Tegwyn doesn’t remove his finger from my lips, yet all I can think about is the wolf and my possible demise.
“Ivy,” he rasps.
I shake my head, just wanting it to be over.
“Ivy, don’t let your fear consume you. Think… think about something else…something that makes you…happy…” He spits out the last word as if it’s venom on his tongue.
Finally, I open my eyes, meeting his shining yellow pair.
All the breath leaves my lungs. He has shimmering flecks of gold inside the yellow, and I stare at them, captivated.
A ring glows around his pupils, resembling an angel’s halo, and I can’t look away. Never before have I seen so many shades of gold…
There are shades I can’t even describe. If only I could paint his eyes…
His pupils dilate, and a hush spreads through the forest.
What…what was I afraid of again?
“It’s gone,” he observes.
What has gone?
“It seemed you repelled it. As soon as it sensed your happiness, it fled. Bugbears feed on pure fear, after all.”
I shake my head, disoriented. What on earth is he talking about?
A sardonic grin sneaks across his face, upper canines making their appearance yet again.
The metallic gold of his eyes still catches the light of the sun, and…when did the weather change?
Before, it was grey and murky.
“What were you thinking about?”
I try to think back. Of course. That creature—bugbear. It morphed into a black wolf, and I froze in terror. I thought it was going to eat me.
But then he came to my rescue.
It was only when I looked into his eyes that I stopped feeling afraid. All I could think about was painting his golden eyesonto a canvas.
My cheeks flush, and then I look away, embarrassed.
Tegwyn’s smirk stretches. “You were staring at me awfully hard just now.”
I inhale a breath. “No, I wasn’t.”
He narrows his gaze. “Hmm, I may not be able to tell a lie myself, but I can still sense a lie on your sweet lips,Ivy…”
Oh, how I wish the ground would swallow me whole. Maybe that bugbear would be inclined to come back and finish the job.
His finger is still pressed to my lips, tucked neatly in the hollow beneath my nose, yet his claw remains inside his glove.
Finally, he removes his finger, taking his warmth and piney scent with him.
I shiver in their absence.
He steps back, amber eyes appraising me as he looks me up and down. The golden rings encircling his pupils burn even brighter than the sun now.
