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She turned toward him and stilled her jumbled mind. “I say we head for Rhukon’s castle. ’Tisn’t far from here.”
“Are we going to waltz up to the front door and knock?” He quirked a brow her way.
“Nay.” She furled her brows back at him. “We shall use stealth and cunning. All the old castles had a network of underground passageways.”
“In case the lord of the manor needed to make a quick getaway?”
“Aye. Other reasons as well. More often than not, he also needed a way to sneak his collection of women—or pretty men—in and out.”
“I see.” Angus snorted soft laughter, then quieted. “We’ll need to be very careful. We’re more likely to find dragons than maids beneath Rhukon’s castle.”
“I agree. We could use magic to transport us closer, but walking is safer.”
He made a mock, sweeping bow that almost planted his forehead on the wet ground. “After you. I sense Eletea, but beyond that I have no idea what Rhukon’s place looks like.”
Arianrhod nodded to herself. “Let me send you an image. I canna be killed, but in the unlikely event I’m knocked unconscious, at least ye’ll recognize it.”
“Thanks. Mmph. Another old, crumbling stone mausoleum. Not sure I would’ve liked living in this time.” He looped an arm around her shoulders and walked by her side.
“Buildings were much more primitive in the time you came from.” She thought about ducking from beneath his embrace, but his warmth by her side felt solid, exciting, and right in a way not much else had in her long life.
“Forget about architecture. We need our own dragon,” he said.
“Why? They’re impossible to hide.”
“I wasn’t looking at it that way.” He chuckled. “We’ll be impossible to hide once we get close. We can mask ourselves, but the moment we do something useful, we’ll give our position away.”
“What would a dragon do for us?” She grinned and leaned closer to him.
“We could make a grand, aerial entrance. None of this cloak and dagger crap. And it would give us an ally—in case the dragon shifters take us on in beast form.”
Arianrhod sobered fast. “Ye’d best hope they doona do that. If they do, escaping from here with our hides intact will become verra difficult. Along those lines, if I tell you to leave, ye will do so. They willna harm me, mostly because they canna, but they might kill you.”
He stopped walking and swung her to face him. “I’m not leaving you to face danger by yourself. It’s not up for discussion, so don’t waste your breath. Besides…” A crooked grin lit his austere features. “I may be immortal.”
“Unlikely, besides we canna count on that. Are ye always this stubborn?” She swept the unbraided half of her hair over a shoulder.
Something deep in his whiskey-colored eyes melted. “Aye, but only when something I care deeply about is on the block.”
Her mouth twitched into a reluctant smile. “Ye make me sound like a prize pig up for auction.”
“If you are, then you’re my prize pig.”
Before she could protest, he covered her mouth with his and kissed her long and deep. She felt herself falling, losing her grip on who she needed to be. Arianrhod wrenched her mouth from his.
“We shouldna.”
“Too late. We already have.” He cut off further words with another kiss.
She kissed him back because she couldn’t bear not to, and snaked her arms around him, splaying her hands across his back. Nothing else mattered but his mouth on hers, his arms around her, and his body crushed against hers.
