Page 197 of A Soul to Guide

He rubbed his fingertips up and down the side of her neck. “Soon.”

That wasn’t a good enough answer.

Escaping his arms, she sat up on her hip. “How soon?”

Orange sparked in her vision, and her brows furrowed, since she’d never seen that colour come from him. Then again, he often tried to hide his colour shifts from her.

When he didn’t say anything, she could almost feel his stare all the way to the essence of her being, and her frown deepened.

“I made the sun stone. We should be able to travel through the Veil safely now. So, how come we haven’t left yet?”

“I still need to get supplies for you,” he said while sitting up himself. “It’ll take a few days of travel.”

“I’ve seen you run on all fours before. You’re really fast like that,” she offered. “You’ve made your guards, so I should be able to ride on your back.”

“What if I don’t want you to ride me like I’m a horse, Raewyn? The idea is utterly degrading.”

Shame rested on her shoulders. She hadn’t considered he might find that offensive. She was the kind of person to find a solution, often willing to do just about anything to solve a problem efficiently.

“You say you need to get supplies, but don’t we have everything here? There’s plenty of food, and you have all the tools we should need here.”

“Have you considered what you will do if we must face off against your brother?” Merikh deflected. “What if the sun stone doesn’t work against him?”

Raewyn lowered her head. “I don’t know if it will be fully effective against him, but...” Tears welled in her eyes as she said, “But I can throw it against the ground, and it will act as a bomb. It’ll shatter, and the heat and pressure will knock everyone away – just like when it shattered last time.”

“What of me, then? I couldn’t be near you when you first activated it. It was too hot. I thought I was going to disintegrate if I took even a single step closer.” Then, he cupped her face as he said, “And what if you get hurt in the process?”

Biting at her lips, she thought that was a fair concern.

“I’ll protect us,” she offered. “If we take any plant, I can form a shield, but if we throw the stone far enough, we can just use it as a diversion and shoot for the portal. I don’t want to harm Jabez, but I really want to go home, Merikh.”

I want to know if my feelings for you are real.She wanted to know that more than anything.

“We’ll leave soon, Raewyn,” he said softly as he stroked over her cheekbone.

She smacked his hand away, and white sparked.

“It’s been three days.” She rubbed at her biceps, feeling nervous and anxious. “I’m starting to feel like you’re keeping me here on purpose.”

She was surprised he didn’t growl at what she was insinuating. “You forget I want to leave here just as much as you do,” he answered in a dark tone.

She guessed that was true.

Yet, the fact he thatdidn’tget angry weighed on her. Anger was his usual go to emotion, and orange sparked in her vision again.

Why do I get the feeling something is wrong?

Merikh sat on his rump with his legs straight, tilting his head, trying to decipher whatever emotion was currently resting upon her pretty face.

This was not what he expected upon waking up.

To be fair, he hadn’t expected to still be holding her if she were awake, but he’d been delighted by it. Having a warm, soft, lax female in his arms had never been a part of his fantasies, and he realised he should have wanted that sooner.

So why were they having this argument when he’d rather go back to a few seconds ago when he’d been experiencing joy?

He knew this conversation would come sooner or later, but he’d also been hoping for just never.

He didn’t like that his orbs, which had been pink upon waking, were now orange from the heaviness of his guilt.

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