Page 49 of Deadly Maiden

“You’re blushing? Why?”

“It’s…” I indicate my lower half with a sweeping gesture. “I’m not used to you seeing me, especially like this.” I shake the water from my hands then start to turn but he catches my hand, kisses it.

“You’d better get used to me seeing you naked and newly fucked, with my come on your legs.” His irises flicker with heightened colors. “It’ll happen again, soon.”

He reels me in, turns the hand kiss into a full-on, dedicated mouth kiss with his hands cupping either side of my head. I melt. How can I not?

“Now.” He slaps my bare ass. “Let’s get walking. Blood hawks have been seen in the sky, or so they told me at that town. And we can guess who they’re looking for.”

His expression twists into grimness.

“Blood hawks?” We exit the shallows and stand on the bank dripping. No towels are in our packs so my cloak will have to do. “I know of them but where are they coming from?”

Blood hawk is a creepy name. Mentally, I chide myself. Considering my parents could reanimate the dead, I should not scorn such things.

“Those will be Queen Ruelle’s. She’s a bloodwielder.”

“That is news.” Troubling news. “I truly did not know this. The details of the Aos Sin monarchy are not discussed much in Bollingham.” Or rather, they were not when I lived there.

“Whatever a blood hawk alerts her to, Ruelle can also see, no matter where she is, if she is in its eyes when it looks. It’s why I placed us beneath a tree, last night.”

“Okay. Good thinking.”

“I should have said. In dragon form I can snap them up, burn them from the sky, but by then they might have alerted her. Down here though…no. You need a ranged form of magik.”

We can’t do anything about this new problem, except to watch for flying things, I suppose.

This has reminded me of home. I don’t know what anyone is doing in Bollingham, now, or what they’ll be doing in the future. That’s depressing. Feeling homesick when my home is gone is even worse.

At least I have Rorsyd. He’s going about packing our stuff, shaking out the cloak, which is wet and somewhat full of twiggy bits. Gods, and again I feel a pang of anxiety regarding whether he will stay with me. I’m a walking mess.

He must. I need him.

Or do I? I stiffen my resolve. I cannot be so reliant on any one person. I glance at him as I pull on my leggings. Leaving him behind, the thought of him betraying me, this event has not happened and may not ever happen—yet it already holds such terrible significance.

Because he is so awesomely nice…and he’s my lover.

Bring them close, and the stabbing hurts more.

Who was it said that? Some shit philosopher, for sure.

I sit to tug on my boots and try to smooth the lines on my forehead I know I’m showing. I’m irrevocably hooked through the heart. I think I’m in love with Rorsyd, and how can that be?

“Your cloak. Keep the hood up.”

“Thanks.” I take it then rise and find the buttons and cord that fasten it at the neck.

We settle our packs on our backs and set off down a trail that meanders alongside a small hill. Soon, it merges with a road that leads to Venin. Rorsyd’s rucksack looks reinforced, double stitched, and made of tougher material than is normal. It must be heavy with gold coin, but he shows no sign of being bothered. The sun is not high yet.

No signs of anything skyward? I see nothing except the usual birds.

“I’m guessing we have four hours to midday?”

Rorsyd has been quiet. He nods. “About that. Hunder tends to get up late, but he should be open for business by then. If not, we pound on his door. Wyntre, if we get separated, find your way to Hunder Rekson.”

The only way we would be separated would be due to an ambush or similar. It’s an obvious warning. “I hope the horses find their way to someone nice to them.”

“Yes. Brinks was a good horse.”

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