“Nick only listens to me and those I trust. You do not fall into that category, princess.”
He secured everything once more and mounted behind her. He reached around to take the reins, clicking his tongue to make Nick move once more. Nick didn’t hesitate, following Rise’s commands without pause.
Rise kicked lightly to pick up the pace. Now that he no longer had to worry about dragging her behind, and she knew there was no escape, they could make better time with a quicker pace. And, then, he could rid himself of the intrusive thoughts she was clearly planting.
Of course, he had to find a way to ignore the brush of her hands on his thighs and the natural delicious smell that shouldn’t still be emanating from her sweaty, dusty skin and tangled hair but made him to want to get closer and closer.
He chuckled to himself. The people of Umbraland shouldn’t call her the Queen of Nightmares, as he’d heard a few times, along with the Queen of Deadly Arrows, She Who Should Be Avoided, and other names that hinted of an evil nature. They should call her the Queen of Dreams. And he should call himself a damned fool.
She was such a damned fool.
Why had she opened her big mouth? If she had still been on foot, she might have found a way to break the rope connection between them. Now, it was still in place, she was trapped even more, and she was hyper-aware of his large, warm body behind her and his muscular arms around her. Every accidental touch was enough to send chills over her skin and energy swirling through her abdomen repeatedly. Not to mention, each gallop of the horse took them closer to reality. Why had she thought she could get the horse to run from Rise? Stupid, stupid stupid! She really needed to get her head on straight and put together a good escape plan. If she didn’t do something soon, she would be dead the moment her father got his opportunity.
And the big dummy behind her didn’t realize he was marching straight toward his own death, too. Somehow, she needed to convince him they were on the same side. But how did she do that when he didn’t trust a word she said?
Sweat began to bead on her forehead as they grew closer to the lava lakes of Dlogsif. She could see the orange-red glow dotting the terrain that was broken by large, spiky stone formations and jagged boulders.
“This seems like such a bad idea.”
“It will shorten our journey by two days. Finally, getting the satisfaction I deserve, and two days early as well, is worth it to me.”
She knew she wouldn’t be able to convince him that she wouldn’t be running into dear daddy’s arms as the long-lost princess he assumed she was, but maybe she could steer him in a different direction.
“So, what’s your plan? When you see Grawl? How will you strike?”
“As if I would tell you so that you could warn him.”
Or let you distract him while I kill the bastard, more likely.“What if I told you that I knew of a sure way to kill himpermanently? A way for which he had no defense and a way in which he could never be resurrected? Would you be interested?”
“I would say it is just another tactic to get me to drop my guard.”
She gave a frustrated growl. “You just can’t imagine that we might have the same goal, can you?”
“No, I fucking can’t! I was a slave in your household, treated little better than the vermin that ran inside the castle walls. Tends to make a person think the worst of the ones who owned him.”
“The bonds of slavery are never justified, but I had no power over your situation. Trust me, life with my father was no frolicking holiday for me either!”
“Frolicking holiday? Really? You have no idea what was stolen from me by your father.”
“I really hate that my father ever crossed your path, but I can’t make up for his wrongs. My focus for the past twenty-two years has been to avoid him and to prepare for the day I can no longer do that.”
“Why? I can only imagine how much you miss your life as royalty.”
“Royalty?” She turned around as much as she could in the saddle until she could meet his gaze. “You think I was treated as royalty?”
But his gaze was no longer on her. Instead, he was staring ahead of them, causing her to swivel back around. In the distance, it appeared that a chunk of lava was running straight toward them.
“What is that?”
“Something that shouldn’t be here. They can’t travel inter-dimensionally on their own. That’s a heliskrat, and they’re near to impossible to kill.”
He pulled on the reins, causing his horse to stop and rear up on its back two legs before hitting the ground once more and turning to run back the way they’d come.
“Where will we go?”
“Anywhere but here.”
She glanced around him. It looked like the heliskrat had gained on them. “We can’t outrun that thing.”
