Page 36

“May I examine it?”

“Yes.”

I ran my fingers around the base of the wing, feeling for heat or swelling. Sten’s eyes remained fixed on my face while I worked.

“Any pain here?”

“No.”

I pressed slightly higher.

“No.”

“Move it slowly.”

He opened the wing. It stretched across most of the bed, knocking one of the border cushions onto the floor.

The movement looked smooth. Very smooth indeed for something that had barely moved yesterday. And he didn’t seem to be in any pain – or if he was, he was hiding it well.

“Your mate’s blood is effective,” Sten said.

I froze. Mate. Why did he have to do that? Why destroy the moment?

“Potential mate,” I said testily. “Nothing is decided yet.”

He stopped stretching his wing. Looked at me. Thought about it, his golden eyes growing darker.

“If that word makes you more comfortable,” he said eventually.

“It does.”

“Then I will use it. Until you tell me to do so otherwise.”

There was no argument and no attempt to convince me. Somehow, that made the word mate feel more significant rather than less.

“I will fly today,” he announced.

I wanted to argue, but I didn’t know enough about gharrgoils – scratch that, I knew nothing – to know just how fast they really healed.

“A short distance,” I said. “Close to the ground.”

His face lit up.

The change made him look younger. Less like the angry warrior who had spent centuries trapped in stone and more like someone who had just been given back an important piece of himself.

“I will be careful,” he promised.

“You said that very quickly.”

“I can say it more slowly if that would reassure you.”

I laughed and pushed his shoulder. He caught my hand before I could pull it away, then pressed his lips against my palm.

The soft gesture did more to me than the erection still pressing against my thigh.

After breakfast, we walked into the field behind the lodge. The clouds had lifted, leaving strips of blue sky above the surrounding hills.

Cairn and Georgie followed us outside. Cairn claimed he wanted to make sure Sten’s wing had healed properly, although I suspected he also wanted to watch his friend attempt to fly without crashing. Or maybe he wanted to see him crash. Friendships could be like that.