Page 18 of The Healer and the Warlord

Instead, I contented myself with making sure no sand or grit had worked its way into the scratches. I leaned so close that my breath stirred the loose hairs that had fallen from the knot at the back of his head to rest on his neck.

Kelvar inhaled sharply again.

My eyes darted to his face, to find his jaw tense, a muscle there ticking as if it took him great effort to hold still.

I turned back to my work, my fingers quickening to complete their task. Two more rags lay stained and discarded beside me by the time I was satisfied. I turned back to my now shredded shift, tearing two more long strips from it. One, I folded to create a sort of pad that would cover all three scratches. The other, I wrapped around his arm to hold the first in place.

Kelvar lifted his arm obligingly so I could wind the bandage behind his shoulder, pulling it tight enough to hold pressure without impeding his movements. As I reached around him, my chest brushed against him, and he let out a hiss that this time I had the wherewithal to realize wasn’t pain.

I tried to focus on my task, tying the ends of the bandage off right at the point of his shoulder. My fingers trembled, though, my attention and coordination stolen by the way Kelvar’s ribs expanded against me with a shuddering breath.

I rested my hand over his shoulder once I finished, not quite ready to pull away.

“If it festers, I can search for some cara leaves to make a poultice,” I murmured, my voice quiet, but still feeling impossibly loud in the tense stillness of the moment. “Or maybe some lyra flowers for the pain.”

We both held perfectly still for a moment. I shifted, a quiet voice in the back of my head telling me I needed to pull away.

Kelvar’s other arm came to my waist, wrapping around me and keeping me close, and I was all but pressed chest to chest with him. It was my breath that caught this time.

“It hurts less when you touch it,” he admitted, a touch of hoarseness edging into his voice.

In response, I traced my fingers lightly over the edge of the cloth, just brushing his skin. The muscles of his shoulder jumped under my touch.

Finally, his gaze tore away from where I had worked on his wound, trailing toward my face, but it snagged on my mouth on its way to my eyes.

My lips parted as I froze, and I found myself leaning closer.

“This is a horrible idea,” he murmured.

“We can’t,” I agreed, my voice just a breath—a puff of air that ghosted over his face as he too leaned in.

“Why not?”

“I don’t remember.”

The last words were spoken nearly against his lips, and I closed the last of the distance between us. His kiss managed to be gentle and desperate at the same time. Kelvar’s arm around my waist pressed me to the hard planes of his chest, even as his lips coaxed mine to open for him with aching sweetness.

My hands tightened on his shoulders, fingers digging into the fabric of his vest and clutching on to him as if I could somehow bring him closer. My head swam, and I couldn’t tell if the sparks dancing over my skin were from the dark storm of his power or the touch of his other hand coming to cup the side of my neck. His thumb smoothed back and forth over the hammering pulse in my throat, thundering so loudly I was sure he could hear it.

As I gasped, his tongue slicked into my mouth, and he groaned, the sound broken and ravenous. The hand on my neck moved to my hair, tilting my head gently so he could slot his mouth against mine even more thoroughly.

I wanted—needed—to touch more of him in return. I raked my nails down his chest, scratching across the V of skin visible at the top of his vest.

He sat back, draping me across his lap at the edge of the oasis. His lips dragged from my mouth to my jaw, tongue and teeth exploring down my throat to the sensitive skin behind my ear.

“Tell me to stop,” he demanded breathlessly.

“Don’t. Please don’t stop,” I responded, voice already heady with pleasure.

He rewarded me by sucking on the point he had just laved with kisses.

I let my head fall back as a hitched gasp escaped me. My eyes fluttered open to stare sightlessly at the sky, bleached of color by the sun nearing its zenith.

Despite my father’s protectiveness, I had managed to steal a handful of kisses with riders of Clan Padra, sometimes accompanied by furtive, wandering hands. But such things had always happened beneath the cover of night, near fires burned down to embers or in the shadows of tents with lowered lanterns.

Out here in the bright of the midday sun, there was no hiding from the blazing heat that Kelvar coaxed to life in my veins. The desert herself watched us, and the glowing plant inside me bloomed as if her magic rejoiced in it.

“You’re exquisite, Flower,” Kelvar breathed against my skin, causing goosebumps to spread across my arms and down my back, despite the inferno building within me. His words made me wonder if he too could feel the way my magic unfurled in his presence.