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Not wanting to hurt her, I set her back on her feet. She’s off balance and red in the face, and I can’t repress another smile. Good grief. Holding her steady with one hand, I rearrange her long black hair that’s in complete disarray with the other.
“What was that?” she asks in the gathering dark.
That’s a very good question, one I’m not able to answer. So I deflect. “Did I hurt your leg?”
“Nah, not much,” she says, though she takes my proffered arm as we start walking. An unheard of apology is set to leave my mouth, when she announces, “I was impressed with how you handled everything back there.”
I laugh, allowing more of the tension of the day to slough away. “I thought you objected to being thrown over my shoulder.”
“Haha, you lout.” She whacks me lightly on the belly. “I meant the politicking.”
“Politicking?” I grumble, though I’m pleased she liked the restraint that definitely cost me. “Where do you come up with these words?”
A soft noise of pain sounds from her and I slow my pace. “Thanks,” she breathes. “I’m sure it will be healed soon.”
She wants to reassure me, but all she does is remind me that I have to do a better job of keeping her safe. “How did it go today with Bron . . . and Kata?” I’m still unsure about allowing the mute girl to have the forbidden knowledge. Bron is one thing. I can claim I needed a scribe, but if things go badly, the girl could end up at the end of Kharon’s sword.
“It went well. Actually all three of them have an aptitude for it.”
“Three of them? Ion too?”
“Well, he was there with us,” she explains, rushing to smooth my ruffled feathers. “And it was better than him staring at the wall, pretending he couldn’t hear us.”
I exhale heavily. Hopefully this doesn’t come back to haunt me.
“What I could have done without is being called a whore. Does no one in this realm have any original insults?”
“Who called you that?” My dander is immediately up. “Ion? I’ll kill him.”
“What? No, of course not. I had the pleasure of meeting your uncle. He’s a real charmer.”
“Teo?”
“Yes, he came looking for Bron and didn’t like what was going on. Ion had to ask him to leave with his dagger drawn.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. “He’s a pain in my ass.”
“But not as much as I am, though, right? Imustbe your number one pain in the ass by now.”
I bark out a laugh as we arrive at the entrance to the caves. “Oh, you’re at the top of one of my lists, all right.” I grab myself suggestively through my pants. “Now, pass me one of those candles from the crate.”
From the fire pit that’s lit at nightfall, I light the candle she hands to me. Shielding the flame with my palm, I lead her through the deserted caves to the last pool and drip some wax onto a stone ledge to affix the candle. It doesn’t give off a lot of light, but it keeps the total darkness at bay.
We rid ourselves of our clothes and slip into the hot water. “This is truly a divine luxury,” Rina says on a sigh before she dunks her head under the water.
Despite the lush heat tempting me to relax, I quickly scrub at all the important nooks and crannies on my body. There’s something much more tempting to be had.
“Little raven,” I call softly and she turns from where she’s paddling about on the other side of the pool. I heave myself out of the water and sit on the stone with my legs dangling. Gesturing at my hardening cock, I tell her, “I’ve got another job for you.”
She giggles. That she not only gets my crude humor, but also finds it funny intensifies my need for her. She’severythingexcept Northern. And she only adds fuel to the fire by slowly making her way to me and asking, “Are you going to hold me down again?”
I try to gauge her, but in the very dim light, I can’t get a sense of her feelings on the subject. I go with the truth. “Yes.” I stroke myself. “Will you object?”
She’s close enough now that I see her bite her lip. “Probably. It scares me a little, but . . .”
I lift my brows in question.
“But I like it.”
