Page 51 of Shadows of Winter

“Kids?” Zerek laughed shortly. “That sweet southern vixen is most assuredly a woman. I’ve been thinking of visiting her one night.”

“Oh, yeah, she’s a nice piece of ass. I’d take her against a tree in a heartbeat.”

Horror and humiliation flushed Kaylina’s cheeks as they spoke about her.

“It’s her tits that make me hard, but I’d be a gentleman and offer her a bed.”

A soft rumble came from Vlerion’s chest. Or… was that a growl? His arm tightened around her. Protectively?

She looked up at him, a faint hint of light from the grotto letting her see that his face was toward the tunnel. The men had met near the entrance, and, unfortunately, Kaylina had no trouble hearing their words.

“Guess that’s why you’re the boss, Zerek. But I like the excitement of standing and taking ’em from behind.”

That prompted them to share their preferences for positions and muse whether she was a screamer or not.

It was too dark to see Vlerion’s expression, but he must have felt her gaze, for his head turned back toward her. He bent to whisper in her ear again. “This is not the conversation I hoped to overhear.” His body was tense with that same irritation he’d radiated in the tunnel. This time, it wasn’t directed at her, and she didn’t fear it—or him. She was glad he was there and didn’t even mind being jammed between him and the statue.

After hearing another comment about her tits, Vlerion shifted, raising his sword arm. To rush out and attack them?

“It’s okay,” Kaylina breathed, resting a hand on his chest.

It wasn’t, but she realized he’d hoped to overhear useful information about the Virts and their plans. Assuming they could get over their obsession with her anatomy, they might yet share that. She leaned her face against Vlerion’s shoulder, willing them to get on with it.

He shifted his arm from her waist up to gently cup the back of her head. To offer comfort? She hadn’t expected solicitude from him, not for someone like her. For someone like Ghara, maybe.

Vlerion stroked the back of her head, and she melted against him. Damn, that felt good. She believed he meant to offer comfort, not turn her on, but his touch sent more tingles through her, and she almost forgot the conversation taking place twenty feet away.

“Milzy talked to them,” Zerek said. “It sounds like they might be sympathetic to us. They were arrested by the rangers and only got out of jail because of the breakout for Wedgewick.”

Vlerion’s hand froze.

Kaylina’s heart started galloping in her chest. Not because of humiliation this time but because she worried Vlerion would believe she’d been more interested in Milzy’s entreaty than she had been. What if he thought Kaylina had agreed to spy for the Virts and planned to share everything she learned about the rangers?

“Good. They might have ties to the southern provinces. We could use some allies down there. You know Cougar’s been trying to open up a supply line, get more food and munitions and men to help us. We outnumber the nobles a thousand to one. It shouldn’t be this hard to recruit people to overthrow the king and elect one of our own to be in charge of the nation.”

“People are afraid of the rangers. You know how savage and ruthless they are.”

Maybe Vlerion forgot the insinuation that Kaylina had spoken with one of the Virt girls, or he simply found this turn of the conversation more agreeable, because he returned to stroking the back of her head. Was he still doing it to comfort her? The men were thankfully not talking about her now.

Maybe she should have pulled back, as much as she could in the cramped quarters, but her body wasn’t interested in that. She slumped more fully against Vlerion and let him stroke her hair. After all she’d been through this week, she deserved a gentle touch.

Vlerion was probably thinking of Ghara, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if anything would come of a few head touches. Even if Kaylina found them more exhilarating than she should have.

“That’s the truth,” one man said. “The rangers don’t care that we’re human beings and not those rabid mountain monsters.”

Vlerion’s hand lowered to rub Kaylina’s neck. She barely refrained from letting out a groan of pleasure. Her muscles were knotted after nights of poor sleep on the castle floor, and when his fingers worked on the tight spots, she wanted to rub against him to demonstrate how amazing that felt. She didn’t, but she did lift her hands to grip his shoulders, even daring to trace the hard muscles with her thumbs.

“They go into battle lust and lop heads off like you’re nothing to them,” one of the men continued. “Except for that Vlerion. He’s a stone-cold killer. No lust there. He’s like one of them Kar’ruk statues come to life.”

“Wish we could talk him into joining our side. He’s not as vocal about the superiority of the nobility as a lot of the rangers.”

Sure, they talked about her anatomy and thrusting her against a tree, and they admired Vlerion and wanted to befriend him.

“He’d run you through as quick as he did Dededrak and Timmar.”

“I know, but if we could turn him…”

Another faint growl rumbled from Vlerion’s chest. Because they were talking about him betraying his people, Kaylina told herself, not because her shoulder rub excited him.

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