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“Are you listening to me, Rina?” I demand, not liking how her expression goes from crestfallen to . . . sly.Is that a smile curving her lips?I may strangle her on principle alone at this point. Though I won’t need my hands to choke her, just my rock-hard cock.
Damn her.
“You think this is funny?”
It’s then I notice her nipples, pebbled against the linen of my shirt, and the memory of her moan echoes in my head. The pulse it sends to my already-swollen member enrages me further.
“Because I assure you, it wasn’t funny– in the least –to watch you cling to the side of this stronghold about to drop to your death.” With every man in the vicinity gawping up at her bare cunt. My fists clench. They were lucky she was so high up.
I watch her sway slightly in the wind and I realize maybe her nipples aren’t poking through the shirt to taunt me, but because it’s freezing.
“Come,” I say in a gentler voice, holding out my hand to her. “It’s cold.”
She blinks owlishly at the abrupt change in my demeanor, but takes my hand. As I reel her in, I warn, “Don’t think this changes anything. We’re still going to talk about your recklessness.”
She has the nerve to smile. “I very much look forward to this talk, Luka.”
My name on her lips causes another visceral surge of desire. “I didn’t give you permission to use my name.”
She shrugs. “We can add it to the list of things that need to bediscussed.”
This time the suggestion in her voice isn’t as subtle. “I am not a man you want to trifle with, little raven.”
Her smile widens and I curse under my breath.
“Let me go down first,” I tell her snappishly at the trap door. I don’t want those fuckers getting even a glimpse of her coming down the ladder.
At the bottom, I make the men step back, then help her down on her unsteady legs. Once she’s back on solid ground, she crowds closer to me at the sight of Noé, Eldon, and Ion. “I’ll meet you downstairs,” I say, dismissing my Second and Warrior Commander.
Noé’s face pinches up like he’s bit into a lemon, but Eldon gives me a knowing smirk that I immediately want to smack him for. He hands me the large bundle we were on our way to deliver when we came upon her climbing the wall like a spider. Taking Rina’s hand, I lead her to her room, where I pitch the bundle onto the bed. “Here are the requirements for your cooperation. Get dressed.”
I pace the room while she fumbles with the twine that keeps everything together. Her shaky hands are a sure sign that she needs rest, but it’s also irksome. Pulling the dagger from my belt, I cut the rope for her. “When was the last time you ate?”
“This morning,” she says absently, then inhales sharply. “Are these boots for me?”
“It’sallfor you,” I grouse, though I’m pleased by her reaction. I had the skin of the buck that Venna and I hunted down made into boots, leggings, and a vest for her.
Stroking the soft hide that lines the boots, she sighs. The cursedly erotic sound stretches my patience even thinner. Her climbing act about did me in, and that kiss . . . and my reaction to it. How I hate the feeling of being off balance. I need to move this along.
Striding to the door, I tell Ion to have a plate of food sent to the map room downstairs, then I sit next to her and help her dress.
She attempts to smack my hands away when I become too pushy, but mostly she accepts the help. She claims to love the soft buckskin leggings that slide up her thighs. They’re not a perfect fit, but the tie at her waist keeps them up. When I remove the shirt from this morning, I have to force my greedy eyes away from her small breasts. Instead, I scan over the scars that run along her ribs and shake my head.
That still makes no sense.
I get her into the new, soft linen undershirt that actually fits her, then the thick woolen overdress. “The weave is lovely,” she says, fingering the light blue fabric.
“As long as it keeps you warm.” I frown at the too-long sleeves, but she’s smiling, so I grudgingly push the imperfection from my mind. The fur-trimmed, leather vest and the matching boots further light her up and all the turmoil of the past half hour finally settles into a warm glow in the pit of my stomach.
“How do they fit?” I ask as she stands to test out the boots.
“Like a dream come to life. But all this will cause comment, won’t it?”
“I am deve,” I declare with satisfaction and . . . a touch of hunger. “I’ll dress you as I please.” And pleasing she is, looking very much like a Northern a’deve. My a’deve.
Mother above, maybe she could be mine if she weren’t so different from the people of this realm. If her hair wasn’t as black as night, or her skin the soft brown of a white-tailed deer, or her eyes the golden hue of a summer sunset . . . all of which add to her appeal for me. But dammit, it’s that she surprises me at every turn that’s the real problem. I could surely resist her physical charms if I didn’t find her mettle so fucking alluring. If only I could explainthatto my people.
Or maybe that Abyss-dammed kiss has turned my mind to mush.
