“Over my deceased carcass will you and Nicu partake in woodland drugs,” I groused, then barked in surprise as she jabbed her elbow into my ribs.
“This once, I’ll forgive you for assuming I’d get him high,” she reprimanded.
“Apologies,” I conceded. “That was unfair of me. But forage for those narcotic spores, and you’ll do more than hallucinate. Pick the wrong ones, and bid your esophagus farewell. Out here, we have no Winter King to heal us from dark magic, sink holes, hunting traps, poisonous crops, fauna bites, stinging nettles, venomous insects, rabid marsupials, strangling roots—”
“And people call me pessimistic,” Aspen remarked while pushing a low creeper out of our path. “Anyway, I was going to add that we’re surrounded by more vibrant colors than I’ve ever seen in Autumn, and it’s a golden afternoon. Look at everything this kingdom gives us. What do you see?”
“Trees.”
A sarcastic sigh vented from her lungs. “Certain men in this clan are overly chatty.”
“Do not compare me to Jeryn,” I protested.
“Why not? If you ask me, the pair of you should start an antisocial club.”
“In my defense, I’m being taciturn because I figured you weren’t done with your dissertation. Go on, continue. Take your time. Meanwhile, I’ll be sitting behind you, guarding us from certain death.”
“Smart ass.”
“Wise ass.”
Despite ourselves, dry chuckles slipped from our mouths. My warhorse and Nicu’s palfrey clopped around a mound of leaves that only appeared harmless. Step on it, and we would plummet to the ends of the earth, provided we landed at all. After avoiding this trap, Aspen’s tongue cut loose again.
“So tell me about this ancestor of yours,” she invited. “Did she get randy for a human, shag them senseless, and end up pregnant?”
“With child,”I corrected, snapping the reins. “I cannot believe you’d defile intimacy by using that other term.”
“Really?” Aspen balked. “Of all the phrases I just rattled off, you’re picking ‘pregnant’ as the most controversial?”
“I see no reason to explain myself for… What the devil are you up to now?” I demanded as Aspen rifled through one of the saddle packs. “What are you searching for?”
“Your string of pearls. It seems you misplaced them.” While I bristled in annoyance, the snarky woman ignored me, abandoning the pack. “Truly, you act like you’ve never met Poet before. Much less Flare, Eliot, Cadence, Posy, or Vale. Least of all, me.”
“I’ve never pretended to embrace their vagaries either. That said, I don’t concern myself with how the rest of our fellowship comports themselves.”
“So you’re singling me out. I hope you don’t expect me to feel special.”
“I expect nothing, dammit! I have no idea why your expletives unnerve me more than the others do. However, I thought you’d grow out of that foul tongue by now.”
“Did I taste like I’d grown out of it?”
Autumn flay me. I floundered with the leather straps, a surge of heat rushing to my face and phallus. To answer her would be the equivalent of stepping on a landmine.
The instant my cock jolted against her ass, Aspen tensed. “Shit. Sorry about that. It wasn’t—”
“Better to quit while you’re ahead,” I warned.
“Am I ahead?”
A breeze cut through the passage, and my head snapped east. “Stop.”
Misconstruing the request, Aspen threw up her hands innocently. “Okay! It was only a question.”
“Quiet,” I seethed under my breath.
As the current swept a leaf from the ground, Aspen paused. She could not sense the shift in this atmosphere, but she did grasp my low register and the stallion’s ears pinning forward.
Conditioned to engage with threats, the warhorse struck one hoof against the ground, ready to attack. I settled deeper into the saddle and marginally tightened the reins.
