Page 60 of The Princesses of Ruin
I find the depressions of long feet and tails in the snow and follow it until I find the food source they’re feeding on: a small patch of moss surviving under a hollow log. I push the free end of the wirethrough a crack in the log and twist it on tight, then rest the noose on a Y-shaped twig like the captain had done.
“You’re so trainable,” she whispers behind me. “Such a good boy.”
The desire is dripping from her words, making my blood pump straight to my groin. Gods damn Dee and Leslie for awakening these hidden proclivities within me.
“Let’s go set camp,” she says.
Sharing a tent with her the past few days has been uneventful, but I sense the shift in the air, in our dynamic. She can hear my heartbeat. She knows what her words are doing to me.
“We’re not worried about losing a day?” I ask, dusting the snow from my knees when I rise.
“We need bait as well as food, so we’ll set camp and make more snares, setting them throughout the area.”
Right. The other reason I’m here. Poison the wolf to make sure we survive the encounter.
“That’s very smart.”
She winks at me. “I’m more than just my womanly charms.”
She turns away, sashaying her hips. My gaze drifts down her body, and despite it being cloaked and well-covered, I’m still finding things to appreciate. The dagger strap on her thick thigh. The dip of her ankle under her boot. The swell of her chest beneath heavy furs.
I catch her gaze and find myself blinking at her stupidly.
“Are you coming?” Her voice is loaded with salacious intent, and I find myself wanting to be playful back.
Enjoy the sun in the darkness.
“Not yet,” I say, attempting a bedroom voice.
It mustn’t have landed right because the captain laughs. My face heats and I dip my head, avoiding her stare. The snow crunches under her boots as she comes back to me. Her gloved hand comesup to my chin, lifting it. We’re eye to eye, the captain just as tall as me with the lift in her shoes.
My blood sears my heart and throbs in my cock. She’s so beautiful. So powerful.
Her gaze darts between my eyes, then to my lips as she mumbles, “You’re too cute to ruin.”
Heat returns to my face and I swallow to wet my dry mouth. I think I would like her brand of ruining, but before I can tell her so, her face hardens. The playfulness is gone, and she turns away.
“We should set camp before what little light we have is gone.”
Fuck.
Me.
I sigh, taking one last look at my handiwork in the snow. I need to work harder if I’m going to impress her. I need to be less cute so she doesn’t fear ruining me.
I want her light in my life. I need it.
I will seduce the captain before the trip is through.
Chapter twenty-three
Emillia
Idon’t typically have moral quandaries around fucking a man—or a woman, for that matter. But Adrik is…different.
He’s too kind.
I can tell he’s one chaste kiss away from being in love with me. The feeling is more than a little intoxicating. I’ve had lovers hunger for me before, but their urges were all of the carnal sort, and so were mine.
