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Was this how I thought at each beginning? I didn't remember it being like that, but maybe I'd just forgotten …
"You are safe," I said, voice raspy after so many months of disuse.
Her brows knit together, forming a small wrinkle in the middle, and I had to force myself not to reach out and smooth it.
Was it soft? It seemed like it would be soft.
The forest had told me about women. But I had never been so close to one before — at least not in this life.
Something low in my belly ached as I traced her body with my eyes, her curves soft enough to rest my head on.
Would they feel as soft as they looked?
Wait. She'd asked me a question. What had it been again?
"Look —" she tried again, sending a strange glance over her shoulder at the man in the vines. "I'm really hoping you understand me. I'm searching for some kind of powerful relic in this forest. Do you know where it is?"
The man behind her grunted and struggled in the vines, so I squeezed him tighter.
I slid off the mielpaed and held my hand out in the way I'd seen humans do before. "I am Rien."
She narrowed her eyes for a moment, studying me. Then she shrugged and rested her palm in mine. "Uh — I'm Kaiya."
My eyes dropped to her hand. Her skin was so soft, and her bones so delicate.
How could that shifter have let her out among all this danger, let alone hit her?
My chest tightened.
If she'd died …
No. I froze. What was I doing?
She was an intruder! I had to keep us safe. Safe from the Fae, the humans, and now the corruption.
Everything not of the forest was a threat.
And I could not tolerate threats to the forest.
Releasing her hand, I stepped back and began to apologize for what was about to happen to her …
The words "Why are you here?" escaped from my lips instead, though.
Kaiya's lips formed a little "O," and her eyes widened, sending my pulse skittering.
Could she truly be a threat to the forest?
She was strange … and beautiful, in the way a brook kissed the forest the morning after a rainstorm.
"I'm here to capture a powerful relic," she said.
A relic? I vaguely remembered learning in a previous life that was what they called tamable, magical creatures … but why would she do such a thing?
No, she didn't feel dangerous in that way.
"Wrong. Why are you here?"
Her mossy eyes widened, and she stared at me for several heartbeats.
