Page 72 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

I knew even before Orion turned away in disgust that my scent changed in response to the king’s inciting words. Even Riordan shifted closer as if drawn in helplessly by my reaction to him.

“Riordan, you can’t do this to me here,” I whispered, reaching up to put my cool hands over my hot cheeks. Obviously no one could hear our words aside from Orion, but they could certainly see our faces. Not to mention the fact that all the Ktínos would sense my excitement.

“I want to hear you say it,” he insisted, lowering his head so he was looking at me with all the intensity of a man who was hanging on my next word.

“Yes,” I assured him breathlessly, and he gave me a wicked smile that was pure male satisfaction.

“Good,” he mumbled before he leaned down slowly, ignoring the whispers of both shock and intrigue when he kissed me. It was not a heated embrace, but it still got my heart pounding to feel his lips against mine in such a public place. It felt immensely significant for him to do it after what Orion had said about the spies: almost like he was claiming me publicly. Irrevocably. Undeniably.

And rather than frighten me, the unapologetic assertion only made me feel even more certain of him.

“Riordan!” snarled Orion.

“Come see Ergastiri with me now,” Riordan invited, murmuring against my mouth, and I nodded. I was sure he could ask to take me anywhere at that moment, and I’d gladly go with him.

“The council is waiting for you,” Orion attempted to remind him, but Riordan did not answer as he put his arms around me to pull me close. His golden armour was hard against my cheek, smoother and cooler than the leather that he had worn on our journey to the Vale.

“Riordan,please, don’t do this now,” Orion pleaded, and I caught sight of his desperate expression a second before Riordan knelt to sweep me into his arms.

“Do not follow,” Riordan said, issuing the command more loudly as his eyes swept from Orion to encompass Ares and Helena who were all preparing to join us.

And then we were airborne, his strong wings beating powerfully to carry us away quickly over the crowd of shouting people.

Something was wrong. I knew Riordan well enough to know that although my mate seemed calm and confident, he was acting impulsively. As romantic as his actions felt and as reassuring as it was for him to make it so clear so publicly that I was his choice, it was still very bold. It was reckless for a king to bind himself so irrevocably in the eyes of his people to a foreign woman who had not yet accepted him as her mate.

And I had a suspicion that his emotional behaviour had something to do with Orion, and the hostility my king had shown hisskiáearlier. Perhaps Orion had tried to talk Riordan out of his choice of me, and now Riordan was doubling down even harder on his decision.

I tightened my arms around his neck and kissed his jaw and throat to try and soothe the tension in him. I trusted him to fly even when all his attention was drawn to me while we flew over the lake toward Ergastiri.

“I have to know how you get the armour on when you are in your griffin form,” I said with mock seriousness and was relieved when he laughed in surprise. He seemed relieved that I was not going to quiz him on what was going on with him, so I knew all he really needed was a moment of genuine connection with someone. With me.

“We don it while inórthios, our two-legged form, and then this jewel, called anamurih, allows it to transform with us,” Riordanexplained. He indicated the necklace he was wearing now which was the same one I’d noticed all the others wearing as well.

“You could just use your magic,” I pointed out.

“I could, but I prefer to emulate my Ktínos warriors as much as I can when I am with them,” he explained.

We had crossed the lake in moments and now I saw a massive fortress built atop the cliffs across from the lower shoreline of the Rookery. We were descending toward a dais on which many soldiers seemed to be awaiting.

“Is that because you want to fit in with them or you want to spite the Imítheos?” I asked.

“Perhaps both? But I always want to know how it is to be different. It is important to know those things when one is a general or… a king,” he explained.

“You want to empathize with your warriors.”

“The vast majority of my kind do not bother to do so, and it certainly has not done them any favours as leaders,” he reassured me. “I want to be different from them.”

I might have asked him to elaborate, but we reached the dais onto which he dropped, cushioning the sudden jolt by bending his knees with me still in his arms.

The soldiers gasped something, speaking in Aeolian, and then offered him deep bows that made Riordan scoff at them. It was the most flippant sound I had ever heard him make, and it made me widen my eyes up at him.

“Enough! You know how much I hate that!” he chided them with a confident familiarity.

One of the two males raised his brows, looking amused as he relaxed his stance along with the others.

“You’re the king now, General. Better get used to it,” he pointed out, switching to Gaelic as well and earning a few chuckles from the others.

“Not here and not now,” Riordan insisted, not sharply but with authority. He was so much more at ease among his soldiers than he was among Imítheos.

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