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Charlie’s arms came around me. “You are not my tool. I don’t know how you exist, if you want me to be honest. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the goodness you walk around with.” He kissed my cheek, pausing there a long time. “Don’t take herbs you’re not sure about. I don’t want you not to wake up.”
I practically vibrated against him. “I shouldn’t have done that. I wouldn’t have, if I’d been in my right mind.”
“Then don’t run away from me when you’re not in your right mind.” He tugged me closer like he wanted to breathe me into his body. “Don’t let them off the hook so fast. It’ll be good for them.”
I closed my eyes against his chest. I really must have dosed myself pretty strongly because I could have gone to sleep standing up and had to force myself awake. “I was afraid, too. I don’t know why, but I was afraid.”
I couldn’t really fathom it. I’d been upset and angry, but why was I afraid? They were assholes—even Charlie could be, I saw it—but they had never given me reason to be fearful they might hurt me.
“You hit your head on the ground, hard, on a rock. It can make anyone muddled.” He rubbed the back of my head. “But you have no reason to currently be afraid. When we see the flying beasts later, if they make you anxious, that’s normal.”
I didn’t know why that made me grin, but it did. “Okay.”
“Come on. Get dressed and I’ll feed you, then we’ll go. The others are all pacing around because they don’t know what to do with themselves.”
I tried to let go, but dizziness assaulted me. “Not sure I can.”
“Whether that is because of the head injury or what you took, I’m not sure, but you’re in no condition to manage alone. I’ll help you get dressed. Food can’t hurt, I don’t think.” He helped me sit down on the bed. Truthfully, I might just be starving. Why would that be? It wasn’t like I hadn’t eaten in days. I did feel completely drained. He pulled out a blue dress. “How about this one?”
I supposed one was as good as the next, so I shrugged. “I don’t look right in any of them.”
“Why not? I thought they measured you and everything.” He helped me to stand up and pulled my nightgown—that I didn’t remember putting on my body—over my head. Maybe for a second, he tried not to look at me, but that didn’t last. As I stared at him, his gaze fell over my body, taking me in. I didn’t know what he thought because he said nothing, but his eyes widened and a hunger filled them for a moment. Finally, and maybe it really was just seconds, he helped me to step into my dress. As he turned me around so he could zip it, he reiterated his question.
“Why do you think you don’t look right in this?”
I sighed. “It’s just that these clothes are formal and I’m really not. I’m a simple country girl. I like things that allow me to run and that I don’t have to worry so much about cleaning if they get dirty.”
He kissed my shoulder. “But you’re not just a simple country girl anymore. You’re the wife of Warriors. They dress like the wealthy women they are. Besides, I think you can run in anything you want, if you’re desperate enough. Trust me, when there’s a will, there’s a way.”
That made sense. “I still feel weird in it.”
Where he kissed me, it tingled. “You don’t look weird. You look chosen.”
I turned to stare at him. “Did you like what you saw? When I was…in my underwear.”
He met my gaze and didn’t let it go. “I think you saw that I did.”
“I did. You know I have no experience with those things.” I was sure he did, so I didn’t phrase it as a question. “So, I guess…I wanted to know if you liked it because I’m not one hundred percent sure about that kind of thing.”
He kissed me, but it didn’t feel like the pecks he’d given me in the past. Instead, it felt as if he introduced me to something new, something loaded with heat. “They send you off so innocent, but you won’t be for much longer. I can promise you, whatever you think is or isn’t happening between us, that will change for you.”
I could object, but I didn’t, because if he wanted to pull my dress off right then and take me on the bed, I would do whatever he wanted. For the first time in hours, I was absolutely not frightened, and it was such a relief. My body vibrated. I’d always wondered about this aspect of things between a man and woman.
He kissed my hand. “Come. Let’s get you fed. By then, maybe some of whatever you took will fade away. If you’re feeling better, then we’ll go take on the flying beasts.”
“Charlie…” My voice was low. “You won’t let anyone or anything take me, right?”
My husband put his hand over his heart. “I promise.”
“Sloane?” Freddie spoke to me as we stepped outside to the sunshine. “What you saw, that was all me. Not the rest of them. Take it out on me. I’m the one who deserves it.”
I lifted my eyebrows to stare at him. “You have an important job to do. I think maybe you should do that and think about me later.”
“I think about you constantly.” He frowned. “I can be very singular in what I think about. I can’t help it. If you give me a job to do, I do it. We were supposed to be working on convincing you to stay with us. That’s all I could see.” He smiled. “I’ll figure out a way for you to like me again. As I said, I’m very focused on things. Trust me on it.”
I sighed. “Go kill the flying things. Maybe you could just try being real?”
“I’ll think about it.”
