I’d never been so forlorn for my lack of a shifter form. I was deathly sick of the swaying carriage and makeshift bed, cranky from lack of sleep, and growing frozen by the rapidly chilling air the father north we went. Rhys was unfazed, both by the frigid weather and bruising pace his men set, though I didn’t see much of him on the first day’s ride.
I didn’t realize when we left the capital how many men he’d traveled with, but I learned nearly an entire company of them followed him everywhere. According to rumor, however, some were killed on the travel from the Northlands.
I didn’t say it to him when we’d exited the castle after visiting my father, but the sight had surprised me. Who exactly were they? What clan were they with? Human? I didn’t get the chance to ask before I was shuffled into the grandest carriage of the line, followed by Leisha, who was also too stunned to speak.
The two of us soon gave up any attempts at conversation. Though the carriage grand, the heavily rutted road and breakneck speed we were traveling at caused it to dip and sway precariously. After a few hours, we were too nauseous to carry on a simple conversation. Leisha, from the last look of her, had turned a peculiar shade of green.
Rhys rode on his magnificent horse with his men when he wasn’t scouting ahead in his half-shifted form. I caught glimpses of him now and again outside the small window, and it always amazed me how a jolt of white-hot pleasure sang through my body. I was grateful for the space, which I think he somehow already understood. It made my head ache how fast things had changed, how vastly different my life was in only a few short days.
And most of it had Rhys at the very center.
I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with depending on him, so despite how generous he’d been and how much my body said otherwise, I would do my best to keep some emotional distance, at least for a little while, until I found my footing again.
As though she could read thoughts as well as my mate, Leisha said the first words since we’d started on the second day’s ride. “You two look like you’ve gotten to know each other.”
I pressed my warm forehead against the chilled glass of the small window. “I would hope so.”
She managed a weak smile. “C’mon,” she said with a wince andpressed a hand to her stomach. Her expression was pinched, but she pushed on. “Distract me. What was he like? Are you happy?”
I chewed on my response. “He’s… very different than I thought he would be.”
Leisha scowled. “Well, that doesn’t tell me anything. When I saw you this morning, he couldn’t keep his hands off you.”
I was sure the blush filling my cheeks was as crimson as the interior of the carriage. “He was surprisingly kind.” The blush deepened. “And very generous.”
She fanned her face and straightened in her seat. “And?”
My shoulder lifted and settled. “And I don’t know. I don’t really know him all that well, n-no matter how well we suit in the bedroom.”
She sighed. “Well, I suppose if you’re with him for a lifetime, at least you’re compatible in that department. Before I was a novice at the temple, my parents were going to betroth me to the most loathsome man, so count yourself lucky.”
“You were?” I studied her more closely. Three years together and she’d never mentioned it. In fact, she’d hardly talked about herself at all. Feeling like a complete idiot, I reached across the space between us and touched her arm. “You never said anything about it before.”
Her eyes went to the window and she was silent for a second. I was about to apologize for being intrusive when she laughed it off and said, “There’s nothing to say. I’dmuchrather talk about your betrothed than mine.”
We shared a moment of laughter that made me forget all the negative things that had happened to me. In that moment, I wasn’t the failed queen who had to be bartered off like chattel to prove her worth. I was just a girl with her friend.
Shivering slightly and heavy with morose thoughts, my spirits lifted when I saw Rhys’ draw close to the carriage with his horse. The carriage swayed to a stop without waking the occupants, and Rhys swung down from his horse to open the door.
As he strode across the rutted road, it was as though my body could sense his was near. It lit up like the magicked lanterns townspeople can buy from the capital city markets and send to the skies for festivals around each equinox. Was this the bond? It couldn’t be. We barelyknew each other.
No matter how much I protested it, there was no denying the way my heart raced. I tugged at the collar of my dress, then scratched where it chafed at the wrists. I’d worn it for its softness, but I wanted nothing more than to tear it off and set it on fire.
Rhys met my eyes as he opened the door and his jaw snapped closed based on something he read in my eyes. Without a word, he held out a hand. After a pause, I placed mine in his, and he tugged me down the steps. I didn’t even glance back at Leisha. My brain was too clouded with need for him. It made everything inside of me fuzzy and weak.
He didn’t say a word as he pulled me down the line of men and carriages, but I felt as though I could sense his mood as well as I could my own. The awareness of his skin against mine only increased the sense of closeness, of connection. I wanted to pull my hand away, but, for reasons I didn’t quite understand or want to delve into, I didn’t. It was a silly thing, really, holding hands, but it felt more intimate than making love. So I bit my lip and tried not to let him realized how much I enjoyed his big hand around mine. I didn’t let go until he tugged away to open the door to our carriage and help me into it.
I think that’s what scared me the most about Rhys. Not that he had the tendency to be fierce and unforgiving like he had the day he murdered the guard who tried to kill me, but that I didn’t want to let go.
Rhys settled on the bench seat across from me, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his eyes on me, hot as a brand, though he didn’t try to touch me. He barely even needed to the way I was already responding to him.
But he didn’t move other than to shuck his overcoat and toss it on the seat next to him. He rolled up his sleeves like it was the middle of the spring season instead of encroaching on winter. Though he didn’t need the protection of extra layers like I did, I recalled.
“Rest,” he said instead of beckoning me forward, like I wanted, craved, despite my own travel-weariness. “We’ve got many miles to go yet and you look like you need it.”
I wanted to harrumph and shoot him a dirty look, but underneath the want for him was weariness and he was right. We both could use the rest.
“Thank you, I—” I started to say, but then I realized that his mouth hadn’t moved. “Did you just…Did I just—”
