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“A pair of those things grabbed Larch and nearly carried him off, but Athena threw her dagger and hurt one, so they dropped him,” Starling said, looking between me and Rogue. She produced a bright smile. “So we’re fine! We’ll just see you and Lord Rogue in the morning.”
With night truly fallen, and without Rogue’s intense body heat to warm me, I shivered. He slipped an arm around my waist and drew me against him, a casual intimacy I’d never before been able to allow and I leaned my cheek against his chest. The 3/4 rhythm of his heart pounded under my ear, reflecting all that aroused desire I sensed, but didn’t show on his impassive face.
“There should be no stopping for the night,” he declared. “It’s likely only a matter of time until something worse is sent after us. More distance is better.”
“That’s not what you said a few minutes ago,” I said for his sharp ears only.
He looked down at me, eyes bright as if lit from within, and cupped my face, thumb running over my cheekbone. “I lost my head.”
I leaned in to the touch, impossibly moved by that simple declaration.
“I’d tell you two to get a room,” Athena cracked, “but I don’t think thereareany for leagues in any direction—besides Titania’s castle, that is.”
I laughed, amused that the idiom existed in the fae culture, too, but Starling rounded on the petite fairy girl. “You will not speak to Lord Rogue and Lady Gwynn that way!”
Athena spun her dagger for a moment, eyeing Starling. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and get Gwynn’s cloak for her?”
“Oh!” Starling took the bait immediately and dashed to the saddlebags, rummaging wildly, as if to make up for her lapse with speed. I would have told her not to worry, but having the cloak sounded really good. The cold seemed to be eating into me.
Starling brought it over and Rogue took it from her.
“Allow me.” He shook it out and held it for me to step into, his long fingers brushing my neck as he settled it over my shoulders. Fastening the green silk frogs at my throat, he bent down and whispered in my ear. “I’d planned to have you naked by now, not wearing more clothes. You owe me.”
Owing Rogue anything generally led to very bad bargains for me, but this time the demand rocketed through me, full of sensual promise. The cloak felt heavenly—hopefully it would soon warm me up.
A hound bayed, the bone-chilling sound eerie in the night, quickly joined by more wolfish howls and shrieks from humanoid throats. Horses thundered in silhouette across the face of the moon.
“Another excellent reason not to be caught sleeping. The Wild Hunt rides—and they appear to have slipped their leash,” Rogue said in a dry tone. “Let’s be on our way. My Lady Gwynn?”
At least he made a semblance of asking before he swung me up in his arms and strode toward Felicity, who’d managed to find a few tufts of grass growing between the black rocks. Mounting with no hands and the same fluid grace, he continued to hold me, like a bride carried over the threshold.
“I can sit astride,” I protested.
“This way you can sleep. Your mortal flesh needs it.”
“Starling is half-human—she needs rest too.”
“Lady Starling,” he called out, and the others clopped up to join us. “Shall I bespell you to stay in your saddle, so you can sleep without fear of falling off?”
“Oh, Lord Rogue, that would be lovely, but I fear I couldn’t pay for such a generous gift.”
“On the contrary,” he replied. “I am in your debt, for your great services in rescuing me.”
She fluttered, embarrassed and pleased, then agreed. Athena and Larch, fueled by magic, could continue indefinitely. Larch never even rode, just ran beside us, his squat, Brownie body moving at uncanny speeds. We set off down the canyon, moonlight bouncing off the opaque glassy surfaces of the rocks.
“You could have spelled me to stay in the saddle. Hell, I could have done that, too,” I said.
He adjusted his arms around me, my hip pressed against the hard line of his cock, obvious even through my thick cloak. “Indulge me. If I can’t have everything yet, I can at least enjoy the feel of you in my arms.”
“You could also let me ride Felicity and you could poof yourself elsewhere, like you do. You have enough power now, I’ll bet.”
“True.” He sounded thoughtful. “But you are forgetting something. I’m not leaving you behind, ever again, my Gwynn.”
His words had the power of a vow. Not lightly done in Faerie, where crazy-ass goddess and queen Titania played enforcer and executioner. “You’re being awfully sweet and romantic. Prison changed you, man.” I reached for the joke, shying away from the intensity of it all, but Rogue went still, pulling his thoughts deep where I couldn’t hear them.
“Yes,” he finally said. “Yes, it did.”
Chapter 2
