Page 125 of A Baron of Bonds
I blushed at that too, but turned alway quickly to calm my stupid heart down. “Busy and excessive?”
He laughed, walking to me and casually putting an arm over my shoulder. “I was thinking colorful and bright. Like the sun when it shines on a meadow.”
If my heart beat any faster, it would burst from my chest. He couldn’t just say things like that, but did more and more the longer he was here.
“Thank you,” I murmured, taking a quick glance to look up at his face, seeing his clear, blue eyes already on mine.
“I mean it, Sae. It’s beautiful.” His eyes narrowed slightly and he brushed my long waves back from my face, his hand lingering by my neck.
“You’ve outdone yourself, Saelyn!” Pah-Pah’s clap of approval startled us both. We turned to see him coming into the small clearing.
Thevin’s hands found themselves in his pockets and mine wrung on my skirts.
“Thank you. There’s very little left to do, but I keep thinking I’m missing something.”
He shook his head and walked to me, his arms outstretched for an embrace, and hugging me, he whispered, “Looks like you have everything you need.”
I think I’d die right there if Thevin heard that.
He pulled himself back as I pinched his arm.
“Shall we get some lunch? Your mother has set up something for us to share.”
I raised a brow and looked at Thevin who shrugged, saying, “Sure. I could use some nourishment if I’m to keep working with this tyrant over here.”
I smiled wide just as he did, loving his teasing, loving the way his cropped curls brushed across his forehead because I knew I was a goner.
Not only had I fallen madly in love with the one person I so rarely got to see, I had started to wonder if he was slowly falling for me.
“Saelyn.” My name brushed lightly on the wind and chills racked through my body, stealing my ability to move.
Pah-Pah turned to lead us back to my mother, and Thevin frowned my way.
“What is it?” he asked.
My eyes darted through the trees, the flowers, the underbrush, looking for any sign of where my name had come from.
“Sometimes I—” I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”
I walked forward and he slid up beside me. “It’s not nothing if it makes you look like that.”
I shrugged, choosing to ignore whatever it was that was obviously haunting me. Whatever it was that had been haunting me for years.
Chapter 52
Rev
The toweringiron-leaded doors of the Fortress were waiting to be opened, but I didn’t want to move.
My fingers wrapped through Karus’s cold hand, and yet she was not close enough.
I did not want to do this.
Every part of my body begged to scoop her up and take her back to bed.
Every sliver of my soul warned me, screamed at me to force her behind locked doors and close her up to keep her safe from the task that faced us.
I could do it.
