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“Bas, Bas, Bas,” a female voice said in the Forest Fae tongue from just around the corner, and Nyana’s body froze in a different kind of terror. The kind frightened of getting caught somewhere she shouldn’t be. “I don’t recall it being your night to patrol.”
“I came to see you, Ashryn,” Bastien replied in that easy way of his.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” she murmured in a sultry voice. Nyana and Joel met each other’s gaze with a surprised, wide-eyed stare. Although Joel likely couldn’t understand them, there was no mistaking the underlying innuendo in her tone.
“Of course not.”
“You know better than this. You are going to get in real big trouble one of these days. And I’m not always going to be around to fish you out of your own muck.”
“But it’s so much more fun that way. Me and you. Knee-deep in all the muck I create.”
Ashryn huffed. “You are trouble. You know that? Whatever poor dame decides to marry you will be in way over her head.”
“I count on it,” he chuckled. “I’m so glad it won’t be you.”
She made a gagging noise. “You disgust me.” A pause, and Nyana swore she heard a kissing noise, followed by another sensual innuendo. “See you later tonight?”
“Always.”
When Joel raised his eyebrows in surprise, they shared an amused look as her heart calmed down a fraction. She dared to peek around the corner to find the woman from the woods earlier running a finger over Bastien’s chest.
Just as quickly, Nyana shrank back against the mountainside, overly aware of Joel pinned against her. The heat from his body seeped into her, a safe presence even when they could be seconds away from their deaths.
“Oh, and Bas? The other two guards are making their rounds. You’d better be quick with that sister of yours. You have, at most, thirty minutes.”
Nyana inhaled sharply when she turned her attention to Joel, only to find her hands lightly resting on his waist. She quickly dropped them, shocked at how natural the action had felt.
“Come on,” Bastien said in Joel’s native tongue as he rounded the corner, motioning with his hand. “You have a few minutes. Make it quick.”
He led them into a rocky maze lit by blue crystals on either side of the walls. Left. Right. Left. Left. Right. Straight. And when the maze opened into a cavern, her breath hitched, and her eyes widened in wonder. Blue light from smooth crystals danced across a pool of glassy water. A larger blue crystal rested at the bottom of the pool, pulsing with light.
Silence filled the cavern as if she stepped into a monastery as if the faintest whisper of her voice might shatter the sacredness of this space.
When her brother spoke, he did so quietly, reverently, and even his voice bounced off the cavern walls. “You don’t live here, Nyana, so I will try to explain. There is nothing more important, sacred, and protected in our village than the Glades. When one enters the pool, it is like the rebirth of the mind and body. You must not take any worldly possessions. And you must be willing to accept the healing properties the Glades offer.”
Worldly possessions?
She glanced down at her clothing, and her face heated when she realized what he meant. No clothes. No shoes. No bandages. No hair ties. Nothing.
“Oh, and no funny business.” He pointed between the two of them, and she felt her face flush crimson. “I’ll wait near the entrance. Be quick about this.”
Bastien turned to leave, but she caught onto his sleeve. “What happens if you get caught?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“What happens?” she insisted.
He sighed without turning around. “I will be executed. But we are already here. Turning back now will be useless.”
She dropped his sleeve as discomfort grew in her belly. Bastien had been downplaying his role in sneaking them in here. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to him because of his involvement.
Which meant they couldn’t get caught.
Her brother’s life on her mind, she began stripping the moment he disappeared around the corner. She paused before her dress slipped off her shoulders, biting her lip as she gazed back at Joel. He averted his gaze to the ceiling immediately.
“Turn around?” she asked hesitantly. “I will do the same for you.”
“Yes…umm…of course…umm…right.”
