“I won’t use my magic,” I said, trying for a superior tone. “I don’t want to embarrass you.”
Darcke wetted his lips. “There arevery fewthings you can do to embarrass me, heir.”
I clenched my hands against the surge in my stomach, and before he could react, I lunged, sprinting toward him and ducking under his arm, diving for his legs instead. He fell backward with a satisfactory thud, and I dodged his hand as he tried to drag me with him, flying to my feet instead and pressing my boot to his heaving chest.
“Yield,” I ordered.
His eyes glittered in the sunlight filtering through the trees surrounding us, and when his lips lifted into the first real smile I’d ever seen on his face, his entire appearance changed. There was a softness around his eyes that contrasted with his sharp cheekbones, and his lips were fuller than I’d realized as they spread across his features.
Then my back slammed into the ground, and I moaned at the root bruising my shoulder.
Darcke was instantly atop me, his knees holding my arms in place and the smile shifting into a smug grin. His tongue poked the corner of his lips, and when he leaned down, heat flared up my neck.
He stared at me for a second before leaning in to whisper in my ear. “Who’s embarrassed now?”
By the end of the day, it wasn’t only my shoulder that ached. I had to swallow a whimper as I got to my feet after the hundredth time Darcke slammed me into the ground. When I felt him ready himself to come for me again, I raised a hand. “Enough. I’ve had enough.”
He’d been pushing me all day to use my magic. We’d quickly picked up each other’s tells, what we’d feel in the moments before we acted, but that first time was the only time I managed to get Darcke down. It didn’t matter that I could intercept his moves. He was far stronger than I was, and unlike what he believed I did, he refused to hold back as he fought me.
“Come on.” Darcke waved for me.
“I said, I’ve had enough,” I snapped, using a tree trunk to catch my breath.
“I heard you.”
I growled at the cold amusementrolling off him.
“I have something that’ll help,” Darcke added. “My own fucking bones ache because yours do.”
I sighed through my teeth when I wasn’t able to lock down the curiosity bubbling to life within me. He kept his face turned away as he started walking in the direction opposite the Hird, slipping in between two-thousand-year-old pines, whose needles peppered the narrow path winding between them.
I debated staying back, but when the warning spread within me that Darcke was turning to come carry me over his shoulder again, I forced my tired legs to follow. It wasn’t like I had anything to go back to anyway—only a hollow tree trunk and an even emptier gut.
The sweet smell of sap and the musky scent of warm leaves that had sunned themselves all day filled my nose, and I was grateful for the shade the tall trees Darcke led me through provided. My skin was dry and cracking after a full day in the sun—and from the sweat that had poured down my face and body—and as I listened to the waterfall, I decided I’d try to find a secluded spot in the river to wash up.
The sound of water bubbling and rushing grew louder after an hour’s trek uphill, and I hurried my steps when Darcke disappeared behind an especially tall mountain ash.
As I whispered my fingers over its bloodred berries, I halted mid-step.
The tree line ended with the ash, and beyond it was a mountain, the ground beneath it entirely made up of gray stone. Snow sprinkled the mountainside, and the breeze that blew through my leathers was cool. But that’s not what had me gaping.
It was the several black pools of water, and the plumes of steam rising from each, twirling up toward the darkening sky.
“Do you not have hot springs back home?”
Darcke was already getting out of his sweaty clothing, the muscles beneath the smooth skin on his back playing in the dimming light. As he stepped into the mist, it layered over his body, making his skin shine like a newly polished sword.
“I feel that,” Darcke said.
It was supposed to be teasing, but his tone was serious.
I quickly averted my eyes when my face heated.
I’d heard of hot springs before, but Oenskan didn’t have them. The closest things were the huts my father had ordered built, where a fire was lit and every wall and door was sealed to keep the heat in. We used them year-round, but I loved them especially in the winter, when we’d make a hole in the ice and alternate between the heated house and the glacial water.
After getting out of his trousers as well, Darcke threw them and his tunic into a smaller pool, where the water bubbled so fiercely it looked like ghostly hands were reaching for the fabric. Then he climbed into the well of water in the middle.
“They come in varying temperatures.” He rested his elbows on the stone, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back. “This one works wonders for sore muscles caused by stubborn girls.”
