Page 52 of A Promise of Peridot
But I was only half listening. I couldn’t take my eyes off his flexed, shiny, defined abdomen. The deep rumble of his voice...
When I finally looked up, Kane was grinning like a wolf.
I wanted to say something rude, but my traitorous mind was still trying to pull its jaw off the floor.
Fedrik responded instead. “Where’s your shirt?”
Kane gestured to the green pond behind him and began to unlace his leathers. “Care to stay for the show?”
“We’ll pass.” Finally, speech had returned to me. “The reviews were terrible.”
“Witty and beautiful.” Fedrik regarded me with a lifted brow. “You might be dangerous.”
“Don’t worry,” I teased. “I’ll spare you.”
“And merciful? We’re all doomed.”
“No.” Kane’s eyes narrowed at Fedrik, all humor gone. “Only you.”
That voice carried such lethal promise it sucked all the floral Peridot air out of the jungle and left the lot of us silent.
Fedrik only frowned. “Here, Wen, let me take those logs back to camp.”
I smiled primly to hide my grimace as I handed the logs to Fedrik.
“Wen?”Kane asked, voice dripping with distaste once Fedrik was out of earshot.
I bristled. “So?”
“So it sounds like a name for a horse.”
I stared at him dryly. “Birdis a literal animal.”
“Fair point.” A grin curled his lips.
“He’s nice,” I admitted. “He doesn’t look at me with pity.”
Kane’s face fell as he brushed one hand absently across his chest. He needed to put his shirt back on immediately. I turned from his broad shoulders—that muscled, tanned chestgleaming—and walked stiffly until I sat myself beside the crackling hearth.
I could have used a cold plunge myself.
?We hadn’t needed the fire for warmth given the balmy heat of the jungle even once the sun had set, but Griffin roasted his fish over the open flame, and after, we washed supper down with tea and ale. Mari made sure the protective ward was twice as strong before we let the fire build. Its brightness within the dark jungle would have been a dead giveaway to unwanted guests.
“When we arrive at Reaper’s Cavern,” Kane continued as we ate, “I think Arwen should stand guard outside.”
The fish soured on my tongue. “What? Why?”
Kane didn’t look at me as he addressed the others. “Just while we ensure some precautionary measures are in place.”
“Why?” I asked again pointedly.
“The cave is said to be inescapable.” His voice was cool, but his eyes gave away the gravity of his words.
“Lore says you’ll go mad before you find your way out,” Mari added.
A cold sweat broke out across my neck. When Kane snarled softly at her, she shot me an apologetic look.
“I intend to mark our trail as we go, as to never lose our way,” he continued. “I’d just like to make sure the cave will let me do so.”
