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“Complicated? How?”
“I don’t want to say more until I know for certain. We really just need to get you to your uncles.”
“My uncles?” I ask with fake confusion, not knowing if Birdy told him everything or not.
“I’m assuming Birdy told you? She’s the one that basically set you free, is she not?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I tell him with a straight face before shifting my focus somewhere else. If I keep letting him hold my gaze, he’s going to know I’m lying. There’s no way I’m selling Birdy out, especially not to her brother.
The dimple that appears in his cheek from his smirk lets me know that he knows I’m totally lying. “Okay, if that’s how you want to play it, fine. I’ll play along with you.” He winks at me, but I stand my ground, not letting his dangerous charm melt me. Or try to.
“I don’t know how much you know, but we’re headed to the home of the Seven, which is all that’s left of the fae that were loyal to the original queen, your mother. They got word to me at the party, and, well…” He hesitates, deciding on what he wants to divulge and what he wants to keep secret. “Let’s just say everything isn’t as it seems when it comes to the queen.”
“Really? I could’ve told you that.” My sarcasm is thick due to the disappointment of him not trusting me with whatever he has on the queen. If he’s going to kill me, what does it matter what I know or don’t know? “Why are you so loyal to her anyway? I just can’t understand it. One minute, you’re leading me to her lair in a blindfold, and the next, you’re worried about me being lost in a blizzard. Make up your mind, Riven! Because this good huntsman, bad huntsman act is giving me a serious case of whiplash.”
His face contorts with anger at my tone, and he slams his hand down on the wooden table, shaking the canteen so hard that it falls off.
“You haven’t been here!” he retorts, fury radiating out of his eyes. “You have no idea what it’s been like, so don’t judge my choices! I don’t judge you for not realizing that you left behind an entire kingdom full of people relying on you and your father. Everybody had to make allowances and do what they had to do to survive. How can you judge that? I’m not the only villain here, Princess, but that doesn’t make me a hero.”
My anger rises at his outburst. How dare he talk to me like this? With my fists balled at my side, I run into the bathroom to hide. I slam the door, desperate for a moment away from him. I let the tears fall, my body shaking in silence, and I’m grateful for the privacy of the tiny space to collect my thoughts.
Despite the hurtfulness of his words, what he said is true. The people have suffered. My people have suffered, and I don’t know how to handle it. Instead of trying to find solutions, I’m hiding and running away. I need answers! How can I help my people if I don’t even know what is going on?
I can’t allow myself to get swept away in my feelings—attraction—to him or this illusion that he’s not helping me for his own selfish reasons. I may be in distress, but I don’t need him to keep saving me.
Helplessness washes over me, and I cry harder. I stay this way for another couple of minutes, letting it flow out of my system. Once the tears stop, I do some breathing exercises and count backward from thirty to regain my composure. I’m so very tired, both mentally and physically, but I can’t continue wallowing in the bathroom. I take one last deep breath, stand up, and face him.
I find Riven resting on one side of the bed with his boots off and cape removed. He’s lying on top of the covers, but he’s drawn the quilt back for me to get under. One of his arms is flung over his head, while the other is at his side with a sword in his hand.
“I saved you a spot,” he tells me while keeping his eyes closed.
I don’t have the energy to fight anymore, so I wordlessly remove my boots, take off my cape, and shake it out before throwing it over the edges of the chairs, praying it can dry out some. I start to lie down, but the layers of my dress get tangled. Fed up with the constrictions of the fabric, I reach over to take the dagger from his hands, and before I can grasp the handle, I’m flipped to my back and pressed into the soft mattress, his hard body pinning me in place, his heated gaze holding me there.
“Do you mind?” I try to move my bandaged hands, but both wrists are pinned above my head in his large palm while his other one grips the handle of the blade, the sharp tip dangerously close to my bare neck, tipping my shocked face to his. “My dress—” I try to explain, careful not to move.
The feeling of him surrounds me, and my foolish heart should be terrified, but the opposite is true. Giving up control to him quiets my mind in a way I never knew I needed, until now.
We both stay frozen in place for one heartbeat, then two, before the darkness recedes from his dangerous eyes, and he withdraws the dagger.
I shudder, not in fear but desire. He misinterprets my body’s reaction to him and stands abruptly.
“Princess.” His voice raspy, he holds out his hand and helps me up from the bed before placing the dagger’s handle into my shaking palm. “Don’t hurt yourself… or me,” he adds before dropping back onto the bed with a sigh.
I carefully slice across the bodice where it comes to a point, right above my belly button. I tear away the fabric, leaving a small ruffle across the front. I cut out the front of the gown, leaving only the fabric on the sides and in the back in order to make it easier for our trek through the woods tomorrow. I bundle up the discarded fabric and put it in a neat pile on the ground in the corner. I turn around to see Riven’s arms behind his head, eyes open, watching me the whole time.
“What?” I demand when a bemused smile appears on his lips… lips I shouldn’t be staring at. “You try escaping from a castle in the middle of the night—in a snowstorm, I might add—running through the woods wearing a freaking ball gown!”
“I didn’t say anything,” he says with that infuriating smirk of his, but his amusement doesn’t hide the desire still lingering on his handsome face.
“Yeah, well, you didn’t have to,” I mumble and when I swing my legs over to lie down next to him, he wraps the quilt around me and pulls me to him. Once we’re settled with my back to his front, he wraps his arm around me and maneuvers the dagger so that both of our hands are holding the handle. His actions cause me to hold my breath for what seems like forever before I finally exhale.
His touch makes my heart pound so hard in my chest that I’m sure he can feel it. “Are we really doing this?” I whisper, not understanding what is happening to me… to us.
“Shhh… I’m trying to sleep,” he mutters, and I know he’s lying to me… again. Because I feel him wide-awake behind me, fighting sleep the same way I am. Eventually, my eyelids grow heavy, and I decide to give in to the exhaustion that overtakes me as I fall victim to my dreams once more.
Chapter 14
Adelaide
