I made a frustrated noise, knowing it would be hours before we made it back the way we had come.
‘Cillian will be okay when he sees that you’re safe.Torgrin had to leave them both back at the camp.We didn’t want them slowing us down.’Tomas looked over to where Torgrin was digging a hole.‘I’ve known him a long time and have never seen him show fear until tonight.’Tomas watched me closely.
‘I’m sure he was just worried that Lord Warwick would be disappointed with him for losing Bethel’s lady-in-waiting.’
Tomas snorted in disbelief.‘Well, I’m glad you’re okay.’
Torgrin had confided in his journal that he cared for me.He’dwalked into a camp of soldiers unarmed for me.He had shared so little of his feelings directly, but his actions spoke loudly.
Tomas went to help Torgrin, and I wandered around the camp until I found a comfortable patch of grass.I sat and drew my legs to my chest, wrapping my arms around them.With my chin resting on my knees, I watched Torgrin and his men dig graves in the hard ground.
I wanted to ask Torgrin so many questions about tonight’s events, but I wasn’t sure he would speak to me now.We always seemed to be at odds.I wished he would talk to me the way he wrote in his journals – I longed desperately to hear his thoughts.
The camp was soon clear enough for us to settle and get a few hours of sleep.Torgrin was looking around the camp, and when his gaze found mine, he went still.
Was a shared past life what drew us to each other?If so, what had happened in our past lives to make it so hard for us to communicate in this one?We pushed and pulled as if we carried unhealed wounds that we didn’t remember.
He moved to grab something from his horse and then from my pack on Nightmare’s back.I tensed, afraid he was going to take back his journal.I had offered to return it, but I didn’t want to.My body relaxed when I saw it was my bedroll.
I admired his long legs as they ate up the distance between us.His expression was as unreadable as always, but his gaze never wavered from mine.Torgrin hadn’t even blinked when my Darkness turned a man to ash at his feet.Tomas was right; Torgrin was never afraid.Yet he was tonight when his father and his men took me.
I was silent as he rolled out our bedrolls side by side.Maybe he wasn’t as angry with me as I thought.
‘Sleep,’ he ordered.
We both kept our clothes and boots on.It was a chilly night – even more so with no fire.I lay down on my side, facing away from him.
‘You’re cold,’ he said from behind me.Suddenly, I was being pulled against his hard body.Heat spread throughout my body at the feel of him pressed against my backside.
What was he doing?
I tried to create some distance between us, but he growled, and his muscular arm became a steel band, pulling me in tighter.Guilt flooded me as I thought of Cillian, who was probably worried about me, while I was here with Torgrin’s warm body pressed against mine.
‘Relax,’ he whispered.His hand stroked my lower belly, having the opposite effect.
‘Why are you doing this?’I blurted out.
His hand paused.
‘The truth,’ I demanded.
He sighed as he released me and rolled away onto his back.‘I don’t know,’ he whispered, almost as if to himself.
Turning to face him, I stared at his profile in the dark.
‘When they took you, I was terrified.Right now, I need to be as close to you as possible so I don’t lose my fucking mind,’ he blurted out, looking at the night sky.
My heart fluttered.He had told me what he felt.Here, now.No journal, just us.
I shuffled towards him, not caring who saw us.I tucked myself into his warm side and waited for him to lift his arm.He did, and I laid my head on his shoulder and my hand on his chest.He raised his hand to caress my back, and I smiled when he let out a satisfied grunt.We lay in silence for a while, simply enjoying the closeness.
‘Your father seems nice.’
Torgrin snorted.
‘Do you know why he was trying to kidnap me?’
Torgrin’s hand paused on my back.I wiggled a bit, and he got my not-so-subtle hint and went back to stroking my back.
