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Khan cleared his throat. "I'll make it happen. We should go to bed—I mean, you should get some rest. I'll wait for the twins to come back."
"Wake me up if they find anything?"
"I will." Khan reluctantly let his hand drop from hers. "It was the most fun I've had at one of those events in a long time. I'm glad you were there with me."
Fen smiled and brushed his hair behind his ear. "Me too. You're an excellent kisser. Good night, my prince." And she was gone, leaving Khan staring after her and cursing himself for not stopping her.
Nineteen
Fen didn't like the two sleepless nights that followed the party. She worried that the assassin who wanted to kill Khan was still out there, as well as the person who had hired them. Then there was Khan himself.
Fen had never been awkward or nervous around a man in her life. She had communed with the gods. What was a man compared to that? When she saw Khan, her skin felt too tight, and her brain seemed to fuzz.
You shouldn't have kissed him.It was a thought that fought with another, louder one.You should have kissed him more.
There had been a moment when she almost had. She had pulled away at the last minute. He had nearly been poisoned. He had enemies that could very well be his own family. It wasn't the time to try and convince him to go to bed with her.
It didn't matter that she knew he felt that spark between them as keenly as she did. It was beyond looks; there was an easiness between them. They loved stories and magic, and the fact that he was the first man she had met who understood that about her made the attraction she felt worse.
Fen mashed the ball of sticky clay in her hand and smacked it against a flat piece of board. It gave a satisfying slap. The clay and some other materials had been placed outside her door the day following the party. She had smiled and had gotten to work.
The rune stones were set out on her balcony table to dry in the hot sun, their symbols carved neatly into the discs and infused with her power. The statue of Freya she wanted to make was proving more troublesome.
Every time Fen opened herself to the goddess's power, all she felt was a wave of lust. Freya was a goddess of love, and Fen didn't need any more graphic images of Khan's large hands running over her skin. Fen was sitting on the floor in the shade of her balcony, her pants and shirt smeared with clay. She pummelled the ball again, enjoying having something to take her frustration out on.
"And what did that poor piece of clay do to deserve such animosity?" a deep, amused voice said behind her.
Fen tilted her head backward and looked upside down at Khan's smiling face. He was dressed in loose training pants and a sleeveless shirt, his hair tied back in a messy knot. It was a look Fen decided she liked.
"Hello, my prince," she said, smiling at him.
His returning grin lit up his whole face and made something flutter in her belly. "Hello, my seiðr."
"How's the search going for your assassin?"
"Slowly. We haven't heard back from Asten about what was in the poison. Kash found the servant, but she couldn't talk openly. He's going to visit her tomorrow night when she's not working to get more information out of her."
"Did he tell Hasina what happened?" Fen asked, a small line forming between her brows.
"He did. Her reaction wasn't as dramatic as you might hope. She said it could have been anyone at the party, which is true. No one else had been reported feeling unwell or turned up dead, so it was likely that it was just me as the target, also true."
Fen's eyes narrowed. "So much for sisterly concern."
"Unfortunately, when you are royal, you learn to expect the assassination attempts. It's practically a sport in Ankhara." Khan stroked his thumb against her cheek, diffusing her temper with a touch. He chuckled softly. "You have clay everywhere."
"Probably. Look how productive I've been," she said, pointing to the rune stones. Khan's eyes shone with interest, and he moved over to examine them.
"There are so many more than I thought there would be." Khan hovered his hand over the top of them, his eyes fluttering shut. "I can feel the magic you have put into each one."
Fen rolled a piece of clay between her fingers, needing to keep her hands busy. "I usually work with wood or bone, so I hope the magic stays infused in the clay. I worry that they will break too easily."
"I can use my magic to fire them properly for you so they never break," Khan offered. "I promise it won't leave any of my power on them. What's that face for?"
"I can't get over a man using magic so much."
"There's no male seiðr?"
Fen laughed. "Gods, no. Seiðr is women's magic. Freya was of the Vanir, and she was the one who brought her type of magic to Asgard. Odin begged her to teach him how to wield magic the way she did and reveal how she could see, understand, and use the runes that bound the world."
