Page 44 of Stars in Mist

She did need him more than he knew, so she decided to play along and soften her stance. Charm might work more with this stranger than arctic savagery.

‘Did you sleep well?’ she ventured.

His lips twitched. ‘Like a baby.’

‘Now that you’re free, do you plan to turn on me?’

He grunted in a rasped murmur. ‘Does it look like it? Roll up the pallets and eat.’

She shook her head in disbelief at his pushy attitude. ‘Who made you Lord and Master?’

He didn’t reply, his gaze sliding to and away from her with brazen confidence.

Fokk, he’d turned the tables on her and crowned himself Lord and Master.

To his credit, he didn’t crow about it.

Instead, he focused on adding a spoonful of syrup to the stack of hot cakes he’d whipped up from her ingredients box.

Élisa obeyed him, wincing at the pain in her stiff, sore muscles.

Even though she was accustomed to long hours of hiking, the hunt for her pursuer had taken days. Now that she had him somehow in her thrall and deliverance within reach, her weary body began to shut down.

Her thigh muscles trembled with the effort as she squatted to roll the blankets.

Meanwhile, Ribau walked towards the back of the hollow, where a small stream of water burbled between two boulders.

She joined him to wash as he stripped himself to his waist.

Élisa took a quick look, unable to help herself. Her gaze flicked at him as he threw water over himself, under his pits, arms, and chest.

His dark blue gaze met hers as he cocked his brow. She jerked her head down as a fiery blush burned her cheeks and tore back into the hollow.

Why was this older, grizzled man having such an effect on her?

He was not her type, not in the least. Yet every time his eyes fell on her, her nipples hardened, and wetness flooded between her thighs.

He finished his ablutions, and the heavy tread of his feet sent shivers down her back as he strolled past. She tried to ignore him as she tossed their sleeping gear into the cargo float.

‘Eat.’

He repeated the word with total confidence that she would obey.

She almost swayed with hunger and, with a twist of her lips, crouched beside him before the fire.

As soon as the first hotcake hit her lips, she groaned.

They were a sensation - fluffy, light as air, and coated with the sweetness of the synna berry syrup. Each mouthful melted, and she closed her eyes, losing herself in deliciousness.

When her eyes opened, she found his molten gaze on her. ‘You like.’

It was a statement, and she raised a brow at his forcefulness. ‘Not bad.’

He smirked and piled more food on her plate.

He’d found her stash of dried bacon made from the wild pigs that roamed Falasia and were a hot export in the badlands. Eaten together with the hotcakes, the meal was heaven on Devansi.

But she’d die before admitting that to him. Besides, he looked so self-satisfied that she didn’t want to add to his gloating.

---