I should look away.
But I don’t.
He pauses for a moment and his eyes flicker around the room.
What is waiting for?
Surely he can’t sleep in leather pants. I can’t imagine that would be very comfortable.
As he returns his gaze to me, I sense the longing buried deep in his soul. A yearning that almost feels heartbreaking. He wants me. But he worries he will frighten me if he strips his pants off while I’m watching, revealing his naked body, before he joins me under the covers.
Oh, gods.
It’s not shyness that’s making him pause, but his concern for me.
How do I know this?
How am I sensing his emotions so easily?
Not just his emotions, but his thoughts. Not word for word, but I’m getting the gist of what he’s thinking right now. I can’t help but wonder if it’s not the remnants of his winter magic from using his healing powers on me, but something else that’s allowing me to sense his thoughts.
I draw in a shaky breath and make a show of closing my eyes.
“You can take your pants off now,” I whisper, my face growing hot.
I hear the rustle of clothing, and moments later, he joins me in bed. After he’s under the covers, I finally open my eyes. He scoots closer to me and immediately takes me in his arms.
I don’t push him away.
Instead, I lean my cheek against his chest, relishing the coolness of his skin. I tend to become too hot at night and frequently wake up sweating, tangled in the sheets and buried under too many blankets, and I muse that perhaps that won’t happen tonight. I’ll remain at just the right temperature with Merak holding me close.
His heart thumps steadily beneath my ear, and the sound starts lulling me to sleep. I blink heavily as he strokes my hair.
“Go to sleep, my dearest,” he murmurs. “You are safe with me.”
A sigh escapes me and I find myself nestling deeper into his arms. Gods help me, but I do feel safe with him. If he intended to hurt me, wouldn’t he have done so already?
Still, a flicker of unease lingers. I try to ignore the fear that this gentleness might be part of some twisted fae game, that he’s only earning my trust now so he can take pleasure in shattering it later, watching me crumble beneath the betrayal.
As I try to discern his true nature and figure out his plans for me, what it will really mean to be treated as his companion in the Winter Court army, I finally drift to sleep.
My eyes flutter open,and I immediately tense. But once I realize where I am, and whose legs are tangled with mine, I just as quickly relax.
Merak.
I’m with Lord Merak Blackthorne.
I’m in the fae town of Ellonnar near the most beautiful mountains in existence.
My gaze darts to the ice clouds that hover above those mountains. The nearest window provides a spectacular view of the landscape, and for a moment, I think that I could happily spend the rest of my life in a town such as this.
But no. I couldn’t.
Ellonnar is a fae settlement, and I’m human.
Four more nights, I remind myself. I’ll get to enjoy four more nights in this town before Merak drags me back to his army’s war camp. Well, flies me back is more accurate. But still. I won’t be going of my own volition.
My free will has been stripped from me.
