“Do you prefer your greens raw orcooked?”
“Either way,” he said.“You pick.”
“Raw then,” she said.They sat in silence bythe fire, soaking up the heat while Roark turned the salmon on thespit, each of them sneaking glances at the other.When Alina couldtake it no longer, she asked, “What happened between last night andthis morning?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why have you been so distant since wewoke?”
Roark worked his jaw and toed the ground withhis boot.“Because,” he said, “if I don't keep my distance fromyou, Ali girl, I’m afraid I’ll be stones deep inside of you.Andthat, I’ll not do.”
A surge of liquid heat pooled between herlegs.“Why not?”
Roark chuffed.“You and your whys.”He turnedto face her, his eyes showering hot, sleeting rain into hers.“Believe me,” he rumbled, “there’s nothing I want to do more, andwould if we lived in that faerie world where our actions had noconsequences or repercussions.But we don’t.I’ve sworn to rightthe wrong I’ve done to you, to get you back to your family safe andsound,” he ground out the word “sound.”“Which will’na happen if wekeep kissing and, well…”
Alina’s cheeks were flaming, and the heatbetween her legs had turned into a deep, pulsing ache.“I see,” shesaid.And she did.He was a man of his word, and his word was hishonor.
***
After a night of little sleep and muchtossing and turning, her dreams full of Roark’s hot, sleeting gazeand his deep voice calling herAli girl, they ate a quickbreakfast of leftover cold salmon and bitter greens, and thenmounted up.They rode north until noon, when they crossed the GharRiver.Already wet from the crossing, they decided to bathe andwash their dirty clothes while letting the horses rest and fattenup on grass before starting their long climb into the Mounths.
Roark kept watch first as Alina batheddownriver, sneaking glances at him, and catching him pointing thespyglass her way several times, lowering it or turning it towardthe countryside whenever she caught him.When she rose up out ofthe water after rinsing the soap from her hair, he didn’t lower thespyglass or turn it away from her.
He could have been a stag in a hunter’ssights, he stood so still and rigid.Emboldened by his stance,Alina stood tall and proud, her nipples growing hard under hisbrazen scrutiny, the ache between her legs actually starting tothrob.She smiled boldly, and full of hunger.
Roark lowered the spyglass and set it down onthe grassy shore.He removed his short sword and untied his waistbelt and blade and set them down beside the spyglass, kicked offhis boots and walked into the river for the second time in as manydays.Taking pity on him, and herself, Alina strode out of thewater and quickly dried and dressed herself.Then she walkedupriver to where Roark was treading water chin deep.
“Catch,” she said, tossing him the tub ofsoap.
With the tub in his hand, Roark floateddownriver to the small pool where Alina had bathed and stood in thethigh-high water.She watched from afar as he peeled off his wettunic and breeches and set them on a rock.He scooped a handful ofsoap from the tub and lathered his hair and body and then dunked torinse.Alina picked up the spyglass and watched him emerge,admiring his strong, muscular, male body.She followed the line ofdark fur down his belly and stopped and stared as his cock grewbefore her eyes.She swallowed hard and licked her lips.Shecould’ve sworn his cock jumped.She lifted the spyglass to his faceand her cheeks flamed at the heat of his grin, even fifty pacesaway.
Lowering the spyglass, she set it down on thegrass next to his sword and waist belt and turned and practicallyran over to their camp, taking refuge with the horses as he driedand dressed while she set out their meager repast of cheese andhazelnuts.
Hunkering down beside her, Roark met herunsure gaze and grinned.“Well,” he said, “that was, uh…”
“Informative?”she said, and they both burstout laughing.
She still couldn’t believe she’d stood soboldly while Roark had studied her naked body, or that she’dstudied his as brazenly.Nor could she believe how stirring andunsettling it had been to see him naked and proud.
She’d seen her younger brothers naked whenthey’d been little, and she’d grown up around enough men to haveseen bits and pieces here and there, but she’d never seen a nakedman in a state of arousal before.Even Leif had only been athalf-mast in the stables.Seeing Roark standing naked in the river,his cock at full mast, had been a magnificent sight she would notsoon forget, if ever.
After eating their meal and filling theirwaterskins, they rode due north into the heavily forested foothillsof the Mounths.As they left the lowlands behind, Alina glancedback over her shoulder with mixed feelings.
On the one hand, it truly was beautifulcountry, rich and verdant with thick woods, tilled fields, andrivers and streams flowing with life.This was the country Roarkhad been born and raised in, the country he loved.
On the other hand, it was the country she’dbeen forced to by Roger and his venomous family to exact revenge onhers.Turning back around, she faced forward and onward, pattingEtain’s neck and smiling at Roark and Artur, glad they were on thisjourney with her.
The foothills rose at a gentle slope comparedto the jutting mountains of her homeland, with wooded forests fullof birdsong and small creatures scurrying between the trees with novillages or roads to worry about being seen on.The afternoon sunshone down through the leaves of birch, pine, and oak, dappling theforest floor, though not enough to keep the chill of early springaway.Alina was glad for the otter cloak Roark’s mother had givenher.She and Roark hardly spoke as they rode, though the looks theykept giving each other said plenty.She knew without asking histhoughts kept wandering back to the river, as did hers.
They rode until dark, made camp, and Alinawent to search for greens and mushrooms while the grouse Roark hadkilled roasted over the campfire.She followed the babbling brookand started humming along with the melody of water trilling overrocks as she picked leaves from a patch of sorrel.
“What tune is that?”Roark asked as shestrolled back into camp, still humming.He cocked his head andquirked his brows.“I’ve heard it before.”
“It’s an old Green Isles love song called‘Somebody,’” she told him.“It’s the song Oona the Swan sang toAsad the Lion the first night they met.The song they fell in loveto.”
“‘Somebody.’I’ve heard it a few timesthrough the years.Will you sing it to me?”
You’re the only man I’ll ever sing itto.“If you like,” she said, setting the sorrel leaves in thepot.
