Page 53 of Power of Draken

Rowan

“So, what are the odds that a day of travel has put you in a forgiving mood?” Logan asks, crouching beside me as I lay my bedroll under a canopy of gnarled oak branches. Consistent with its generally mocking mood, the weather is perfectly clear and warm for this time of autumn, the stars winking to some music only they can hear.

“What’s there to forgive?” I smooth out my bedroll.

“I think even Grayson would see a trap in that question,” he mutters.

My hands hesitate on the blanket. “Perhaps you are referring to that night when you did all sorts of intimate things to my body and then disappeared in the morning as if nothing happened?”

“Well, yes.” Logan’s voice is cautious. “In my experience, women tend not to appreciate that behavior.”

I finish setting up my bedding, pull off my shoes and climb inside. “Probably because they make the mistake of assuming the bedroll acrobatics have meaning beyond the immediate physicality of the moment.”

“That was a lot of long words.”

“It was a long day. Good night, Logan.” I curl up on my side, turning awayfrom him. The one advantage of a forced march through the woods is that every fiber of my body is more than ready for sleep. My new goal, which I set the moment Kyrian disappeared from view on that summit, is to shove these three men back into the isolated mental box they’ve always belonged in.

Logan walks around and crouches impertinently on my other side. “And you are of the opinion that our acrobatics were utterly without meaning?”

“I don’t need opinions when I have facts.”

“Do you now?” Reaching out, Logan grazes my arm with a feather-light touch that sends shivers down my spine.

I inhale sharply and pull away.

“Looks like I have my own set of facts,” Logan purrs quietly, his teasing voice going straight into my clenching chest. Anger rushes through me, spilling into my blood like a flash flood of emotion.

“No,” I say, swinging up to my elbow so I can point an accusing finger into his chest. “You don’t get to do that. You’ve got your conquest, or bedpost notch, or whatever it is you used to mark made awkward book geek open her legs off your list. Well done. Mission accomplished. But I’ve about this much self-respect still left,” I hold my thumb and pointer finger half an inch apart, “and I’d like to keep it. So, please, take your warrior’s body, and perfect face, and sensual touches that you’ve honed to a blade’s edge perfection, and keep them away from me. If you’ve ever cared for me even a fraction as much as you pretended, please do as I ask.”

Logan flinches, and I make myself ignore the apparent pain rippling over his face. Whatever he thinks he is feeling, it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with him not getting what he wants right now. And he’ll feel it right up until a squirrel rushes up a tree and he will want it instead.

I make myself close my eyes and keep them that way until I hear him rise to his feet and walk away from me with measured quiet steps.

“You really want to go through the center of Doverly?” I hear Logan ask Kai quietly.

Kai’s been closed-mouthed about, well, everything, so I keep my eyes shut and my breathing even as the pair talk.

“Want? Of course not. But it’s the closest waypoint, and I’m not going to see her at a flogging post for returning one check-in short.”

“You bloody well know I wasn’t suggesting letting that happen,” Logan’s words strain through his teeth.

“Well those are the two options.” Kai's voice is cold and unyielding. "Unless you have a third that doesn't involve her bleeding or a delay getting her to safety and freeing us to help Kyr, I suggest you make peace with Doverly."

There's a tense pause, but then Logan exhales heavily. "You think the raid will reach this far inland?”

Wait. Raid? The news startles me into letting my eyes fly open, my hands pushing against the bedroll.

The men’s conversation halts immediately.

Shit. Embracing the error, I push myself the rest of the way up. “What raid?”

Both men turn to me. Kai's expression is inscrutable as always, but Logan can't quite hide the frustration simmering in his eyes as he brushes his gaze along my body.

“A Flurry assault force penetrated the twenty second outpost shortly after the field exercise started,” he says matter of factly. “I expect they will be neutralized or retreat well before reaching Spire East.”

“And you are just telling me this now?”

“Does it have any bearing on any of your actions or decisions?” Kai retorts.

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