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Still gripping his bulging arm, she bit out, “If you hurt her, I willneverforgive you.”
Incredulous eyes snapped to her before he schooled his features. “And I should care why?” But his muscles did relax, and after she let him go, he stowed his weapon. “Doona expect me to grieve when it lunches on your organs.”
Something told her hewouldgrieve if something were to happen to her. His aura was rolling with unruly colors, sparkling and sizzling; angry reds, worried oranges, sorrowful blues. He was confused and hurt.
“I told you, she won’t hurt me.” Jessie couldn’t explain how she knew this, but it was a truth buried deep in her bones.Maybe because I’m a witch?
As he marched on, she fell in step beside him, and he didn’t argue. They traveled quietly for a time. When Phoenix scrambled up to perch on her shoulder once more, he eyed the creature with malice, then added space between them. Jessie didn’t object, just trailed behind him, trying to figure out what to say. She considered letting him break the silence, but he seemed determined not to look her way again, his eyes focused ahead.
At least he wasn’t demanding she stay away from him. She could likely find her way back to the palace, but would she be welcome without Orik? How serious was he when he’d told her it wouldn’t be wise for her to return with him? How would June and Tristan feel about her using magic?
Unsure about her own future, and tired of speculating, she took the opportunity to study Orik from behind. His shoulders seemed even more massive from this angle, jostling with aggression as he marched through the woods. She remembered the way those bulging muscles had flexed under her touch. His hands, now fisted at his side, had had given her such exquisite pleasure the night before. The memory sent a flush of arousal through her system, and she shivered.
Orik’s gaze swung around to land on her, as if he could read her thoughts. Could his sense of smell detect a change in her pheromones? Her cheeks flushed, but she jutted her chin, unwilling to be embarrassed. She thought she saw a spark of interest ignite in his eyes, but then he again grew cold, facing forward.
For another long while, they didn’t speak, but she knew he was very aware of her presence. There was something brooding about his aura, sharp even. It belied the serene energy of the forest.
All around them, fluttering creatures trilled happily, hidden insects chirped lightly, and flora swayed in the arid breeze. Energy twirled like eddies. She could almost feel the tug and pull of nature, like an invisible current that whispered through her. She delighted in it all.
Curious little critters peered at them over the edges of nests, from dark hollows, or ground burrows. She spotted another family of pixies, flitting from one bough to the next, shoving leaves aside to get a better look.
Orik grew ever more distressed. “Whatever you’re doing, bloody stop it,” he growled.
“I’m notdoinganything.”
“You’re stirring up the animals.”
Could I be?“So this isn’t normal behavior?” On Earth, animals such as these would scurry away with the approach of people. Here, some of them were cautiously trailing behind them. Small rabbit-like creatures with large, upturned ears. Something that almost exactly resembled a deer with just a slightly longer neck kept a fair distance. Phoenix cocked her head at the fluffy caravan, but otherwise seemed perfectly at ease, so Jessie wasn’t alarmed, but Orik’s discomfort seemed to be building. She thought she heard him mutter the wordunnatural,but she couldn’t be sure.
“So, it’s obvious you hate witches and don’t like magic.”
“Aye. It could no’ be more clear.”
“Right. So then, why did I come across this pair of shoes at the cottage that magically shrank to my feet?” These were positively the most comfortable set of hiking books she’d ever worn. They didn’t even need to be broken in, though they appeared brand new. It was like walking on cozy down material.
“Our queen fitted the closet. She is enamored by magic—a human affliction, I suspect. She learned that many dragons barter for bewitched cloth and garments so that their clothes remain intact as they shift back and forth. As a rule, all the guards at the castle are issued bewitched uniforms and weapons from only the most reputable sources.”
“Hold up. Without bewitched attire, you’d hulk out of your clothing?”
“Hulk?”
“You’d be left in your skivvies.” Still he continued to look baffled. “You’d be nude.”
He nodded. “Aye.”
Interesting. They exploit the magic that benefits them and condemn the rest.She considered this for a moment, struggling not to imagine him in the glorious buff, all that tanned skin and fine-tuned muscle there for her visual consumption. She shivered, meeting Orik’s eyes as he peeked down at her. When she merely shrugged at him, he grew irritated and looked away.
“Let me get this straight,” she began. “Dragons despise witches and all things magic, yet they seek to wear enchanted garb? Seems a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”
“I thought so at first, but I soon observed the logic. If a convoy of solders fly off to battle a coven of witches bent on destroying innocent lives and find they must transform to their two-legged forms to continue the battle, it stems to reason they wouldn’t want to make their pursuit in the nude. It’s a weakness we canna abide, no matter how abhorrent it is to use witchy things.”
“It sounds like you resent the necessity.”
He shot her a look that said,You think?
“Aren’t you afraid you’d end up with booby-trapped clothing? Like, say, your belt suddenly wants to hug you clean in half?”
His expression turned haunted. “I live with that worry every day. However, anything we use that has been enchanted is rigorously tested for malice and hexes. And the fabric comes from a select group of witches who have proven themselves trustworthy…in this, at least. If they ever crossed us, they know they would be hunted to extinction.” His tone turned ruthless at the end, forcing a shudder down her spine. She could imagineThe Destroyerdelivering that threat himself.
