Page 400 of Flirting with Darkness

I sit up, poking the fire with a stick, trying to tempt it into growing hotter. But there isn’t enough wood left to burn and while there are plenty of sticks in the cave, most are wet and green, newly fallen. They’d suffocate the fire to smoke and ash.

I blow on the dull embers, trying to coax a bit more life from it.

“Come here.”

I jump at the king’s voice in the dead of night.

“What?”

“You heard me, little bird.” He points to the ground between his body and the fire. “Come here.”

I’m rooted in place. Unable to move closer to the being—demon or fae—who wants me tried for keeping him hostage.

“Come here or freeze. Your choice.”

4

Fae or not, king or not, I’ve never been so close to a man before. My body curves into his, seeking his warmth. My backside tucks perfectly into his body and his resulting grunt echoes in me, tugging on latent desires.

Desires he awakened in me many moons ago.

“Stop wiggling,” he says against my hair, and I try to still myself. A feat made impossible by how intoxicating he smells, how good the weight of his arm across my middle is, and the growing hardness poking into my softer bits.

I draw in a quaking breath, squeezing my eyes shut against my increasing need. Need that for once isn’t coming from him. He isn’t toying with me. My reaction is purely chemical, biological. Not magical.

I should ask him.

Ask him why he tortured me with desire for so many years. Why he set flames to my body night after night.

I don’t. What purpose would that serve besides making things even more uncomfortable between us? I opt to stay still and quiet my mind and try not to think about all those nights I had to touch myself to find a reprieve.

It takes time and considerable effort, but eventually the king’s warmth and even breathing lulls me back to a peaceful sleep.

I wake the next day to cooking scents wafting through the damp cave.

I crack an eye to find he’s fashioned a wooden plank into a skillet of sorts and is currently frying up several eggs.

“I thought you didn’t need to eat,” I say and sit up, trying my best to smooth my hair, dress, and face into something at least somewhat presentable.

And speaking of… “If you knew we were trekking through the woods for days, why on earth did you put me in my favorite dress? It’s hardly appropriate.”

“Good morning to you as well, little bird. Did you sleep well? I did. Don’t bother thanking me for breakfast. It’s hardly any effort at all.”

I clamp my mouth shut, snatching the offered plank of wood and the five eggs he foraged for me.

I don’t know what day it is in this godsforsaken forest, but I know for certain it’s not fire-fried egg day. “You want me to show gratitude to my abductor for doing the bare minimum to keep me alive? Have I got that right?”

He glares back at me, and I eat my five jiggling eggs with overcooked yolks in silence.

“Hurry, it’s only a few miles to the freshwater spring where we can clean up.”

I glance to the mouth of the cave and the inky night beyond. “I’d much rather travel during the day.”

He rises to his full height, staring me down. I do the only reasonable thing and shoot off the ground as well, matching his stare. “What you want and what is best are two very different things, human.”

I flash him a sardonic smile, followed by a very rude gesture.

“Come, we don’t have all day,” he says and yanks me toward the exit.

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