Page 148 of A Dawn of Gods & Fury

“And what do you know of it?”

“Nothing,” I admit. “But it can’t be worse than what will happen to you if we stay here. We have no choice. We have to leave Udrel. If we can escape without notice.” Annika may as well have rays of sun shining down upon her, so easy she’ll be to pick out of a crowd. “Come, sit on this.” I tap my foot against a short crate between my legs.

She glares. “I told you that is not happening.”

I groan, my frustration surging. “Would you trust me, please? I think I’ve earned an ounce of that, have I not?”

Her lips purse.

“Come take a seat, with your back to me.”

With slow reluctance, she moves and settles in between my parted thighs, her posture stiff. “Why am I doing this?”

I smooth her cloak’s hood out of the way. “Because we can’t be seen in public with the way you look.”

“And how exactly do I look?” She attempts haughtiness, but I catch a hint of curiosity.

I smile. “Fishing for compliments today?”

“Would it pain you so much?”

At one time, yes, very much. Now? I don’t know how to describe my feelings for this Islorian, but it is certainly not the disdain I used to carry.

She peers up at me, her blue-purple eyes shining as she waits for my response.

“You look like someone begged the fates for the most beautiful creature ever born, and they granted that request.” I don’t intend for my answer to sound so somber.

That gaze flitters over my face, stalling on my mouth for the briefest second before she turns around with a shaky sigh.

I gather her long locks in my fingers, reveling in their silky texture. “You cannot walk around with this hair. You will be easily identified.”

Her head whips around, panic filling her expression. “If you think you are cutting a single strand—”

“Relax. I am not.” I smile. “But we must tame it. I will plait it for you.”

Her eyebrow arches. “You know how to braid hair?”

“It’s not that difficult.”

“I know.” She hesitates. “Though I have no idea how.” Presenting her back to me again, she asks, “But how did you learn this?”

I divide her hair into several sections, letting my fingertips graze her nape. “It makes for excellent foreplay.”

Her body stiffens. “Tyree—”

“I am teasing.” But I don’t miss the gooseflesh that crawls along her slender neck, which goads me to tease more. “Here, this is in the way. I need to …” Slipping a hand around, I unfasten her cloak’s clasp and coax the wool down, my thumb brushing her bare, pale shoulder. I’m rewarded with more gooseflesh. “One of my mother’s collared pets taught me, actually.”

She clears her throat. “An elemental?”

“Yes. Her name was Inez.” I begin weaving strands of Annika’s hair, tugging the curls straight so I can plait them properly. “It is a funny story. I was a young boy and completely smitten with her. She had hair the color of spun gold. Much like yours but straight as a feather’s quill. I followed her around like a puppy for years, fascinated by her affinities.

“She was equally smitten, often saying how, if she could bear children, she wished to have one like me. Considering how little I saw of my mother, Inez filled that void.” I smile fondly. “She used to tell stories about fantastical beasts and distant lands, stories that she had been told as a child. Bedtime was my favorite part of the day. And then one night, I woke to her hovering over my bed with a dagger at my throat, uttering nonsense about how I must be stopped before I unknowingly feed my heart to the gilded doe.”

Annika gasps. “She went through the change.”

“Yes, and the first thing she wanted to do was kill me. But I was deft with my blade by then and fought her off. I put her own dagger through her chest and held her until she died.” My father caught me shedding tears for her and called me weak.

Silence hangs in the wagon for a few beats.

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