AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nicolette shot me strange, concerned glances for the rest of the afternoon. Not that I blamed her. I was acting weird and being unreasonably dependent upon her, hovering close, reaching for her elbow if she moved too far away, always touching her hair or grasping her hand to hold it, leaning in to press my brow to hers.
But she didn’t complain, so I never let up, either.
Side by side, we gradually picked our way along the river’s edge, hoping our packs that the ferry master had tossed overboard would eventually wash ashore.
We found mine first, probably a mile downstream, and then Nicolette’s another two after that. But we didn’t recover everything. There’d still been plenty of supplies left on the ferry, still hanging from the backs of our horses, who were lost to us as well. Hopefully, the two palace guards would claim Mint and Caramel and return them to their stable.
Meanwhile, I considered it fortunate enough that we’d at least found the saddle bags. I counted my blessings all day long, in fact.
And Nicolette couldn’t seem to stop remarking on how sour our luck was. We’d lost our ride on the ferry, plus our horses; we’d have to walk from here on out. Our clothing and supplies were soaked completely through. Any food we’d had was ruined. Our everlasting flagon full of fresh water was given away, in the hands of the mages. It’d take three times longer to reach Blayton—maybe four days—not counting how we had to stop and lay out all our things to dry them, and my flint striker I had to start a quick campfire was one of the things we’d lost with the horses.
Our future looked bleaker than ever before.
And I couldn’t seem to care a whit.
My princess was alive. The rest we could handle. We would handle it. Together. I still had her with me; that was all I could seem to think mattered.
“Why the hell are you being so cavalier about this?” she finally exploded that evening as she sat across a small crackling fire from me. “I’ve never seen you treat our journey nonchalantly before. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” Smiling tenderly over the flames at her, I said, “Would you believe that I’m simply coming to accept my fate?”
She paused, eyeing me carefully. “You mean a fate where we’re bound to be thwarted and delayed at every turn, or the fate that says you and I belong together?”
With a casual shrug, I gave her a cryptic non-answer and patted the open place on the log next to me. “Why don’t you come over here and sit? We can share body heat.”
She’d been cold and shivering a good portion of the day, as it had taken that long for our clothes to dry.
Nicolette stood immediately at the suggestion. As soon as she settled next to me, I slid over, getting closer until our thighs pressed together. My eyelashes fluttered as I leaned my face to the side, touching my temple to hers. When not even that was enough for me, I took her hand and interlaced our fingers.
Finally, a sigh escaped my lungs.
Better.
“Farrow?” Nicolette finally spoke into the quiet, cracking of the fire. “You’re scaring me. Why are you acting so…” She paused, searching for the correct word before coming up with, “Condemned?”
“Is that how I’m acting?” I asked, amused by the term. My thumb slid slowly over the knuckle of her thumb. “Because I’m feeling quite the opposite.”
She blinked at me curiously. “As if you’ve been—what—saved, then?”
I nodded. “Yes, exactly. I stared death in the eye and was granted a reprieve. I suppose that could put anyone in a grateful, contemplative mood.”
“I…” Tightening her fingers around mine, she hugged my hand against her chest and was suddenly the one pulling me closer. “I guess it didn’t occur to me how much mortal danger you were in today. You didn’t bat an eye when you were shot with that arrow or seem even marginally concerned when we found the mages invading our campsite. I just figured the thought of peril didn’t intimidate you.”
“Not my peril,” I corrected, lifting my mouth to kiss her temple before touching my tongue to her mark enough times to make it crackle against my lips. When I swallowed down the sparkling proof of our bond, I closed my eyes, keeping my face near hers. “It was your threat of dying I couldn’t stomach.”
Her breath caught. “My God.” With wide, hopeful eyes seeking mine, she blurted, “You’re going to say it, aren’t you?”
I wanted to. For the first time in my life, I wanted to verbalize the words and tell someone I loved them—where they actually heard me.
But the letters got clogged in my throat. I wasn’t sure how. I still hadn’t told her—I mean, she didn’t know the full extent of my story. It didn’t feel right to express my feelings now and put any kind of sway on her emotions toward me until there were no lies between us and she knew everything. She deserved to make up her mind about me with all th
e facts and a clear head.
Except I kind of never wanted her to discover the truth. I didn’t want her to see how dark and ugly it got inside me.
So, I didn’t say the words. But I still wanted her to experience them.
I wanted to show her just how deeply my devotion ran. Gazing into her eyes, I began by opening the window to my soul, letting her peer into me and see that no one had ever touched me the way she did.
