Page 101 of Feathers of Ash and Hope

“You make such a lovely couple.”The voice of our host shatters the moment, and we jerk apart.

I release my breath and drag my eyes away from Ara’s lips to the woman who took such good care of us.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she says, handing us each a bowl filled to the brim. I’m glad my hands have something to do because I want to reach for Ara.

I nearly kissed her.

I can’t believe I came so close to stepping over that line. A line that looks more and more like it’s drawn in quicksand instead of the stone it should be set in.

Discipline and self-control are second nature for me, but around her, I’m teetering on an edge, one nudge away from going down the wrong side.

We eat quietly, and the silence stretches and grows with every minute that passes.

Ara’s words keep circling in my mind, waking an unease I can’t shake. What does she mean when she says she’s trying to survive?

I huff out a frustrated breath, which makes Ara look up. But she doesn’t ask, and I don’t explain. She’s the first person I have met who has maybe even more secrets than I do. And I want—no, need—to know all of them.

Warmed up and our bellies full, we thank our host profusely, and she declines our offer of compensation. We head back to the post, the silence between us still intact. It seems unbreakable by now.

Ara’s face is unusually somber, and she keeps so much space between us that another person could walk there without touching either of us.

I have a plan to get her in, and since I’d rather not have a knee in my groin or a dagger between my ribs, I decide that breaking the silence is the least painful option.

“Let me handle it and play along,” I tell Ara gruffly before I wrap an arm around her and tug her into my side.

She stiffens at first but then relaxes and snuggles into me.

Fuck, she fits perfectly.

The guards operating the gate come into view. Thank the gods, no one here knows Ara, and we’ll be leaving the following morning, so the chance of running into those two guards should be minimal.

The leather of my armor is still soaked and looks slightly darker, the surface a little rougher, but nothing overly noticeable. My hair is dry again, and my boots are no longer squelching with every step.

Ara is a different matter, though. Her dress is still wet and clings to her body in very distracting ways. Her hair falls down her back in damp strands, slightly ruffled from when she rubbed it dry earlier, and her cheeks are slightly pink from the cold.

She is beautiful, and I’m not the only one noticing.

The way one of the guards ogles her makes me want to punch him, but since a scene is the last thing we need right now, I glare at him instead.

The one demanding my name smirks knowingly before he notes Ara down as “visitor female” without even asking.

That was easier than I thought.

I keep my arm around her until we reach my room, even if we don’t run into anyone. I turn to her but don’t have the chance to say anything before the door to my room flies open. Jared lifts his brows when he sees us, and his posture relaxes. His hair is even messier than usual.

He grabs our arms and yanks us inside, grimacing at the damp coldness of our clothes.

“Where the mists were you?” he hisses while he closes the door. “And what the fuck did you do with her?” He takes in Ara in her wet dress and shakes his head.

“He threw me off a cliff,” Ara replies, which makes Jared’s eyes go wide and look in my direction for clarification.

“I did not throw you off a cliff,” I disagree.

“Okay, you grabbed me and threw both of us off a cliff, which is basically the same thing,” she states, raising her eyebrows in challenge.

I grin, remembering how cute she had looked with water running down her face, her eyes blazing while she launched herself at me.

“Okay, that’s a story I need to hear,” Jared declares. “But first…” He levels a glare at Ara. “Never skulk off like that again. My heart nearly stopped when I realized you were not with us, and I was dreading telling this moody bastard I lost his…uh…runner. Which brings me to you…” Now, I’m the one in his focus. “Why didn’t you let me know she was with you?”

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