“I’m okay. Iswearto you. It was just a tough morning,” I assured him.
He hesitated, but a bat of my eyelashes convinced him. His hand dropped back to his side. “Okay. I’ll only be an hour. And if you need me?—”
“I know where to find you.”
“I love you.” His lips found mine, pulling me into a kiss that had me wishing I told him to come upstairs with me.
With a nip of his lip and a mimic of his words, I pulled away from Sebastian, my gaze mistakenly raking over Sawyer’s.
His brows furrowed, then he dropped his head to his bottle and turned away from me.
My face tightened almost uncomfortably. I still needed to talk to him about what happened in the arena. I knew that. But that conversation was going to be tough.
Listen, I know you have feelings for me and I also know that kissing you back totally sent out mixed signals, but I never stopped loving Seb. Never. Not even for a second. Please forgive me for being the worst in the world at deciphering my own emotions.
Yeah, Maeve. That should go over well.
Chapter
Forty
Within a few days, we had packed our rucksacks and designed a strategic plan of what we would say to King Franlow in our best efforts to get him on our side. We would need to scare him enough to convince him that he needed our knowledge, and Sebastian seemed fully confident that it could be done.
Archer put on his best father impression in an attempt to talk us out of making the journey, though he quickly realized that he stood no chance in convincing us, so he didn’t bother putting up too much of a fight. To my surprise, however, he did offer to come along. He had been essentially a recluse since the whole Venay situation, so the proposition quite literally made my jaw drop.
We assured him that he was better off here where he could keep close tabs on the kingdom, also so Delani wouldn’t be left alone. Her lack of magic and inability to even hold a sword made her much too fragile to bring along.
Early that morning, we set off south, though the day nearly finished before we made a dent in crossing the stretch of land that separated Lumosia from Mealioria.
Aside from the summer months, early autumn was my favorite time of the year. The air smelt crisp and the sound of leaves crunching under our horses hooves as we trotted through a forest of yellowing trees added an ambiance to the ride that I didn’t know I needed.
“You know, we're going to need to offer Franlow something in return,” Kade pointed out from the back of his black stallion.
As much as we had solidified our plan, there was always room for improvement.
On top of our golden mare, Honey, I adjusted myself behind Sebastian, nuzzling in closer to his back. “Like what?”
“Sex usually does the trick for creepy old men,” Sawyer supplied, the sarcasm of his idea taking charge of his tone.
“He’s not that creepy,” Sebastian countered, “or old.”
“Are you offering to do the honors, Sinclair?” Kade retorted, pulling the reins of his horse and directing us down a narrow pathway on our left.
Kade had shown me a map of the land before we left, which I had tucked in my back pocket, just in case. If I remembered correctly, soon we would break through a clearing and escape the prison of dying greenery. The forest would be replaced by a valley, outlined with vast mountain ranges that we would follow the rest of the way.
“I’m abstaining during this trip. Sorry,” Sawyer declined absentmindedly, then led his horse after Kade.
“You mean you aren't going tocatch upwith Mateo while you're here?” Kohen questioned him, Pia giggling from where she sat behind him.
“No way.”
“Why not? I thought he wasthe best fuck you ever had.”Kohen put air quotes around the tail end of his sentence.
“He was. Until he decided that the best fuckhe’dever had was not me.” Sawyer shrugged.
Kohen snickered. “What about Stella?”
“Nah. Not interested anymore,” Sawyer answered monotonously.
