I closed my eyes again. My words rang true within him, and there was something else there, too—a tug that had nothing to do with the bond tethering his chest to mine.
“You need me,” I said. “You need me more than I need you, so you will keep me safe.” More surprise, this of adifferent kind—one I wasn’t fond of—jabbed at my chest, and I winced. “You don’t want me to know that.”
His forehead creased again.
Was I wrong?Confusion wound its way around my mind.
He remained still as I spun and moved my hand back to his face.
“I—” I dropped my fingers when something sharp came at my thoughts, and I jerked backward. “No.Ineed you? Is that right?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Do you?”
I turned forward as the horse fell into a gallop, and when we left behind the arch I’d been pulled toward, the images in my mind cleared.
Faces that had evaded me sharpened, and feelings that the man’s warm ones had overpowered returned. My father showed up first, and I jerked back from the man when his memory morphed into a body on the ground, limbs at unnatural angles and blood pooling beneath him.
“Did I do that?”
“Did you do what?” He had to lean in so I’d hear him over the rushing wind.
People standing on a dock came next, their fists lifted in farewell to my father’s body as it floated away on the river in a burial boat.
No, that wasn’t right. I shook my head to get my thoughts in order.
It wasn’t my father they waved to. They were saying goodbye to me.
“Am I going to die?” I asked.
Strong arms tightened around my waist. “We’re all going to die.”
“But will I diesoon?”
“Not if I have anything to do with it.”
As we passed a thick copse of the tallest birch I’d ever seen, the world stopped being muted. It was as if we’d passed beneath awaterfall, the water transforming me into me again. The mist evaporated from my mind, and panic flooded me.
Despite the mare’s speed, I whirled.
“What just happened?” I asked urgently.
Darcke grinned coldly. “You fell for the huldra’s spell. And I saved you.”
The spell? I cursed silently when Darcke’s silent chuckle vibrated along the bond.
Falling asleep must have made me vulnerable.
“No need to be so fucking smug.” I grimaced as I leafed through the memories of what I’d just done—and what I’d told him.
Heat crept over my cheeks at the way I’d touched him. I’d thought he was beautiful.
I closed my eyes. I’d told him he wasmine.
But as I went over every single word leaving my lips, my shoulders lowered. I hadn’t said anything about my family—about my people. About my magic. Nothing I’d done had been too damning.
“I wouldn’t be so relaxed,” Darcke teased. “You told me howprettyyou really think I am.”
I shoved at him. “I meant your tattoos, you bastard.”
