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“One day, we may need the faeries fighting at our side. When we call, we need them to answer.” Veyka and I had failed to convince Taliya. Maybe Maisri would have more success.
I waited a few breaths, letting her process the implications. She was a smart child—and she’d been listening for the last two months as we wended our way across the human realm.
I took a chance. I stepped away from the doorway and sat down on the bench opposite her. “Do you understand what I am asking?”
Maisri’s teeth still worried her lower lip, but she didn’t make to escape.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” she said quietly.
Good soldier.
But not yet.
“Arran,” I corrected gently.
That earned me a small smile. “Arran,” Maisri repeated.
A slight tingle began in my chest. I stood up, rubbing at the spot. “Go pack up the food. We’ll be cooking for ourselves soon, but I want as many of your oat cakes in that travel pack as will fit.”
Maisri’s little smile turned into a fully fledged grin as she jumped into action.
I ducked out of the alcove, wanting a moment of respite and knowing I would get none—because I knew what that twinge in my chest meant.
My mate watched me from the other side of the tunnel, arms crossed under her breasts and blue eyes turned sapphire by the faerie light.
I let myself savor the sight of her.
Even relaxed against the wall, legs out in front of her and crossed casually, she took up a significant portion of the tunnel. But then, she always did.
Any room she walked into. Any tunnel or encampment under the open sky. No one could fail to notice Veyka.
A flick of her white hair over her shoulder. Her long black lashes. The impish half-smile that told everyone she was watching. That dared them to look back.
One hand casually wandered down her chest to rest at her hip, just above the scabbard and blade—twin to the one on my own hip, now. She thrust that hip out—a threat, and a promise, depending who was watching.
Her gaze caught mine, and lit a little more, the sapphire glowing with barely contained desire.
Done enjoying the view?
Never, my beast growled.
She circled one foot in the dirt, cocked her head back slightly to expose more of her throat. An invitation.
My beast propelled me forward. Licked up the column of her neck until I was sucking her ear between my teeth.
“You are shockingly good with children.”
I jerked back. Her eyes were glowing fiercely. If I inhaled deeply enough, I’d be able to scent her arousal.
She was trying to diffuse the burning lust that threatened to overwhelm the tunnel. I could indulge her—for now.
I cleared my throat and shifted my weight to my back foot. Still close to her—but not close enough.
“At some point we’ll be expected to have one,” I said.
She cocked her head to the side. “I still take shadowvein each morning.”
Rational thought deserted me. “Good.”
