Page 91 of A Legacy of the Light

I greet Mabel, running a hand down her flank while Tavish secures his pack to Atlas’s saddle. He unties both horses from the branch and hands me the reins. Thanking him, I mount Mabel and we make our way through the trees.

Crossing the heather fields fills me with the same feeling as before. I pause at the top of the hill to soak in the sight a final time before we head back into the forest.

My body locks up in hesitation as we approach the spot where the Brollachan had peered from behind the tree.

“This is the fastest way back to the palace,” Tavish tells me, sensing my nervousness.

“Can we gallop through here?” I ask, wanting to get through the dark part of the woods as fast as possible.

“Yes. Stay close to me,” he replies, and we nudge our horses into motion.

I make sure Mabel stays by Atlas’s side while giving them both enough room on the path.

Mercifully, the return journey is uneventful, but I’m tense the entire time we’re in the darkest part of the forest, and my stomach rolls at the thought of what might be lurking out of sight.

When we near the sandy bank where we had our race a few hours ago, we lead the horses out to the lake again to let them drink and rest for a few minutes.

My chest tightens as I watch Tavish stroking Atlas, at the way his strong hands gently rub down his neck. The way he gripped the back of my neck in the meadow flashes through my mind.

We came so close to kissing. I don’t know what that would mean for our friendship. While he is the most attractive man I have ever seen, I don’t want to ruin this new relationship. Being caught with Tavish when the king told me to stay away is also a concern, albeit less than it should be. My main hesitation is the need to keep things uncomplicated

I push down the desire I have for Tavish. “About what happened in the meadow . . .” I begin.

Tavish looks up at me and smirks. “You mean when you climbed me like a tree?”

“No.”

I would be lying if I said the way my legs wrapped around him so easily, or how effortlessly he carried me out of the water, didn’t make me think what it would be like to be intimate with him.

“I mean what happened before that fish savagely attacked me.”

His answering laugh is loud, his eyes crinkling around the edges. “What about it?”

“I’m not sure us going there is such a good idea.”

“Why?”

“We’re friends, and I don’t want to ruin that. Besides, you’re a Seelie prince and I’m a human with a limited visa.”

He holds my gaze, searching my eyes, as if he’s trying to root out that part of me that’s demanding I throw myself at him and find out how he tastes.

I don’t back down.

“Okay, we won’t go there,” he says after a minute. “But for what it’s worth . . .” his voice deepens and he closes the distance between us.

My gaze finds his.

“I think you’re incredibly beautiful. And I’m going to find it really fucking difficult to forget what your wet body looks like, or how it felt to have you wrapped around me.”

Tavish’s eyes dip to my lips a final time before he turns and mounts Atlas in a smooth motion that leaves me gawking and my body tingling.

This fucking guy.

How can one sentence turn me into a puddle? If I ever did taste him, I don’t think I would ever recover.

“Come on!” he calls and heads back to the forest.

I shake my head and mount Mabel to follow him.