Page 65 of A Sweet Destruction

It should get rest while it could, because the trail around us was starting to shape up. What was once a wide expanse of well-traveled dirt was starting to narrow and curve intentionally—a sure-fire sign we were close to a town.

“We’re about a half hour’s ride away from Salona,” Elijah called from the front, humor thick in his voice. Oh, I was sure he loved knowing that we were all on edge.

“Just checking, should I start saying my goodbyes?” Bellamy asked him, voice crystal clear. If she was scared, she hid it expertly.

Elijah threw a hand over his heart. “You peg me for a liar? That would not be very diplomatic of me if I broke the promise of our Prince now would it?”

“There is a five inch scar on her leg from your last broken promise,” Soren bit out.

Elijah moved his eyes to Soren slowly, an intentional choice to emphasize how unbothered he was by the threat in Soren’s tone. “I do believe you should be thankful for said broken promise or your paranima would be on her way to a marriage with someone else.”

Soren grumbled, but ultimately couldn’t argue with that logic.

“As I was saying,” Elijah continued, his voice drawing out dramatically. “You will be introduced to the Prince upon our arrival.”

“You make it sound so blissfully simple,” Bellamy said, her voice bright, as if she was telling a joke.

Elijah shrugged, that infuriating nonchalance again. “I find that most things are. I don’t have a taste for the dramatic.”

Esme’s snort from my side made my lip curl up in response. Elijah had a lazy air about him, but not that of a simple man. One of a king that draped himself over his throne while he made court jesters dance for him.

That fact was evidenced by the look he shot Esme after her short laugh, a dark stare that would come before a ship captain told you to walk the plank.

Elijah’s head snapped to me a second later, and it was only then that I felt the rumbling of my throat, still vibrating from the low growl that had jumped out of it. His lips turned down in an interested pout and I had half the mind to smack that expression right off his face.

I turned to Esme, if not to ask her for permission to do so, and found her cheeks warming with a blush. That dusty pink again, more beautiful than that of sunsets or roses or any damn thing I could think of.

My back straightened, chest puffing up with pride, and I leveled my gaze back at Elijah. He only spared us another, all-too-interested look before turning forward again. I wouldn’t be the one to shatter this thin extension of diplomacy, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t let Elijah trample all over us.

I wouldn’t be the person leading the charge on negotiations, but I could protect, observe. Those were far more enticing roles, anyway. I had no interest in the politics of it all, and had been largely spared from it—a consequence of the suppressed Bond. No one wanted to fawn all over paranimas who didn’t fulfill their fantasy of obsessed lovers.

Ha, the Bond barked into my head. Very funny. Just you wait.

I responded with a grumbled, I know, well aware of what was happening and finding little objection to it—hell, some might say excitement.

The Bond seemed to respond better to not yet than it did to not ever, which I imagined was a great deal of the reason it had wreaked such havoc on Esme. She had no end in sight.

I did. She would too.

As if knowing where my thoughts had shifted, Shadow craned her neck towards Sky, licking up his neck in a rare show of affection. My sweet girl was shy, but no less attached to her hyperactive mate than he was to her.

I smiled down at them, then kept it in place as I turned toward Esme. She blinked a few times, her eyes growing slightly haunted, but there was a ghost of a smile playing on her lips in return.

Good. Progress.

Just then, our path took a noticeable curve to the left, away from the gushing river and deeper into the woods. My senses sharpened on instinct, taking in every new thing, down to the bugs flying across my vision.

As we turned, the mountainside we were comfortably climbing up slanted nearly vertical—seemingly out of nowhere. The clouds and water spray must have obscured it, but now, there was no hiding the sharp jut of gray rock towering over already massive trees.

It was the type of beauty that made all of it worth the risk, the type that sent people on treacherous climbs just to be one of the few to lay their eyes on something that spectacular.

And if I was in awe to this degree…

My God.

Shadow saved me from falling right off her back, skipping a step to jostle me back to focus.

The sun was breaking through the trees, painting Esme’s face in light like the Goddess herself had guided those rays into place. Her eyes were highlighted, sparkling nearly gold with wonder and light. Little dots of sun placed tiny spotlights on each of her soft freckles, revealing even a few I hadn’t cataloged.