Page 67
If only I knew for certain.
“If they do not, certainly Queen Cettina is planning something. We attempted to send over two hundred men to her shores. It matters not that her Borderers gave us just cause.”
“I’ve heard the queen harbors problems of her own.”
“You are well-informed.”
I make a fateful turn, tugging on Dex’s reins just slightly.
“The return of her sister and brother-in-law will not prevent a counter-attack, I don’t believe. As much as I wish she were distracted by them. I fear dark days ahead if . . .”
I hate that Aedre is involved in this. But there’s no denying her close relationship with Kipp, even though, after this eve, I am reassured it is not a romantic one.
Why should that matter?
It should not. But it does.
“If Kipp does not return with you.”
In answer, I guide Dex to a hitching post and dismount. Reaching up, I take Aedre’s hand, neither of us commenting further on our destination. Tying off Dex, glad for the post given there are no trees nearby, I pat him on the neck and turn toward the water.
Aedre falls in step with me, and though I itch to give her my hand once more, she navigates the rocks easily without me. Finally, we arrive at our rock. Unable to resist any longer, I take her hand with the intention of helping her to arrange her gown beneath her.
Instead, I pull her toward me, giving in to the temptation that has taunted me from the very moment she walked into the courtyard at the inn this eve. I kiss her with all of the need and longing that has built up inside me, barely waiting for her mouth to open before I plunge inside.
Our tongues tangle, her reactions are anything but timid, as if she, too, has been waiting for this from the start. I’m the one who pulls away.
“I vowed to protect you. Even from me.”
Aedre is not playing this game.
“I don’t want protection from you, Vanni.”
Pressing myself against her, I try to make her understand.
“You may not want it, but you need it. I will be leaving—”
She presses her finger to my lips.
“I’d know some measure of pleasure from a man I . . .”
My heart skips a beat.
“. . . desire,” she finishes.
Desire.
It is enough, I suppose.
“I am not so innocent to believe there is just one way for a man and woman to find pleasure.”
Of course she isn’t. But having no experience with a woman who is both a virgin and a Garra, I’ve no notion of how to proceed without offending her.
Waves crash along the cliffs in the distance, the water’s edge not reaching us this far back.
“This is no bedchamber. And I’m no despoiler of virgins, Aedre.”
Especially not you.
