“Valen, your leg is covered in blood.”
“It’s just a scratch.”
“Take off your pants,” she says.
I stop. Shake my head. “That’s a fucking bad idea.”
“Is it?” There’s laughter in her voice. “From the day I met you, you’ve never missed an opportunity to take your clothes off.”
“Trust me, princess,” I tell her, “it’s for the best. I’m hard.”
“I’ve seen you hard.”
“Not like this.” Nobody has seen me like this. I’ve never felt this way, been attracted this way to anyone, ever, in my whole life. If I show her what she’s done to me, something worse than any wound, worse than any blow, she’ll run away for good. Shemight throw herself into a river, into a forest, heedless of other dangers.
Because she’ll finally realize that the worst monster is me.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
ROSAMUND
He’s injured because of me, because he defended me, and for some reason, he won’t let me take a look, putting distance back between us. I thought we were past that. I feel somewhat betrayed that he should brush me off like that after last night.
I’ve given him something I’ve never given anyone. Trust. Openness. I showed him my scars. And now he’s hiding from me.
Not fair.
Is this about his cock? After seeing it, touching it, feeling its weight in my hand, now he wants to play coy? It isn’t like him.
He’s such a confusing man. So fierce and protective, so secretive sometimes and so open otherwise, pushing me to reach my limits and surpass them, to see the world through different eyes. He’s so annoying, handsome, warm. So sexy.
Not an adjective I’ve ever used for a man before, not even Lord Eorl. Not even Lord Avalyn, who visited once a couple of years ago, and all the ladies fawned over him. He was admittedly handsome.
But Valen is more than that. He exudes a heat, a pull on all my senses that I can’t fight. Everything about him attracts me:his face, his body, his smell, his voice. The way he moves, stands and lies. The way he smiles.
Some people have described falling in love like a lightning strike, but in my case, it was more of a slow-burning fire. Spark by spark, flame by flame, he’s been entering my body and mind, lighting me up from the inside, making me burn.
I burn with the need to touch him and be near him, as near as possible, skin to skin, the need to become one with him and never part.
“A silver coin for your thoughts, Princess,” he says as we walk through endless meadows, the mountains a blue shadow in the distance.
“Silver? Not gold?” I whisper.
“I see the way you’re looking at me, and I’m not sure I want to know.”
I frown. “Then why ask?”
“Because I always want to check that you’re okay.”
I shake my head and keep walking beside him, refusing to acknowledge the warmth his words engender. Nobody ever showed such care and concern for me before Valen, and I shouldn’t get used to it. It’s not normal. Surely, most people don’t get to live with someone like him… That’s a pity, though, isn’t it?
“I’m a good listener,” he goes on. “If you wanted to share your thoughts.”
“On what?”
“Anything. I’d love to know your mind, Princess. It’s a fascinating place.”
“You’re mocking me,” I breathe.
