Page 7 of The Heir
“A vacation.”
“Ahh…” She walked toward the water.
I was tempted to go inside my little house and close the door, but feeling worried that others might come as well, I followed her. “Who else knows that I’m here?”
“No one but me.”
“So now what? Are you gonna run back to my parents and tell them where to find me?”
Linea kept walking until she reached the wet part of the sand. Bending down, she picked up a stone and brushed sand off it. The breeze was stronger down here and lifted some of the strands of her long red hair. “They worry about you.”
“Then tell them I’m fine.”
Pulling her arm back she threw the stone into the ocean and then she brushed off her hands. “I already did.”
“Let me guess, they didn’t believe you.”
Linea met my gaze. “Can you blame them for needing assurance? As I recall it, you never trusted my abilities either.”
“Then tell them I’m in the Motherlands and I want to be left alone. I’ll come back when I’m ready. Not when they tell me to.”
Squatting down, Linea petted Huginn and Muninn, who followed her like mesmerized minions. It annoyed me that she had such an impact on my dogs and that she made me feel like I could never hide from her. Not only had she pointed to the location of my friend Sparrow when she was kidnapped recently, Linea had also managed to find me when it should have been impossible. The worst part was that it felt like Linea didn’t just know how to track me down physically, but that I couldn’t hide my thoughts from her either.
My mind was a mess, and I didn’t need her to see through my shield and feel sorry for me. My pride made me hiss out loud, “I’m warning you, woman; if you tell anyone where I am, I’ll find you and make your bottom as red as your hair.”
Linea jerked her head back and stared up at me. “What did you say?”
My chest rose and fell with stress pumping in my chest. “You heard me.”
Raising to her full height, she still had to tilt her head back to lock eyes with me. “Is that a threat, Thor?”
The way she studied my face and said my name like I was a naughty schoolboy made me double down. “You’re damn right it’s a threat. You need to keep your mouth shut and stay out of my business.”
Tucking her hands into the pockets of her sundress, she challenged me. “Come on, Thor, you wouldn’t actually spank me if I tell anyone where you are, would you?”
My jaws tightened as confusion made me even angrier. I didn’t want or need mental images of my hands on her behind to arouse me right now. “Try me and you’ll find out.”
“Have you ever given a woman a spanking in your life?”
I didn’t answer but asked a question of my own. “Have you ever received one?”
“No, of course not. Physical discipline isn’t used in the Motherlands. We talk about things as civilized people.”
“Good, then you’lllistenwhen I tell youneverto disclose my location to anyone. I like it here.”
Linea watched me like I was speaking an unintelligible language and then she shook her head.
“What?”
“You wouldn’t lay a hand on me. You’re Pearl Pilotti’s son.”
I grunted low. “If you knew how many times Motlanders have reminded me of that. As if my mother had the power to radically change an Nman.”
“She changed your father.”
My chuckle was dry and humorless. “That’s what you Motlanders would like to think, but the truth is that he changed her.”
“They probably changed each other.”
