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“You’re here now,” I whispered and pressed my lips against his.
The kiss started sweet and gentle. Tentative. But as my arms wound around Fin’s neck, his fingers tangled in my hair and he slid an arm around my back, pulling my body flush against his, and the kiss morphed into something else. Something more. An apology. A penance. A promise.
I pushed Fin’s coat off his shoulders, and his hand slid under my tunic to settle on the curve of my hip, his touch possessive. So much had happened since the last time we were together—we were entirely different people now—but the spark between us remained. And with each ragged breath, with each beat of our pounding hearts, that spark burned hotter, spreading to an inferno.
“Your mom is down at the creek, washing up,” Hills said, her voice raised, obviously for my and Fin’s benefit. Liam must have awakened and gone searching for me.
Gasping, I broke away from Fin, my chest rising and falling with each exaggerated breath as we clung to one another. Eyes locked with his, I licked my lips and cleared my throat. “I’m almost done,” I called up to Hills and Liam.
Fin traced my jawline with the pad of his thumb. “This isn’t over,” he swore.
I pressed my lips to his, lingering there, savoring his kiss. And then I backed out of his embrace and reclaimed my cloak, weapons belt, and soaked tunic while Fin put on his coat. Anticipation charged the air between us as we climbed back up the slope.
Despite everything else going on, hope swelled within me. I had given up on Fin long ago, but he was right. This thing between us wasn’t over.
It had only just begun.
29
Fin
My black-maned steed plodded along the animal trails worn throughout the giant sequoia forest, staying off the main road and out of sight as much as possible. Because many of us were doubled up on our borrowed horses, Liam rode with me while our animal friends scouted for danger. Nyx took to the sky with Sid while Tick scoured the forest floor, nose to the earth as she forged ahead.
Callon and Lyra led our procession through the trees while Hills, the Corvo guards, and Farris, ever quiet and watchful, brought up the rear. Stone, however, stayed behind, though I was certain we hadn’t seen the last of him.
We might’ve been a ragtag band of misfits, but with Del, me, and her closest confidants, we were a well-honed party of a dozen heading toward our next stop, where we would rest again for the night.
I glanced at Del on the white horse she and Ada rode a few paces behind us. The afternoon sunlight filtered through the towering canopy, illuminating Del’s brown eyes when she looked at me.
Warmth, as equally exciting as it was comforting, unfurled through me as I recalled the feel of her lips from last night’s kiss at the creek. I hadn’t expected that, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I couldn’t getDelout of my head. Then again, I’d never been able to before, either. I was desperate to kiss her again. To prove to myself that it wasn’t a dream.
When Del realized I was staring, she blushed a little, and her mouth twitched at the corner as if she knew exactly where my mind had drifted.
“Fin,” Liam said, stirring my thoughts. He craned his neck to peer up at me, his auburn head of hair coming just below my chin.
“Yeah, bud?” I said, clearing my throat.
His mind was so similar to mine, the last thing I wanted him to do was somehow glean what I was thinking about regarding his mother—to sense the carnal thoughts in my mind. So, I focused on the scent of sun-washed redwood needles, the cones that littered the ground, and the sound as they crunched beneath horses’ hooves.
“Why are some of the trees black, like they’ve been burned?” Liam pointed to one as we passed.
I gazed around the generations of forest, charred trunks centuries old and foliage freshly sprouted. “Because the sequoias have stood for thousands of years,” I explained. “Many of them have withstood many wildfires.”
“Then how are they still standing?”
I thought of Jake and our many walks through this very forest over the years. “Someone once told me that their bark is so thick and so special, the trees are flame resistant, and that’s why some of them can live for 3,000 years.”
“Really? Is that why they are so big? Because they are so old?”
I nodded. “They never stop growing.”
“They’re the biggest trees I’ve ever seen,” Liam said with awe in his voice. “You could live inside them.” I remembered the first time I saw the forest of giants and the exposed roots of the toppled trunks gnarled and reaching like giant monster fingers.
“I slept inside one, once,” I told him.
“You did?”
I nodded as my thoughts drifted to the storm Jake, Beast, and I were caught in once, years ago. I was young, and it was my first trip away from the village and my sister. The rain was pelting, unrelenting for nearly a day as we holed ourselves away. But it never felt scary, only like an adventure, one of my first and favorites.
