“So therecouldbe something wrong with me.”
“No.”
“But you just said—”
“You smell good, okay?” His eyes flashed with annoyance, a hint of redness along his cheeks, before he glanced away again. “I like your scent. Fucking love it, actually. That’s all. There’s nothing wrong with you. Now go to sleep.” He turned over, giving me his back like he’d done every night.
Slowly, I sank down a few feet away, already shivering in the desert’s cold, and stared at him. Wings took flight in my stomach. I tried to tamp them down as I curled up in the sand. Somehow, that only seemed to make the sensation worse.
Rade had suggested my scent was offensive, but he’d been wrong. Keir liked it.Lovedit. I pressed my lips together to stop them from curving as another freezing shiver racked my frame.
Keir sighed and rolled over, scooting closer to me in the sand.
My eyes snapped to his. “What are you doing?”
“Relax. Shifters run hot, remember? I can hear your teeth chattering. You need the body heat.” He held out his arm.
I hesitated for only a moment. But Iwasfreezing. Kaldfold had been cold, but there were warm coats and fires burning in every available nook and cranny. This was unbearable.
And Keir loved my scent…
Not bothering to waste any more time deliberating, I sidled closer and nestled eagerly into his warmth. Keir wrapped his massive arm around my back, cocooning me. His skin was like a furnace. It was… bliss.
But as I started to relax, I realized the runes on my forehead would touch the ones cutting down from his jaw. The feelings that rune-touching conjured up were too strong, too intimate. Whatever he’d confessed about my scent, I didn’t think he’d appreciate such liberties. I stiffened and arched my head away.
Keir mumbled, “What are you doing?”
“Trying not to touch your runes.”
“My runes?”
I could already feel the muscles in my neck cramping. I wouldn’t be able to stay like this. Keir’s runes stretched all the way down from his jaw to his sternum in thick, long lines. Regardless of what unnatural position I took now, there was a good chance my forehead would land on one of those lines at some point in my sleep. I should just roll over. That was the safest option for both of us. I started to turn—
Keir’s hand landed on my hip, stilling me. “Nothing will happen if our runes touch.”
“Yes,” I stated, “something definitely will.”
The moonlight gilded his amused grin in silver and reflected off his gold eyes. “Only a Gods-Blessed can do that. You’re safe with me, Majesty.”
I looked down at the iridescent blue marks and swallowed hard. Hesitantly, I relaxed into Keir and allowed my forehead to rest against his warm flesh. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself for the heat to intensify. But it never came. No searing. No fingers reaching inside me. No overwhelming ache or need. It was just the warmth of his skin, the gentle rise and fall of his breaths, and nothing else.
“See?” he said. His grip on my hip softened and slid to the small of my back. “Sleep, Amunet.”
Feeling foolish, I settled with my face pressed against his chest, folding my arms tightly between us. The smell of sweat drifted up to my nose, but so did the spice of mulberries. It wrapped a cozy blanket around me and niggled at a memory until it finally,finallysprang free. My lips spread into a smile beyond my control. I hesitated a moment before I whispered, “Keir?”
“Hm?”
“Remember how I told you about the tree I used to pray under, beside the river?”
“Yes?”
“It was a mulberry tree.” I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten that wonderful tree until now. “When I was little, I used to love climbing it. I’d sit in its branches for hours. It was big and shady, and in the spring, my fingers would almost always be stained maroon from all the mulberries I’d eat. They were my favorite treat, besides bread.” I glanced down at my fingers curled against Keir’s chest, almost expecting them to be stained even now. My lids slipped shut, and within the quiet of my head, I could almost hear the rustle of my tree’s leaves, see the light filtering through the branches, and when I inhaled, I caught its distinct earthy aroma coming off Keir’s skin. I smiled wider. “That’s what you smell like to me.”
Keir’s body was carefully still against mine except for the movement of his breaths. He didn’t say anything, and I was suddenly too embarrassed to pull out of his chest to see his expression. I swallowed and awkwardly mumbled, “Just thought it was fair for you to know. An answer for an answer, right?”
He remained motionless for a moment longer. Then one of his hands left me to fiddle with something under his shirt. I recognized the gesture from Frostguard but only now realized what he was doing. Keir pinched the leather band between his fingers and pulled it tight, cinched it around his ribs. His features twitched in a wince.
I started to ask why, but his massive arms wrapped fully around me again, enveloping me in his Shifter heat as he buried his nosein my hair and drew in a long, deep breath. He didn’t question whether there were mulberry trees in Khada Palace. He didn’t accuse me of lying or offer an explanation. He just hugged me against him, and I burrowed into the space beneath his chin, surrounding myself in warmth and mulberries until I hardly felt the desert’s cold at all anymore.
