Page 84 of A Match Made in Error

The fading sunlight catches along the planes of his chest and shoulders, the faint scars I’ve never dared to ask about, the slow rise and fall of his chest as the adrenaline leaves his body.

He truly is Fate’s gift to humanity.

And, very likely, my greatest downfall.

Riven glances up then, catching me staring. His mouth curves.

Not mocking.

Not smug.

Something softer. Something akin to knowing.

I jerk my gaze away immediately and pretend to inspect the water. Behind me, his low chuckle slips through the steam like a secret. And somehow, that sound feels far more lethal than the pirates ever were.

He sits by the fire. “Come on, Poppy. You’ve done all you can. We need to rest here until morning and then regroup once everything has been resolved.”

Begrudgingly, I lay down, on the other side of the fire, hand behind my neck. Please let sleep come quickly. Maybe the Moirai will allow us to leave sans curse because of this attack, and I can quit pining and embarrassing myself in front of Riven.

“You can’t sleep over there,” Riven tsks. “What if something bites you?” He crawls over to me, and I fight to ignore the low thrumming in my core at the sight. “Here. I’ll protect you.”

Riven lies beside me and nestles tight against me. His arm drapes familiarly over my hip, and his chin rests atop my head. It’s kind of nice despite all the implications and the cost to my heart. It’s almost like⁠—

“Ow!” I yip in surprise when a sharp, pinching fae incisor digs into my skin. “What the hells?” Riven just bit me.

“…What?” Even though I can’t see it, I can hear his impish grin. “I didn’t say it wouldn’t be me that bit you.”

“Be serious, Riven.” I can hear the detached annoyance in my voice.

“I am.” He tucks into me. He couldn’t get any closer at this point unless he was inside of me. My face heats at the thought. “We have to share body heat,” he continues. “It’s medically necessary. I researched it thoroughly in my mind just now.”

My eyes roll. He’s always so snarky. I try to settle into him but can’t find rest. Can’t sit still with the weight of his body pressing into me and his heat and shadows wrapping themselves around me like a familiar quilt.

Riven snorts. “If you keep wiggling that much, I’m going to embarrass both of us.” The heat in my face intensifies. Thank coven he can’t see it.

Once I school my features, I sit up and turn to him. He stays prone, propping his head up on his open hand. “How can you relax while everyone is in danger? How can you keep joking at a time like this?”

He releases a heavy sigh. The same kind he does when he tells me he’s just broken a bottle of rare liquor at work or when a party comes in he forgot to tell me about. A sigh for when he knows I won’t like what he is about to say. My muscles tense, bracing for it.

“I’m relaxed because everyone I care about is safe.” My mouth drops open, words not coming out. Not everyone he cares about here. Everyone he cares about—period. He must take my silence as admonishment because he soon continues, “It’s not my sworn honor to protect anyone but you. And here you are safe.”

“It’s not right that we’re safe while others aren’t.” I understand where he is coming from, and honestly, I am mainly still talking about this so I can ignore the way his hand resting on my thigh is making my nervous system go haywire.

“Plus, I don’t know what else we can do. We can’t leave the island without the Moirai since the kraken would sink any ship we tried to commandeer, and no one else can get in here with us, so there is nowhere to take them where the pirates can’t get in.” He shrugs like death and injury are to be expected in this life, and he has already come to terms with it. “We warned the Moirai; they will help them, and until morning, we will hide here where I know you will be safe.”

“Fine,” I grumble, lying down and letting his arm fall over my hip again. I try to relax, listening intently to the lapping of the hot spring water on the rocks and counting the freckles and faint scars on his arms as a distraction. It’s under this close examination that I see he’s bleeding. My body coils like a spring. “Riven, you’re hurt.” It’s not a death wound, thank Fate, but it definitely would benefit from a healing spell.

He looks at it and shrugs, like he’s observing a small papercut or a hangnail. “I’m fine. You’re what matters.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

RIVEN

“No,” she demands. “You’re going to let me heal this.” I smirk, there she goes, bossing me around again. “Let me clean it with the water, and then I’ll do a healing spell.” She looks it over, her hands trembling. “It’s not that bad, but we shouldn’t let it stay like this all night.” Her lips are pursed now. Is she…scared? For me? Because of a flesh wound? I study her face, allowing the truth that has been creeping around the outskirts of my mind for the last few days to fully wash over me. The truth that bludgeoned me when I saw a pirate attack her. The truth I can only accept now that she is safe.

Poppy is everything I’ve ever wanted to protect.

Everything I’ve ever wanted to come home to.