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What else did you know, Char?
My blood boils at the fact that Rainer is right. But I refuse to admit it.
“I didn’t realize the trees could call to me from within the wards,” I say, prodding him. Wondering if he’ll tell me what it really was, if it wasn’t Char.
“It wasn’t—they can’t,” he says flatly. “The thing you saw—that was something else. But it doesn’t matter what it was. Once you enter the forest, you’re at the trees’ mercy.”
Something else?
I shudder, working to steady my breath. If the woods weren’t ominous enough before, they certainly are now. Why would a creepy shadow call to me, pretending to be Char?
It was difficult to resist the call. I was compelled… almost in a trance, trying to seek the voice. As if the voice was luring me out.
“I’m stuck on the part where you thought slamming into me was the solution.” I wipe the grass and dirt off my butt. “Was a bit rough.”
I might not be able to make out his features in the dark, even from just a few feet away, but it makes our interaction that much more intimate.
He steps forward, until he’s crowding my space, and his warmth pulls me in.
“I wish you no harm,” he mutters.
He reaches out, tracing my jaw. His fingers trail down to my collarbone, then down my arm.
My face heats, and a pulse builds in my core as I imagine all the ways he might get rough with me if I ask.
Hopefully he can’t sense my arousal like Ken.
Oh gods, that would be mortifying.
My skin pebbles and I try to suppress a shudder. There’s no way he’s not aware of my reaction. Based on the barely audible chuckle that leaves him, he definitely knows.
As the clouds break again, moonlight illuminates his grin.
“Do I need to lock you in your room again to keep you out of trouble?”
My lips tighten. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Oh, but he would.
He chuckles again. “Test me, human.”
“You wouldn’t,” I say bravely. He wants me to test him? Fine. I will. “For some reason, which I can’t figure out yet, you care about me. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have slammed into me like some dramatic savior. You would’ve let me walk into the forest.”
“Don’t be delusional. Keeping you from death doesn’t mean I’m fond of you. You’re a nuisance. More work than you're worth.”
“Yet you work awfully hard to protect me.”
I squint at him. His words and actions are at odds. He’s saved me twice now, kept me comfortable, allowed me freedom and resources to train. I catch him staring when he thinks I’m not looking. Yet when we’re face-to-face, he acts as if he’s unfazed by me.
“You’re a prince, don’t you have better things to do instead of entertaining me?”
He tilts his head. “At this hour?”
“Why are you out here?”
“The same reason as you.”
“Can’t sleep?”
