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My body arched against his hands until he left me writhing, bursting at the seams until I crashed over the edge. Kase tilted my head back as I cried out and covered my mouth with his. His kiss devoured the sobs of release. His touch slowed, and his lips and embrace slowly returned me back to the present.
“You’ll pay for that soon enough, Nightrender,” I whispered in a breathless sigh as I rolled onto my shoulder and nestled against his chest.
Kase kissed my head. “I look forward to it.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
THE MEMORY THIEF
Morning came too swiftly.Body aches racked my limbs from head to foot, but I buried the discomfort and helped load the camp.
Valen was a different king in the pale dawn. His muscles relaxed, and a bright, mischievous gleam returned to the dark shade of his eyes. His arm remained possessive around Elise’s waist, but he did not look as villainous with blood dripping down his face any longer.
“Where is this ship of yours?” Valen asked the sea king.
“It will come to me when I call,” Thorvald muttered his reply.
Kase did not trust Thorvald. True, he distrusted most folk, but on this we were united in our reservations.
Thorvald sneered at us without giving up more answers and slipped toward the back of our caravan.
“He’s rather unpleasant, wouldn’t you say?” Ari appeared at my other side, sifting through an array of wild nuts on his open palm.
“It’s a good thing I’m quite accustomed to dealing with unpleasant folk.” I linked my arm with Kase’s, laughing at the wrinkle on his forehead.
“Are you saying I’m unpleasant? My own wife?”
“I am,” Ari interrupted. “If she will not say it, then I will.”
The ambassador dodged a swipe from Kase’s fist and laughed as he strode away to walk with Valen and Elise.
Kase called for the camp to follow through the hedges, but I saw the flicker of a grin on his mouth.
“Mal.” Hob worked his way to the front with me and Kase. The sun was high, but the air held a cruel bite of frost. Hob’s cheeks were flushed from sprinting in the cold by the time he found his way to us. “Did you want the troll?”
“The troll? Hodag?”
“I’m asking because last night, the little creature said she got a whiff of something and burrowed away. Could be a risk.”
I sighed. He wasn’t wrong, but what were we to do now? “She is gone. The only one capable of digging her out is Valen, but that would risk our position.”
“Figured.” Hob shuddered against a gust of wind. “Still, thought you ought to know.”
“We’ll get to Felstad quickly,” Kase said. “Then we’ll see about the troll. It would be to our benefit to have a burrower on our side.”
“It will be good to return.” Hob looked over his shoulder, a bit of worry furrowed in his brow.
I elbowed his ribs. “Is Inge well? Her brother isn’t being a bother, is he?”
“No. He even spoke to her this morning, asked her about our little.” Hob chuckled. “She decided to grow a great deal these last weeks.”
“Oh, you’re having a daughter, are you?”
Hob’s cheeks reddened a bit more. “Call it a feeling, Mal.”
“For your sake, I hope it is a girl with a disposition like her mother. Not a son with a disposition like his father.”
“Gods, can you imagine?” Hob laughed softly. “I’d like to get Inge out of the wilds for a time, that’s all.”
