polluted soul?
She’d said that nothing would ever shake it, that nothing would ever change the way she saw him. What she saw in him. But that’s only because she didn’t know.
Andrian could still feel the burn of Julian Laurent’s blood on his hands, the dull aching presence of Kol behind his eyes.
If he told her, and in doing so lost his only source of light, he didn’t think he could survive it.
“I swear. All the two of you ever do is stare at each other and smile. It’s getting weird. Aren’t we supposed to beresearching?”
“That depends, Matheo.” Mariah swung her gaze to the other warrior hunched over a dusty scroll. “Are you learning anything?”
Matheo scowled. “You know damn well I’m not. The only things here are diaries and prophecies.” He pushed the scrollaway from him, a cloud of dust floating up around it. His scowl shifted into disgust. “What are you hoping to find here, anyway?”
“Do you ever listen?” Mariah’s voice was exasperated, but still light with humor and affection.
“Of course, I do.” Matheo blushed. “But, you know…” He fiddled with the corner of a piece of parchment. “We’ve done a lot of researching since you were Chosen. Sometimes it all blends together.”
A small paperweight flew through the air. It hit Matheo’s forehead with athump,and he hunched over, muttering a curse. Mariah smirked with satisfaction.
