Page 21 of Hungry Like a Wolf
He frowned. “For that, I am sorry and I had no part in it.”
She turned away to face the wall and stared at a small, black bug climbing up the stonework.
“War is unkind to all who know it.”
He was suddenly behind her again, close. His body heat radiated onto her back and his breaths breezed on her neck.
“My mother will be distraught when she hears the news,” Carmel whispered. “She loved him very much.”
“And she will want vengeance?”
Carmel turned to him, a sudden spark lighting her belly. “Aye, she will. My mother is not a woman to be crossed.”
“I sense it runs in the family.” He swiped his tongue over his bottom lip, leaving a soft sheen there. “Would your husband agree with me?”
“I am unwed.” She held up her left hand. “Look.”
“I do not know what that means.” He frowned at her fingers.
“No wedding ring.” She tutted. This man really was a heathen.
“So does that mean…” He bent his head closer. So close, his nose nearly touched hers and she could see the star inked onto his face in stark detail. Her instincts told her to step back, get away from this brute of a man, but the warrior in her stoodher ground and she stared up at him defiantly. “Does that mean what?”
“That you are a virgin?” He raised his eyebrows as though amused at the very thought.
“If you are asking if I am a good Christian girl saving myself for marriage, then aye, I am.” A prickle of heat went up her spine and over her scalp. Her breasts tingled and she pressed her legs together as heat went through her. This was not a proper conversation to be having with a man.
“‘Girl’? I’d say you were all woman,” he murmured, his voice low and dark. “And being the age you are and not knowing what it is like to have a man in your bed, a cock in your cunny, is surely a… What do you call it…? A sin.”
A sudden burst of temper gripped her and she placed her hands on his chest and shoved. “How dare you speak of me that way? Of my… Of my…”
He laughed and stepped away. “How dare I talk of your royal cunny? Is that what you mean?”
“Aye.” She slammed her hands onto her hips.
“You didn’t mind a few moments ago when I said I would protect your cunny’s honor from my brother’s desires.”
Her belly clenched and she swallowed the taste of bile, sickened at the thought of Orm scrabbling between her legs and penetrating her.
“And I will protect you from him,” Ravn said, heading to the door again. “But not because I want you, just so we’re clear. But from one royal to another, it is the least I can do.”
“You are trying to make amends?”
“I’m trying a new path.”
“That may be, but it’s too late for your soul to be saved. For any of your souls to be saved.” She flicked her hand in the direction of the battlefield. “The blood and guts out there tell the story.”
“From what I’ve heard, Tillicoulty did not go searching for this fight, it came to them. Think about that, Princess.” He tapped the side of his head. “Think about that.”
Suddenly, he was gone, slipping out of the dwelling nimbly for a man of his size.
“Damn you to hell and the devil’s eternal flame,” she muttered, sloshing ale into a mug. As she sipped, she looked at the chain discarded on the floor. “God giveth, then God taketh away.”
What on earth was she going to do about her predicament?
*
“Thrall!”
