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He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he met her gaze once more, his eyes showed conviction, and he slid his hands to her behind, then squeezed. 'There's nothing in this world I want more.'
She smiled and lowered her lips to his, explosions firing in her brain at the contact, blocking out anything but the feel of him against her.
She'd been starved of this for so long … too long, and her body rejoiced. Her lips parted, a soft moan escaping as his tongue probed into her mouth. His hand roamed across her hip, into the dip of her waist, then skirted the swell of her breast. She shivered, tipping her hips, moving against him.
'If you're going to take this any further, please spare your guards and do it somewhere more private,' said Edu, in his most disapproving tone. They broke apart and looked up at him. 'Rouel came to get me, because you are late for watch duty, Adigos.'
Fyia turned back to Adigos, kissed him one last time, then stood. Her breathing was ragged as she walked to her tent, but she kept her eyes trained forwards.
The rest of the journey to the Fae'ch mountains was hard, the wild, high country of the Starlight Kingdom cold and unforgiving, and the group was sullen and subdued.
Edu conspired against Fyia and Adigos, giving Adigos watch duties designed to keep them apart, and requesting meetings with Fyia when Adigos was free. Adigos slipped into Fyia's tent each night when his watch was over, but Fyia was always asleep, exhausted from the day's hard riding. They would sleep tangled under the furs, but every morning, Adigos would wake to find himself alone, Fyia already running with her wolves.
'I'm confident we'll make it to the entrance of the mountain today,' said Edu.
Adigos tracked Fyia as she joined the morning briefing, his chest tightening at the sight of her wild hair and rosy cheeks after her run. She didn't go far—it was too cold for that—but she needed to blow out the cobwebs each morning … she'd always been that way.
'We'll arrive before the sun goes down,' said Edu, 'but the climb into the mountains is perilous.'
The lands of the Fae'ch were a vast ridge of mountains that separated Fyia's home kingdom—the Kingdom of Starlight—from the Kingdom of the Black Hoods in the north. The going was treacherous, steep and frozen, and if the Fae'ch were in the mood for games, it would be booby trapped with magic.
'Keep your wits about you,' said Edu. 'The Fae'ch probably don't want to harm us, but they might decide to play a bit; let's not make it easy for them.'
'And my wolves will not be with us,' said Fyia, stroking their heads. 'The Fae'ch won't permit them inside; they'll wait here in the woods for our return.'
They mounted, and Adigos trailed behind Fyia as Edu had instructed … such a killjoy. He had to settle for watching Fyia's swaying back as Rouel rode beside her, subtly trying to break Fyia's silence on her and Adigos' romantic entanglement.
Edu sent Rouel warning looks, but it didn't do much to deter him. Adigos was happy for Rouel to continue; he was keen to know her thoughts on their relationship as well. If only Edu would cut him some slack, he would ask her himself, and do other things …
'Get down!' shouted a guard from the front, at the same time as a shout came from behind. Adigos' horse went up on her hind legs at the first clash of steel. She pawed at the air, then went over, throwing him to the ground. He narrowly missed being squashed, then rolled to his feet, frantically trying to avoid the stamping hooves of the other horses.
He drew his sword as he sought Fyia, glad to see a defensive circle around her. By the time he reached her, there was little for him to do; her bodyguards had dispatched the threat with brutal efficiency. Five men and three women lay dead on the ground, a single man left alive, now on his knees, a knife to his throat.
There was a reason Fyia had won five kingdoms, and this was it. She'd insisted on ceaseless training, and had put Sensis and Edu in charge of delivering it. The result was that her army was an unrivaled force, and only the best of the best made it into Fyia's personal bodyguard.
Fyia dismounted, standing in front of the man on his knees. 'What do you want?' she said, quietly.
'You, dead.' He spat at her feet.
'Why?'
'You're not our rightful ruler. You killed your parents with witchcraft. We don't want nothing to do with your kind.'
'I didn't, actually,' said Fyia. 'They're alive and well, living in the Emperor's court across the Kraken Sea. Nor did I use magic to achieve it.'
'You killed the Kings with witchcraft,' he hissed.
'For those, I did use magic, but I'm no witch.'
'You'reunnatural.'
'Who sent you?' asked Fyia, whirling away.
'We don't take orders from no-one.'
'Accept the old Kings?' she said, leaning back against a rock.
'They ruled by right.'
