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Heat climbed her neck, to her face, and settled in her long ears at the faint echoes of his clothes hitting the floor. Frigid shivers took the place of the heat, and her teeth began chattering as she dropped her cane next to her clothes. Tremors shook her bad leg, threatening to collapse beneath her weight. She eyed the pool, unconfident in remaining on her feet without the support of her cane.
She took one step, but a wave of fiery pain pulsed up her leg, and it nearly buckled beneath her. The perilous journey to Attleglade Forest had taken a nasty toll on her injury.
“Joel,” she whispered, her voice echoing off the cavern walls. “I need your help.”
“Your leg?” he murmured just as quietly, and she dared to peek over at him to find him holding out his hand to her while he kept his eyes closed. She only saw his side profile, but her breath caught at the defined muscles in his hips, chest, and arms. His black tattoos stretched over his hip, mingling with silver and bronze designs. And she couldn’t stop her eyes from dipping lower to the bronze tattoo that circled his ankle, similar to the ones on his knuckles. Beautiful, bronze music notes elegantly crawled up one of his forearms, stopping just below his elbow.
“Nyana?”
She breathed in sharply and pulled her gaze away. “Sorry, I looked.” Her ears pulsed with heat. She bit her lip, resisting the temptation to look again. “You have a lot of tattoos.”
He chuckled. “I got into a lot of scrapes. And I don’t mind. We are married, no?”
A slow breath left her lips as she slid her fingers into his. “Yes, but we are friends.”
What a pile of horse dung, she thought to herself as her rapidly beating heart betrayed her words. She couldn’t just be friends with Joel. Not after everything he’d done for her and how he made her feel.
“You are my friend, yes. And you are also my wife.”
Wife.
The word sent a tingle of awareness through her body, from their connected fingers to her frenzied heart. She’d married him for protection and security. But she wanted more. And the desire both terrified and thrilled her.
Fear prevented her from voicing her thoughts.
“I don’t mind either, then. Just…” She grimaced, trying to cover herself up with her free arm. “I have the body of a mother.”
“That doesn’t matter.” He opened his eyes, but his gaze stayed fixed on her face as he snaked his arm around her bare waist to take some of her weight off her leg. He made a sound at the back of his throat, followed by his throat bobbing up and down as he swallowed.
He swallowed again as his nostrils flared and his pupils grew larger beneath the dim light. For a moment, she allowed herself to hope that he might be at least a fraction of the amount attracted to her as she was to him.
Her grip tightened on his hand, and together, they stepped into the pool.
Icy water rushed over her, sending her body tumbling over momentary shock. The water clawed at her hair and skin, seeping into the very foundation of her bones. It pulled and prodded, tearing her to pieces with its frigid claws like needles raking across her skin.
And then a rushing, cooling relief.
It was as if the healing water cut open her heart, coaxed out every flicker of Liam, and then sewed her back up. As if she were washed clean of him. Now and forever.
She kicked to the surface and gasped in a breath when her head broke the water. Another wave of panic splashed her in the face as she frantically clawed through the icy pool, searching for something to hold onto.
Two strong hands gripped her arms, keeping her steady when her feet couldn’t touch the ground. She had very little experience with swimming, and with her bad leg still throbbing…
“You all right?” Joel asked, and just the sound of his voice helped calm her enough to take in how near he was. His gaze fixed on her face, concern in his eyes. When she nodded through chattering teeth, he said, “Good. We need to go. Now.”
She was too cold to care about covering up as her teeth chattered and her body shivered. Her numb limbs barely managed to slip her clothes back on. The moment she threw her cloak over herself and grabbed her cane, Joel’s arm wrapped around her shoulders, guiding her out of the cavern where her brother waited.
The water clinging to her hair froze as they stepped out of the Glades, as did her leg. She stumbled, nearly falling into a mound of snow. Without a word, Joel picked her up and cradled her against his chest as if she weighed nothing, a comforting touch when the fear of getting caught pounded in her skull.
And then they began running.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her head into his shoulder to avoid looking over the side of the ravine, and she continued to keep them shut until they reached Bastien’s house where they were staying.
The door closed shut behind them, and for a minute…
Silence.
When no one chased after them, they released a collective sigh.
