Page 124 of Flame and Sparrow

Faster and faster we went, leaping over rocks and bushes and small streams of silver-white water. With every leap, I kept expecting the selakir to sprout wings and just keep going, maybe all the way to the upper-heavens above.

They never did—but after several miles the rest of the herd did pull ahead of us, and I lost sight of them against the distant horizon, their bodies blending into the pale-yellow sky.

Farak slowed to a trot once we were alone, and Dravyn offered me the reins.

I hesitated, but he insisted.

“Now that we’ve gotten some of the excess energy out of him, he should be easier to manage. Go on. Lead us wherever you’d like to go.”

Farak tossed his head and gave an uncertain snort as I took over. But I found my courage, correctly positioning my hands on the reins and shifting so my legs could better squeeze and signal, and he settled quickly.

The selakir’s gait felt much smoother than a horse’s, and he behaved in much the same way as the mounts I was used to riding back home. This, combined with the way we were now moving slower, left little to distract me from the feel of the god pressing against me.

Dravyn’s arms circled lightly around my waist. A casual, securing hold, but with each passing moment it felt heavier. Hotter. I was hyperaware of every inch of him shifting against me as we traversed uneven ground. Of every warm breath against the back of my neck. Every beat of his heart and flex of his muscles.

I tried to direct my attention to where I wanted to go, as he’d suggested, and not all the things I suddenly wanted todo.

After cantering along for another mile or so, something caught my eye—a small grouping of trees with leaves in what appeared to be every shade of blue and green in existence.

I guided Farak toward it. As we passed into the grove, the air cooled somewhat, and our surroundings grew dimmer, the forgelight’s glow muted by thick foliage. Some of the darkness was offset by floating wisps of fire; a closer look revealed these wisps were actually insects similar to the fireflies of the mortal realm.

The wisps shined brighter, and the trees stretched taller, the deeper we went. Drawing Farak to a stop, I leaned back, marveling at the towering, colorful circle of branches overhead.

Dravyn sucked in a breath as I reclined into him, his hands sliding lower, following a natural path toward my inner thighs. He realized what he was doing and started to pull them back, but I reflexively pressed my hands over his and held him in place. For balance.

Mostly for balance.

The motion made him chuckle. He buried his face against my hair, breathing in my scent, nose and lips grazing the side of my neck. “Did you forget what I said about not becoming too aroused?”

“Didyou?”

“I’m perfectly in control of my arousal, thank you.” His hands moved beneath my palms, and I wondered—for the span of a shaky breath—what it might be like to make him lose that control.

“In control for now,” I mumbled.

“Yes.” His fingers massaged my thighs, moving closer to the center of them but stopping just short of stroking the sensitive spot at their apex—a demonstration of thecontrolhe touted. His mouth dipped closer to my ear as he said, “But we’ll see what happens later, I suppose.”

Farak stomped his feet and tossed his head.

Twisting around to face Dravyn, I cleared my throat and asked, “Help me down?”

He obliged with an unapologetically sinful smile, eyes dancing with thoughts I only dared to guess at.

As my boots hit the ground, I handed the reins back to Dravyn and then quickly put space between us, trying to give my thoughts a chance to clear.

The little bit of daylight penetrating the trees caught on the leaves in a breathtaking way, filtering through and making the colors of them shine more boldly. I ran my fingers along one and found it surprisingly hard.

“These leaves remind me of your glass art,” I told Dravyn. “So thin, but strong, and the way they reflect the light…” I zigzagged in and out of the trees, gathering up the brightest of the fallen leaves and noting their textures, their colors, their shapes.

When I looked back at Dravyn a few minutes later, I found him watching me as though I was the only thing in the world just then—in this realm or otherwise.

A shiver skipped through me as I let the leaves fall and straightened back to my full height. My mind had felt clearer with the space between us…but all it took was one glance in his direction and every thought of him—all the frustrating, forbidden, confusing thoughts—came flooding back. All my attempts to turn away again, to find something else to distract myself with, were useless. This forest was full of indescribably beautiful things…

But nothing compared to the beauty of the god staring at me now.

And—for the moment, at least—I was tired of pretending otherwise.

Slowly, I stepped back to him. His gaze trailed over me as I came, the aching, sweeping look as intimate as any touch.

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