In the retreat, Nicu and Aspen claimed the guest rooms upstairs while I stood post at the cottage’s entrance. Sleep rarely came easily, and the night watch rotation had trained me to grab rest at intervals rather than over the course of full nights.
By dawn, I swapped my military coat for a leather vestment from Poet’s wardrobe. The garment fit somewhat tight in the hips, but it would suffice. I dared not brandish my insignia.
After tucking the coat into a saddle pack, I traveled to a neighboring village and purchased a second horse, then returned as Aspen stepped from the threshold. Standing in a beam of sunlight, she extended her arms and stretched like a feline, the pose elevating her breasts from under the cloak. Tendrils of hair trickled down her bodice, her rosy lips puckered, and my misbehaving cock woke up.
I averted my gaze, counted to ten—better yet, twenty—then stalked in Aspen’s direction and thrust a pear toward her, if only to stop the woman from contorting her figure into another agile position. “Eat this or I shall use it to gag you.”
No excuse. I had no fathomable excuse for this threat, let alone a motive. For whatever outrageous reason, my tongue simply went rogue in her presence.
Aspen smirked. “That’s the sexiest thing you’ve said all morning.”
I scowled. “It is the only thing I’ve said all morning.”
“The day is young.”
My grunt hit the back of my throat. Saucy female. She had gotten over me, but that didn’t mean she would stop teasing at my expense, the same way Poet diverted himself by baiting Jeryn.
We told Nicu the news once he awakened. His face lit the whole cottage, and he threw his arms around me, his joy wringing a reluctant smile from my lips.
After breaking our fast with salted pork, aged cheddar, and a dense loaf of barley, we restored the house to its original state and concealed our tracks.
The courser’s ears perked as we reached the stable, then expelled an irate grunt when a blast of cool air entered his stall. It appeared, a night of dining on hay and apples hadn’t improved the male’s disposition.
As Nicu took the second horse, I hitched the palfrey to my stallion. A precaution against my liege’s sense of direction, though I left enough slack to avoid offending him.
The stallion was not impressed, nor amused by this arrangement. In the manner of a sassy aristocrat, he tossed his head and snorted, patently communicating his upper-class arrogance. I gave him a look, insisting I’d taught him better.
Of course, the creature rebuffed this. He had a mind, and a patrician attitude, of his own.
This had nothing to do with Nicu. Born and bred for combat, accustomed to equine hierarchy, and expensive as hell, the stallion curled his lip in disdainful proximity to the palfrey.
He might as well have declared,“I’m a first-rate commander of Autumn. And you expect me to babysit a fucking show horse?”
Oblivious, the palfrey ignored this prestigious display. Meanwhile, the courser’s annoyance increased tenfold, his tail flicking like a whip when I halted beside him and offered Aspen my hand.
“So now I’m a pony sitteranda romantic buffer?”
No, I did not hear this animal pouting. His mannerisms made these objections clear.
I refrained from rolling my eyes. Instead, I focused on Aspen.
After casting a wary glance to Nicu’s palfrey, she placed her fingers in my calloused ones. At the contact, bolts of lightning struck across my flesh. My jaw rolled as the female mounted the saddle, her thighs splaying wide and hugging the seat, her voluptuous ass chafing my dick once I followed her lead.
Fuck it all. Extending my arms on either side of Aspen’s ribs, I suffocated the reins. Her heavy tits made this a challenge, forcing me to lean forward if I wished to avoid a graphicencounter. This drew her back up against the plane of my torso, our hips locking together.
Despite her cooperation, Aspen must have expected to walk. As if I would permit such a discourteous thing.
Her voice lowered. “This wasn’t what I had in mind.”
My breath scraped across her earlobe. “Nor I.”
Then I prompted the horse into motion.
19
Aire
Over the coming hours, hickory trees gave way to hazelnut groves and wild plum orchards. Landmarks swept by in a tableau of color. River rapids, fern caves that ancient faeries once called home, and skyscraping trees carved with mammoth fox and stag busts.
