Page 54 of Whispers of the Water

“Thank God. They didn’t die,” Ardley announced as our trio walked across the sand.

The twins saw us with the cake, and they immediately began jumping up and down in celebration. Everyone gathered around the blanket and, despite Rune begging us not to, linked arms and sang happy birthday at the top of our lungs. Rune tried to blame the crimson of his cheeks on the sun as the cake was cut and passed around.

“Bria.”

“Hmm?” I turned to Ardley, and as soon as I looked at him, he swiped his finger on my cheek, smearing frosting on me.

He threw his head back, laughing at my shock. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.”

“What did you do to her?” Rune asked. He crooked his finger under my chin, turning my head to face him. A mischievous glimmer touched his eyes as soon as he saw the white frosting trailing from my cheek to the corner of my mouth.

“He truly is your cousin,” I mumbled.

This moment reminded me of when Rune took me on our first “date” to a painting class, and at one point in the night, Rune had gotten my attention in much the same way, all so he could smear paint on my face. The jokes clearly ran in the family.

Grinning, Rune kept his hold of my chin and leaned forward. My stomach coiled tightly with anticipation as his tongue made quick work of the frosting. He licked away the icing with two flicks, and I couldn’t help the slight hitching in my throat that came with what the motion called to mind.

“Yum,” he whispered in my ear, lust making the word strained.

I swallowed hard as he pulled back enough for his eyes to lock on mine. So many emotions rushed to the surface in his gaze, each one coming and going so fast that I couldn’t decipher them all. The ones I did, though, made me want to lean in and claim his mouth in a soul binding kiss.

Someone cleared their throat, and I suddenly remembered we had an audience, two of whom were only ten. Cheeks flaming, I glanced over at the twins. Marlow had each pinned to his sides, shielding their eyes with his arms. The knowledge did nothing to extinguish the heat of embarrassment in my face.

Rune leaned back to reach around me and punched Ardley in the shoulder. “No jokes, dick.”

Ardley chuckled. “I can do what I want. She was my friend first, remember?” The way he drew out the last of his sentence made Rune narrow his eyes. His cousin merely laughed and winked at me.

Pursing my lips, I commented, “Your fox version seemed to have a much different attitude. Less …” I paused, searching for the right word.

Ardley snickered. “Spirited? Fun? Joyful?”

Rune tensed next to me, so I glanced at him. He was focused on his cake, shoving fork fuls into his mouth. Maybe he’d almost choked? I patted his back, just in case.

Facing Ardley again, I said, “I wouldn’t have used those words. You just seemed … different.”

Their characters were too dissimilar. One could argue it was because communication as a fox was limited for him, so I couldn’t gauge his personality accurately when he was in that form. My gut said that wasn’t right, though. My fox had been calm, calculating, receptive, and curious. Ardley was the exact opposite. It felt like, as a fox, Ardley would be active, hyper, quick to nip as a joke, and far less reserved. It was too different, even for a lack of communication.

Ardley’s black curls spilled over his forehead as the wind blew. His brown eyes held mine as he shrugged. “I was probably just at a loss. It’s not every day you stumble upon a gorgeous girl by the river.”

“Ardley,” Rune snapped.

The cousins grumbled at each other, but I missed the exchange. I was too busy studying Ardley. He’d said river, but we’d met at a stream. Sure, the guy could’ve called it a river since the stream technically branched off from the river near campus. Still, I found that choice of word odd. That wasn’t the only weird thing I’d noticed about Ardley being my fox, either.

I decided to test him with something he couldn’t confuse.

Cocking a brow at him, I nonchalantly scooped a bite of cake onto my fork. “I was wondering. Do you still have that ring I gave you that day we met? I was just curious if you held onto it or not.” I chewed on my cake, waiting to see if he’d slip up or not.

He grinned. “I sure do. It’s not on me, though. It’s back at the house. Didn’t want to risk losing it here at the beach.”

I tried not to choke on my swallow. Forcing a smile, I nodded. “Good thinking.”

Wrong.

He hadn’t corrected me.

When we met, I’d given the fox a necklace, not a ring. There was no way he could confuse those two, so either the exchange didn’t mean as much to him as it did to me, or he wasn’t my fox. My gut told me it was the latter.

I glanced at Rune. He stared at Ardley, jaw tense and eyes focused. He noticed me looking at him, and his gaze flicked briefly to mine. The tension around his mouth evaporated. He gave me the smallest of smiles before looking away altogether. That sealed my suspicions, and the list of things for Rune and I to talk about later had just gotten longer.

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