Page 20

It happens so fast I don't even see him turn. One moment, I'm falling. The next, I'm against his chest, held up by one big arm like I weigh as much as a pillow. His body is warm and hard as a wall, and he smells like woodsmoke and snow and something darker underneath that makes my pulse skip.

Then he sets me down gently on the mattress, right where I started.

I stare up at him.

He hadn't been pinned. Not once. Not for a single heartbeat. He could've tossed me off any time he wanted, and he just lay there, face first in the blankets, and let me think I had him.

And now my face is on fire.

Mostly that's from embarrassment. Mostly. Some of it might be from the arm that was just around my waist. And the chest I just bounced off of. And the look he's giving me now, with his nose a little red where my foot caught it and his mouth like he's holding back a smile.

Rhydian starts laughing all over again.

"Glad to see you're well enough to fight," Zarek says.

"I hate you a little bit," I tell him.

"That's fair."

Once I'm sitting properly, with my back against the pillows and the blankets pulled up to my chest like armor, they start fussing.

There's no other word for it.

Rhydian declares that I must be starving, which I am, and dashes back to the kitchen. He comes back with a steaming bowl of soup, thick with meat and vegetables, and a slice of bread so big it could double as a door stop. He sets them on a tray across my lap with a flourish.

"Eat," he orders. "All of it. Then I'll bring you more."

Kaelen finally moves. He crosses the room without a sound, which shouldn't be possible for someone his size, pours a glass of water, and sets it on the little table beside me.

Then he steps back and watches me.

Not my face, exactly. Just me. All of me. Like he's making sure I'm actually here. His amber eyes are so intense I have to fight the urge to squirm.

I look away first. I don't like that I look away first.

Zarek pulls his chair right up beside the bed and sits down. "How do you feel?"

"Fine."

"Does anything hurt?"

"No."

"Do you remember getting injured? You took a blow to the head when you fell."

"I'm fine," I say again.

This is a lie.

Every muscle in my body aches like I've been trampled by cattle. I'm so tired my bones feel heavy. And every few minutes, that strange heat rolls through me again, prickling under my skin.

But I'm not about to say any of that to three strange men. So I pick up my spoon.

The soup is incredible. I don't know who made it, but I'd marry them for it. Or at least seriously consider it. I eat slowly, though, and I watch them over the rim of my bowl.

They're the biggest men I've ever seen. They're also, and I'm only admitting this privately, the most handsome. It's actually a little irritating.

And there's something different about them. Something I can't put my finger on.