Page 193 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
The crater I’d been so desperate to leave only weeks before had wanted to protect me.
Maybe.
If I hadn’t been imagining things–that awful doubt in my own instincts still remained. I wondered when–or if–I’d ever rid myself of it.
Butifthat was true…this strange realm had done more to protect me than my own Clan.
A bittersweet realization I didn’t know what to do with–except want to protect it just as fiercely.
“When do we leave?” I asked.
“There’s my warrior.” Ryker kissed the top of my head, like he’d done it a thousand times before. It felt normal. Too normal. “We’re gathering at the main entrance at six in the morning, right at the first crow.”
“Gathering?”
“As formidable as the two of us are, we might be heading for a battle. We’ll need all the swords we can get. A battalion is marching with us, along with Nadya and Geryll. They need to learn.”
And, just like that, some of the ice returned. “So if I hadn’t barged into your room tonight–”
“Kind of hard to barge in when you were invited, Allie.”
“–I would have woken up with you gone?”
Without me.
The most painful part was that he didn’t even owe me a goodbye. We weren’t together.
We were…something different. Something unnamed, unofficial, and unbounded.
But that sounded too vulnerable to even think, let alone say out loud.
Ryker smiled. Why in the bleeding stars was he smiling when he’d just planned to leave me here in the fortress while he went off gallivanting to a potential battle without any warning?
“I was actually planning on knocking onyourdoor and asking if you wanted to join me after I’d washed today off me,” he said–and just like that, the storm which had already begun to whirl inside me quieted down with an ashamed hiss. “Butsomeone–we’re not going to say who, butsomeonein this very room–was too impatient for that.”
“Yes, well.” I cleared my throat. “Patience isn’t one of my virtues.”
“Really?” He widened his eyes comically, shaking his head. “I’d never noticed.”
I laughed and pinched his shoulder playfully, finger gliding onto his wet, sleek skin. My fingers lingered on his body, as if I had a claim to him.
I didn’t.
Not married, not promised, not lovers.
Strangers forced together by circumstance and Clan clauses.
Now a vow, not a choice.
But, gods, it felt like it was more than that.
And yet, a strange understanding had bloomed between us and lingered. Born not out of being pressed together by the fates, but by each bringing their strengths and weaknesses, honed and endured years before we’d met.
But that didn’t escape the undeniable pull he had over me–and, from the way his gaze darkened, no sparks in sight, I guessed I wasn’t the only affected one.
The air brimmed with tension and unspoken desires.
It had taken all of my self-control to focus on the discussion and not let my gaze wander down his body once more. But now that my mind had been sated, my body wanted to take the reins.
