Page 41 of Maiming
When I reply, my voice is barely a whisper, as if I’m afraid of getting another death glare from the pretty woman again. “They rarely ever linger like this. They’re a private race of woodland fairy who don’t do well in dropping temperatures. I bet the dramatic change in weather has thrown off their natural way of life. The cold will damage their wings if they stay. They’ll fly south. This happened once before. During the Queen’s coronation all those years ago a freeze hit. I wasn’t there, but my mother always talked about how pretty the snow was. It was the only time areas this south has ever gotten snow that I know of.” I pause, keeping my eyes held on the fragile looking fairies. “That freeze nearly wiped out their race.” I can’t help but worry about them, I almost want to urge them to work faster to take flight.
“You probably have seen them. They’re native to this area.” Kain glances at me when I speak but I can’t pull my attention away from the frantic calls of the fairy woman. “Most people mistake the will-o’-wisp’s blinking lights for fire flies. And some mistake them for ghosts.” I do look at him then, and the surprise on his handsome face is worth it. “They distract travelers and occasionally get them lost on their journey because of their beautiful, hypnotic lights. The eerie tales of the misguided travelers give the will-o’-wisps a myth of being a symbol of lost hope. Shining, unobtainable hope.”
My stomach sinks and I know not all of these little creatures will make it on their journey to the south. They could die in a matter of days if the weather isn’t warm enough.
Abruptly I stand, knowing what I have to do right here and now. My fingers fumble against the cold metal of the bird cage. Soft fur and sharp talons wrap around my finger as Minue’s tiny mouse ears nuzzle against my palm.
“Go home. Follow Sparrow,” I whisper.
The little rodent lifts his blinking eyes to me, but I know he knows.
My hand lifts into the air and in an instant his agile wings flutter against my skin. Soft feathers sweep over my knuckles for only a moment. And then the Minue quail is soaring above.
The inky eyes of the sparrow aren’t as warm and kind when they look my way. I extend my hand and the bird climbs up my index finger. Big watchful eyes stare up at me. The animal’s gaze is a sort of message. It takes in everything it sees, and if Prince Linden stares into its gaze, he’ll see all that this animal has seen. Every day and every night that’s passed is recorded within the inky gaze looking up at me.
“Linden, I owe you so much. More than I’ve ever traded with you. I owe you for accepting me when no one else did.” I stroke the bird’s soft feather’s as I try to think of the right words to tell my friend.
I feel Kain’s attention on me, but he never reaches out to me. He lets me say what I need to say.
“I just wanted to thank you,” I coo at the little sparrow and it doesn’t return the affection what-so-ever. Spying sparrows are not the loving kind. They have a job to do. Nothing more. “I’ll be building your ships in the months to come in the village of Warf. If it takes me all year, I’ll repay you.” I pause, looking deeply into those inky, watchful eyes. When I speak again it’s a quiet sound of a shaking whisper. “Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for accepting me.”
My hand lifts high and strong wings shove down against the cold breeze. A sharp caw rips through the evening sky.
I stare up at the two little dots soaring off, growing smaller and smaller by the second.
Warm hands slip over my hips.
“Something tells me I’ll be seeing that tracker rodent bird far too soon.” Kain’s lips press to my temple slowly, and I lean into his big arms as they wrap around me.
“Well I slipped him my panties to give to the Prince if he ever needs to track me.”
A smile curves his lips lingering near my ear, and I shiver when he whispers against my skin. “The Prince wouldn’t have hands to so much as give you a royal thumbs up if I ever found out he touched your panties.”
“Hands are overrated anyway. Mouths. Mouths are nice. Would you let him keep his mouth?”
His fingers tighten against my hips at the sound of my insinuation and a mixture of a suppressed growl and a forced laugh hums through him.
It’s not that I love Kain’s jealousy. It’s that I love his possessiveness. The animalistic side of him that shoves out all that logical thought that he clings to when everyone else is around. And all I have to do is mention the words prince and panties in the same sentence and all that rationalization falls away.
I know I shouldn’t poke the bear—or dragon—but I just can’t help it.
“You’re just not happy unless I’m furious, are you?” he whispers against my hair.
I turn in his arms, my gaze trailing over his handsome features, his full lips and green eyes.
“The Prince isn’t stupid enough to take what isn’t his.”
The second I say it, his pretty eyes dilate. Lust pools in big inky wells in his deep eyes. For a moment he really does look like he’ll fuck me against the wall just like Chaos and Rime promised. His hands press low against my back just as his lips brush carefully over mine. Tense control locks into his arms as he holds me, and it seems that he forces himself not to do more than just kiss me sweetly.
If I didn’t know before, I know now just from the gentle way his lips keep brushing against mine.
In reality, the prince knew before I did, I guess. Linden knew I belonged to Kain before I even knew I belonged to Kain.
Fourteen
A Costly Gift
The next eveningis so different. It’s different from anything I’ve ever done actually. I’m clean, bathed, and Helen fusses strangely with my hair. She pulls at it until my scalp hurts but I sit making quiet, pained faces until she’s happy.
