“Har har,” I said. “Very funny.”
“I don’t joke about sore muscles. Now get the fuck in as I can still feel yours.”
I fidgeted with my tunic. I wanted nothing more than to slip into the welcoming water, but he’d think it strange if I didn’t undress. And I couldn’t take the shirt off. While there was some sort of strange truce between us right now, there was no way Darcke would keep my faded rune a secret from the king.
I wasn’t even sure if hecouldkeep it a secret. I had no idea how the leash the king’s shaman had tethered to his mind truly worked. It was magic that only the king and the gods were allowed to be wise to.
Darcke opened an eye. “Are you trying to make it a sport not to do all the things you’re craving?”
“No,” I mumbled.
“Then get in.”
I shifted my weight from my heels to my toes.
“I’m sure your gods would be fine with you using the pools. You can pray if that makes you feelbetter.”
“We don’t pray.” I rolled my eyes. “We honor them through sacrifice.”
Darcke chuckled darkly. “You have sacrificed a lot today already.”
I felt a wave of mirth. “Don’t?—”
“Your pride. Your shoulder. My backside hurts from you falling so much.”
“If I get in, will you shut up?”
“I’ll do my best.” Darcke closed his eyes again as I made my way over to the pool.
Without taking off my clothes, I slipped in. A low moan left me when the warm water instantly soothed my muscles, folding around me like a fur warmed by the hearth. I moved farther down, finding a stone to sit on that allowed only my head to remain above the surface.
“I wouldn’t have looked,” Darcke said as bubbles playfully burst on the water between us. “I’m not?—”
“You’re not interested. You don’t find me attractive. My body doesn’t tempt you. Did I miss anything?” I tilted my head, and when he didn’t respond, I added, “Good. Can you be quiet so I can enjoy the first nice thing I’ve experienced since setting my foot on this island?”
I crushed my eyelids shut when my voice trembled at the end.
Thankfully Darcke didn’t say anything about the moment of sorrow passing through me, and I was able to shove the self-pity aside as the sound of gurgling water masked the strained silence.
I’d almost fallen asleep when Darcke spoke again. “I was going to say that I’m not a boy. I can control myself in the presence of a beautiful woman.”
I peeked at him, and I was about to roll my eyes when his serious ones found mine.
“You don’t ever have to worry about that with me,” Darcke continued quietly. “I might not be ashonorableas you heirs, but I would never do what that asshole Geord and his friends did to you.”
I swallowed, but I couldn’t find any words to respond, so I just let him feel that I’d heard him. He stared at me for a second longer before closing his eyes once more.
The strained silence shifted into a comfortable one that remained with us the entire time we stayed in the pool, and as we walked through the forest toward the Hird, letting the breeze dry our clothes and skin.
I was so relaxed by the time the smoke from the longhouse filled the air and loud voices boomed, shattering the late evening, I wasn’t able to hide the apprehension whirring down the bond, nor the hurt that came from seeing Viljan standing outside the building with Ivren and Rakkel, talking to them as if he’d known them his entire life.
My strides got sluggish, and Darcke turned when I fell behind.
His face went from mine to the longhouse. “Come on,” he said again.
“I don’t want to fight now either,” I joked weakly.
“Then don’t,” he replied. “Let’s go to my ship.”
