Page 38 of A Kiss of Embers
But it wasn’t a question he knew how to answer. “I don’t know.”
She shook her head and pointed to his chest. “Yes, you do. You would give her up. Because you’ve done it before. You had a chance to save her. And you chose to imprison her instead.”
“She meant nothing to me then!” he shouted suddenly but winced and lowered his voice. He repeated in a softer tone, “She meant nothing to me, only that she was a child from the enemy clan.” He took her by the shoulders and tried to convey his sincerity with his gaze alone. “But now she means everything to me. Because she means everything to you.”
Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “But you still ‘don’t know’ where your loyalties lie.”
“This is a complicated situation. And you know it.” Releasing a long breath, he brushed a finger along the earrings in her ear and tucked a strand of her hair behind her shoulder. “Luckily for you, Ashryn’s loyalties lie with me and not the settlement. She would fight the patrol guard to save your—to save Pri.”
“You don’t sound too happy about it.”
“Becauseyouput my best friend in danger!”
Seraphina huffed and turned away from him with arms crossed. “Like you said—this is a complicated situation.”
He slumped to the ground, weary from the events of the past several days, but most especially from so much running with aching, festering wounds. “Get some sleep,” he said, even though he was ready to drop himself. However, she looked far too ready to drop as well. “I’ll take first watch.”
“You really have the patrol thing down, don’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“How aboutItake the first watch?”
The distrust in her eyes washed away any hope he might have had about her concern for him. “You still don’t trust me after everything.” When she didn’t answer, he held up his palm to show her the small slice across his skin, now formed into a scab. “I am bound by an oath. I cannot leave you.” He swallowed as he gazed up at her. “And I do not want to.”
For several long moments, she simply stared back at him before she turned in a circle, and then another circle, as if to survey the danger of their surroundings. And then she stretched her wings out to either side of her, mesmerizing him with the shape, the color, the birth. What would it be like to fly? To soar through the air? To fly above the treetops?
She lowered herself to the ground and curled into a ball with her wings draped over her like a blanket. He started to chuckle but inhaled quite suddenly when she laid her head on his thigh, face turned toward his feet.
“Oh.” He stared at the sheen of black hair cascading over his knee. “All right. Yep, that’s fine.”
“I still hate you,” she grumbled.
Though, he didn’t miss the slight twitch of her mouth as if she tried to hold back a smile. “I hate you, too.”
It didn’t take too long for her back to rise and fall with the deep breaths of sleep. He soon found it difficult to keep his hands clenched at his sides, refusing to touch her while she slept. He wanted to run his fingers through her hair, feel the scales on her shoulders, touch the thin membrane of her wings. But he would not be like the other men in her life. He would not take but only be given with consent.
Forcing his attention away from her, he surveyed the forest with careful eyes. The faint rustle of mice scampering through the undergrowth occupied his attention, as well as the hoot of a distant owl.
He kept an eye out for the silhouette of an Ember Fae waiting in the shadows but found nothing more than dark branches and bushes.
The patrol guard part of him wanted to get to his feet, to patrol the area for threats without blind spots, such as the entire area behind him. But he also didn’t want to leave Seraphina without a pillow for her head.
Besides, he admitted to enjoying her nearness far more than he should.
However, after a few minutes, he sighed, gently moved his leg out from under her head, and placed a pile of leaves beneath her. He was no fool. During patrols, all personal feelings and relations must be left behind in order to keep one’s charges safe.
He winced when he put weight on his leg, and the soreness in his arm and shoulder was nearly too great for him to lift a hand to brush his hair out of his face. But he pushed through the discomfort and slowly made his rounds in the area directly surrounding Seraphina.
With each pass, he moved farther out but always made sure to keep the woman within his sights.
He fingered the palm of his new obsidian sword, the only weapon on his person, as he surveyed the area around him. Nearly four days had passed since his capture, which meant only three remained before they needed to reach the Burning Cliffs. They should have reached them by now. But he imagined having to drag someone through the forest, getting attacked by an ice wraith, and getting captured a second time might slow down someone’s journey.
A sudden hush descended upon the forest, and Bastien internally groaned. What was it this time? Crossbow man? Fae-eating spiders? A pack of chupacabras?
The thought of facing down one more enemy pressed on his weary shoulders as he drew his sword. His body screamed for rest, and his mind begged for peace.
If he could make it only three more days, he might know both again.
