Page 34 of A Court of Truth and Thorns
The followingmorning starts with Raza’s detailed complaining. She doesn’t see why she should be the one to ride double behind Alexa; why someone else can’t collect the firewood; why Wil refuses to walk beside her. Even Calvin’s patience stretches thin, though he channels the annoyance into fervently collecting willow bark and brewing a headache-easing tea when we stop to rest.
“This brew is revolting, Master Calvin,” Rune says with respect as he sips the offering. “It is well made.”
“Spoken like a healer,” says Calvin with a small chuckle.
I bite my lip. Rune engaging with Calvin, the Dansil questioner, is a bridge I hadn’t expected him to cross. Dansil’s looming approach—and the gut-turning anxiety it heightens with each step—makes for new alliances, it seems. If Rune and Calvin can speak, maybe Rune and I are due for another conversation as well. Maybe more than a conversation.
Or maybe we should skip conversation altogether.
Getting off watch that night, I find myself heading for Rune’s bedroll instead of mine, my heart hammering in my chest.
23
KALI
“Kali?” Rune bolts up from his bedroll as I kneel beside him. “What’s wrong?”
My pulse racing, I lean toward him and brazenly press my mouth against his. “The lack of this,” I say, pulling away to bring my lips close to his ear. “And more.”
A quiet rumble vibrates Rune’s chest, his hands on my shoulders, pushing me away. “Kali.” His voice is heavy with warning. “Be careful. I’ve only so much willpower left.”
“Willpower to do what?” I whisper, the calloused warmth of his hands on my arms so loud, I can barely hear his words.
“To stop myself from doing something that will get us both killed,” Rune says. He growls softly, and in the next moment his arms shift, pushing me onto my back with him braced above me, his breath tickling my neck. “The things I want to do to you, Kali. To do with you... Stars.” Rune turns his face, taking deep, lung-stretching breaths while my own come quick and shallow.
I put my hands on his chest, pleased to find that he issleeping without his shirt, and my palms press against smooth skin and sculpted muscle.
Rune grabs my wrists, pinning them to the ground. “This isn’t the time for complications,” he says, his voice raspy. “Not when we have a war to prepare for. When my father might find a way to execute me even if we are successful in reclaiming the Dansil throne. We need to keep our minds focused on...” He swallows. “On other things.”
My chest tightens. “You don’t want me?”
“I don’t want a bigger target painted on your back than you already have,” Rune says, his face leaning closer to mine. “I love you, Kali.” My breath catches. Our faces are so close now that I can only see his eyes. “And for that, for you, I’m—”
“Then paint away,” I whisper, cutting him off.
“What?”
“You said you love me.” I lick my lips, my pulse now echoing through my whole body. “And I said, paint away. I don’t care if you paint a target or a bouquet of flowers. Paint something, Rune, and we’ll figure it all out later.”
Rune draws a ragged breath, his whole body tensing before descending onto mine, his mouth claiming mine with a hunger my own body welcomes. No, not just welcomes—demands in flashes of ice and heat that start in my chest and work their way down to my thighs.
Rune pulls back and I moan softly in frustration.
“Quiet,” Rune whispers into my ear before his lips find the space right behind my earlobe and kiss it softly.
I shiver.
Rune shifts his head, laying a trail of kisses down my jaw, the corner of my mouth, my neck. Each touch of his lips against my skin is like a tiny ember, a delicious little shock that stokes the flame steadily growing between my legs.
With my wrists still beneath Rune’s iron hold, I arch myhips into him without thought, feeling the hard bulge in the front of his breeches.
“Stars,” Rune gasps, releasing his hold on me as he sits up and pants, his thighs now straddling my hips.
I buck in encouragement, my body pulsing with an excitement that my brain can’t keep up with.
“Not here,” Rune whispers between clenched teeth. “I will have you, Kali, but in a bed, in a room, in... in privacy.” He rolls off of me, pulling me against him until my back is flush with his chest and his arms are wrapped around me like a cocoon. Rune’s breaths are fast and hot against the back of my neck, but his solid body stills my squirming. “Sleep,” he rasps. “Here with me. Sleep with me until morning, and stars save anyone who has a comment about it.”
We makeour final stop a half day’s ride from Delta. A high-ground spot on the edge of a dense wood, with ample water and endless clusters of red and black berries growing on thorny branches. If all goes as planned, this is where we will lead the liberated whisperers. Hundreds of people and only the supplies of the land to survive by. At least Dansil’s warm climate is on our side.
