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His brows lifted, but his lips quirked. “Honesty is by far my favorite of your endearing qualities.”
I chuckled. “You know one of my favorite endearing qualities about you?”
His face sobered, and he cocked his head. “I’m all ears.”
Dramatically, I stopped and dragged my gaze over him. His pants were slung low on his hips, and the bones created a dramatic V to the center of his lower abdomen. As my cheeks heated, I didn’t want to think of his below-the-belt regions. Instead, my eyes swept up over the ridges of his stomach, the lean muscles of his torso and chest. My gaze snagged for a long moment on his tattoo, a flowing design of symbols mashed together with tentacles, anchors, and waves—a homage to his coastal heritage.
I was no longer going to hide how appealing I found him. Fuck it. We were probably going to die during this miserable, foolhardy quest, so I might as well look my fill of a well-defined male body while doing it.
Finally, my burning gaze moved over the scars at his neck, up to the mark on his chin, past his lips that quirked into a smug grin, to his gray-blue eyes.
My mouth went dry with the apparent unhinged intensity in them at my blatant appraisal of his dangerously sexy body. Heat pooled in my core with fiery, molten need. I tried to swallow but had a challenging time accomplishing it.
“See something you like?” His drawl was playful, but there was something unguarded and vulnerable in his eyes that sobered me.
All of it.“Your eyes,” my voice was low, no longer mischievous. “I’ve never known another to have your eye color. Strangers compliment them, even. They are remarkable.”
The eyes in question widened just a fraction, and his brow lifted even further. Not what he expected me to say.
He cleared his throat. “Uh. Thank you. I’ve never heardstrangerscompliment them before.”
“I have.” Esme complimented them, and I’d heard a girl at a market stall during our shopping trip in Demora comment on them when she thought us out of earshot. Although that girl complimentedmuchmore than his eyes, I didn’t tell him that.
He dipped his chin. “I… I don’t usua—”
“Humans! What are ye doin’?”
Argen’s voice snapped us out of the moment, and we gave each other sheepish smiles before going to the dwarven warrior.
“Why didn’t ye tell me ye made weapons?”
“It didn’t really come up. With,” I waved my hand, “battling wolves and cliffside camps, you know?”
Argen smirked, but his eyes were bright. “Ye have me undyin’ admiration, me lady.”
I grinned and got more comfortable in my chair. “No longer a little girl, am I?”
Argen chuckled. “Ye always be alittlegirlie.”
I rolled my eyes.
His face grew serious. “Mondu is a few days journey. Me pack is ready, and provisions gathered.”
“Good,” Sahlyn said with a nod.
I started. I hadn’t known Argen and Sahlyn had discussed that the dwarf would come. I had still believed this was a fanciful, doomed endeavor. Part of me wished to dwell with Sahlyn and the dwarves and forget the rest of the world even existed.
“Wait…” My eyes met Argen’s, and I saw resolve and the sparkle of excitement in them. “You’re coming with us?”
“Aye. Ye think I’d let ye have all the fun?”
I huffed a laugh. “I’m happy to hear that.”
Argen grinned and gave me a relieved nod. As if I’d pass up his help, he’d proven an adept ally.
“I can’t go with ye through the wood.”
“But…”
