I expected her to pull away.
Abruptly, she leaned in, grabbed my tunic and pulled my lips to hers.
One of my hands found the back of her neck and dug my fingers into her impossibly long hair to tilt her where I wanted her, needed her.
Savoring the taste of her, I let myself consume as much of her as she’d allow. It wasn’t gentle—it was wild, frantic, hurried. Like she might change her mind at any moment.
Finding the small of her back, I pulled her up against me to show her how painful my need was. My hard length pressed against her waist. She was absolutely intoxicating. If she would let me, I could have laid her down and taken her on the inn’s lawn and had no shame about it.
A carriage clambered past, and Asterie seemed to regain a sense of her surroundings.
Judging by the shock in her expression, it was a crushing realization. With a gasp of air, she pushed me back just as abruptly as she had pulled me in. Her cheeks and neck were flushed.
When she backed away from me, each step felt like a mile between us. Disbelief haunted her expression, and she shook her head.
“That…” she said as she touched her fingers to her lips. “That can’t happen again.”
“Why?” An edge entered my voice. To be so quickly rejected aftershehad kissed me so eagerly. It sent me spiraling.
Casual relations with women had once been a game I relished playing, and rejection was part of that game. But hers cut me down to nothing.
Fleeting moments were what I had offered, yet there was no way that would ever be enough.
“That just isn’t how this story ends, Fenris.”
I’d gotten so used to hearing my familial nickname that my name sounded sharp on her tongue.
It sounded like a conclusion rolled into one. Final.Had she conjured something?Whatever she may have seen of our future, she didn’t share it.
Instead, she turned and was through the inn’s door faster than I could shake away the lust. When I reached the door, she was already stepping up the stairs two at a time. She didn’t look back.
Every impulse told me to race after her, but she’d made it abundantly clear that she wanted me at arm’s length. I stood there dumbfounded and torn.
This could never be a casual dalliance. I should thank her for ending it when I was too stupid to.
Emmerick entered the inn.Excellent.Just the person I wanted to see.
He glanced around, confused.
“Did you truly scare her offthatquickly? We haven’t even had dinner.”
“It’s a personality defect, I’m afraid.” My self-deprecation seemed to take the boy off guard.
“Can you do me a favor? Get her to eat something tonight—she listens to you.” I sighed the words, and Emmerick’s skeptical expression faltered.
He contemplated. “I will doherthe favor.”
Semantics.That was good enough for me.
I needed to put distance between me and the enchantress, so I waited until the boy climbed the stairs before slipping back out into the streets of Belray.
* * *
Pubs were alwaysa great place to lick wounds. The liquor loosened conversations, the music lifted spirits and a card game or two could change my luck. Shantey’s Pub turned out to be just the place for my mood—a divey establishment where the carpet smelled of piss and so did the ale.
The pub had sticky floors, scuffed furniture and worn seats, but the clientele looked mostly respectable. Locals posted themselves up at the bar, and those traveling through seemed to commandeer the tables closest to the band. It was easy to tell them apart since the travelers seemed to simply clap when a song ended and the regulars amicably heckled the band from across the room.
Three steins of ale had not been enough to relax the tension in my shoulders.Women—it would have to be women, then.I sidled up to a rickety table beside a pretty brunette. Soon I learned she was traveling through Belray to meet her sister in Helos. My propensity for small talk came back quickly—shallow conversation had never been difficult for me. It felt hollower than usual tonight.
