Page 50 of Emylia

And truthfully, I didn’t.

Maalikai stepped closer, voice dipping low enough to make the air tremble. “Then it’s a good thing I like impossible odds.” His smirk could’ve started a war. “Challenge accepted.”

ChapterThirteen

Without a word, I mounted Jet. Hiking one leg over the saddle, the skirts of my dress billowed around me—a sea of cerulean catching the wind and trailing behind. A heartbeat later, Maalikai mounted behind me.

His presence hit like a jolt—solid, inescapable, and far too close. Heat scorched where his body pressed against mine, and I cursed under my breath.

Damn him.

I was not ready for this.

My nerves surged, a wildfire beneath my skin, burning through every scrap of composure I had left. I was supposed to be in control. Instead, I was unraveling—my grip on myself, on everything, fracturing beneath his presence. My body was betraying me in ways I couldn’t afford.

Maalikai’s arms reached around me to grip Jet’s reins. His touch wasn’t lingering, not intentionally seductive—but it didn’t have to be. Muscles brushed mine, his chest warm and immovable against my back. It felt like being wrapped in a cage I wasn’t sure I wanted to escape.

I clenched my jaw, grounding myself in the reins beneath my hands, trying to drown out the way my stomach twisted.

No.

I didn't want this.

Not with him.

A breeze swept over us, carrying the scent of him—pine and snow and something wild. Of course he smelled like the damn mountains. Like a creature of the forest. Like freedom.

Jet took off, hooves pounding the earth beneath us. Each movement pressed us closer together, and I prayed Maalikai couldn’t see my face. If he did, he’d know. He’d see the war that had begun to rage inside me.

Time blurred as the forest stretched ahead, ancient trees rising like titans in our path. It was only when Maalikai loosened his grip that I realized I’d been leaning into him.

My lips parted without meaning to—but I held back whatever sound threatened to escape. He pulled away, and I hated the ache that came with it.

“So, what do you think?” His voice was low, close enough that I could feel the warmth of his breath near my ear.

I stiffened.

“What do I think of what?” I asked, struggling to sound unaffected.

He chuckled, the sound rougher than expected. “Of this.”

Only then did I truly look. We were on the edge of the Aelinthian Forrest.

The trees here weren’t like the ones near home. They were older, deeper—like they remembered things no one else did. Greens so dark they drank the light. The kind of place where you didn’t walk without purpose.

Maalikai cleared his throat. I turned, startled to find him already on the ground, one hand reaching up toward me.

I hesitated before shifting in the saddle to face him. The moment crystallized, then froze, as he waited—like he was unsure of himself for the first time.

“Do you mind?” he asked softly.

The question stole my breath.

I nodded—but barely.

His hands slid to my sides, fingertips grazing my ribs, settling at my hips. I hated how aware I was of everything—every breath, every shift, every inch of him.

Then, without warning, he lifted me. For a heartbeat, I was weightless, my hands finding his shoulders instinctively and clinging to him like he was my lifeblood.

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