“You’re going to be insufferable about it now, aren’t you?”
The door rattled as the wind gusted through the village streets. Rivelin took a step closer, the shadows of the dark house curling around his jaw. My heart rattled, and for a moment, I forgot what I’d asked him.
“Well, I need to hold up my reputation as an insufferable bastard, now don’t I?” he murmured.
A bubble of laughter popped from my throat, and I smiled.
His body went preternaturally still. “Ah. So that’s what it looks like.”
“That’s whatwhatlooks like?” I asked him.
He smiled. “Nothing. We better get to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day prepping for the next trial.”
Flushing at the sudden change in conversation, I shifted on my feet, suddenly realizing I’d left the boots back on the beach. That was the second pair I’d lost in a week, and they weren’t even mine. “All right. Night then, I guess.”
“Goodnight.”
I watched him stride into the living room, toward the couch where his pillow and blanket sat waiting for him. For a moment, I hesitated, wondering if I should offer him the bed instead. But by the time I found the words, he’d started to undress. He tugged his tunic over his head, and the pale light of the moon slanting in from the window illuminated the hard, rugged panes of his chest.
My heart thundered.
I shook my head and dashed toward the bedroom at the end of the hall. I hoped he hadn’t noticed me standing there gaping at him like a fool. It was just…his physique was particularly impressive. Anyone would notice that.
Feeling far more flustered than I had any business being, I closed the door, stripped off my clothes, and climbed into bed. It wasn’t until I was drifting off to sleep that I realized Rivelin had been talking about my smile.
19
RIVELIN
Itossed and turned all night. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Daella had told me about her past—and her future. The bastard had bound her to him, and she saw no way out. It explained a lot. There had to be a way to get her out of this mess, but barring somehow removing the damn shard from her hip, I didn’t know what it was.
She couldn’t return to that life. That was all I knew for certain.
Skoll padded in from the back door I’d left cracked for him all night and nuzzled my hand. I sighed and sat up on the sofa, running my fingers through my hair. I’d hardly slept, and while elves didn’t need as much rest as most, I still felt like my head was stuffed with wool.
“Dammit,” I muttered to myself. Sometime in the past few days, I’d let myself soften toward the half-orc, and I didn’t much like that. It always came back to bite me in the ass.
“Good morning,” Daella said uncertainly.
I looked up to find her hovering in the doorway, still in her nightclothes. Quickly, I looked away. The thin material didn’t leave much to the imagination, and her curves were a delicious temptation I could never indulge in. Still, the shape of her thighs—and everything else about her—hadn’t escaped my notice.
I cleared my throat. “Morning. You hungry?”
“Starving. Should I make us something?”
I arched a brow.
“I do know how to cook, you know.”
The offer was sweet, and pretty unexpected coming from her. “No, no. You get dressed. We’ll break our fast at the Dreaming Dragon Inn. We can find out the details of the Fildur Trial there. They’ll have announced it yesterday while we were in the mountains.”
“The inn. Need I remind you, I got kicked out the first night I was here.”
I found myself looking over at her, despite my every intention not to, and fates be damned, that nightdress showed off every inch of her mile-long thighs.
Her cheeks reddened. “Right, you have coin so it’ll be fine. I suppose I should go get dressed now. Are you going to take a bath first or will you do it later? What about Skoll? Is he hungry? He should come with us, or do they not allow fenrir inside the doors?”
Her words came out in a breathless rush, and an unexpected satisfaction settled into me. She’d noticed me noticing her, and it had gotten her flustered. Her eyes darted down and then back up again. And that was when I remembered I was only half-dressed myself. She was noticing me right back. I smirked.
