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I sit up slightly, look around my tent, and my heart stops when I see Zora standing near the maps table.
She’s dressed as a camp follower in cheaply woven material with a long cloak over her shoulders. It’s a disguise so she can walk freely among people and observe, but there’s no hiding the fact she’s not a normal person. Not with that white hair and those magical multicolored eyes.
Zora doesn’t look at me but studies the maps. I settle back down into the water and wait for her to say something. I feel her nervousness. I know she’s here for conversation but I also know that such things are difficult for her. She’s always bottled up tight.
Finally, she turns my way, holding her hands before her. “How goes your war?”
I cock an eyebrow at her. “Is that really what you want to know?”
She lifts her chin, looking down at me with slight irritation. “Yes. I might have something I want you to do for me.”
“Ahh,” I say with a knowing nod. “You’re here in an official capacity. Well, I’ll be involved in this war for several more weeks. Perhaps you should try another demigod.”
“I don’t want another demigod,” she says, and I can’t tell if there’s any innuendo in those words.
The fact that there could be—that she’s insinuating she wants me not for work, but in an intimate way—stirs my cock again, and this time not in half-hearted interest.
It’s gone full mast.
I decide to test her and rise up out of the bathtub. Water sluices down my skin, my wounds already healed. I step out of the vessel, noting with complete satisfaction that Zora cannot help her gaze dropping to my erection.
I grab one of the towels left on a stool, grateful that in these medieval times, they are very small. I make a production of drying myself off as I keep my eyes pinned on the beautiful god.
She returns my stare boldly and it’s only making me harder. If I don’t get her gaze off me I might just throw her down and have my way with her, but fuck if I’m going to give in to something as base as lust where she’s concerned.
I toss the towel away and pick up a robe. It’s made of heavy velvet with fur lining, something worthy of a general. It’s too confining for my tastes, but it does the job. I shrug it on and as my body is covered, her eyes snap up to mine.
“Sorry,” I say with a smirk, referencing that part of my body she was just ogling. “That’s off-limits to you.”
Zora flushes with embarrassment, which is what I intended, but it doesn’t make me feel as good as I thought it would. That makes me irritable and I take it out on her. “Why are you really here, Zora? Be honest with me just once.”
I see real pain in her expression and I harden myself against it. Her angst isn’t my problem.
She clears her throat. “I want to know why you left so suddenly after…”
Her words trail off so I fill them in. “After Rune sucked the life out of me and you breathed it right back in?”
She nods hesitantly. “I thought… that perhaps…”
Again, she flounders, and her gaze drops to the floor. So fucking ungodlike.
Once more I fill in the blanks, and this time I don’t tamp down my anger. “You thought what? That perhaps since you saved my life I’d be eternally grateful to you? I’d climb back in your bed and be your little puppet again?”
Zora shakes her head vigorously. “No. I’d never think that.”
I take two steps, bringing me inches from her. She has to tip her head back to look up at me. “Well, let me fill you in on a few things. You made your feelings—or rather, lack thereof—quite clear the last time we had a discussion. I really have nothing else to say to you. That’s why I left right after you brought me back to life, because there’s nothing to say.” I suck in a breath, because that was a mouthful, and then remember one other thing. “Oh yeah… thanks for the hair. Love it.”
The sarcasm in my voice is heavy enough that she knows I do not, in fact, love it because it’s a daily reminder of her. Zora’s eyes widen, and she holds up a hand. “I can fix it.”
“No,” I growl, grabbing her wrist. “I don’t want anything else from you other than to be left alone.”
I’m not prepared for the tears that form because… Zora doesn’t cry. Hell, she doesn’t have much emotion at all.
She twists away and it’s so sudden she’s a few steps from me before I realize she’s not in my grasp anymore. Despite me telling her to leave me alone, the loss of her skin against mine creates a desolate feeling.
Zora blinks hard, chasing the tears away, and nods with a soft smile. “I understand. I’ll go.” I want to scream for her not to but I clench my fists hard and restrain myself. Her expression changes, dispelling what I took to be hurt and replacing it with determination. “But not before I do this.”
I’m not ready for “this.”
