“Clearly,” I said, echoing the same tone he’d used with me earlier.
The edge of his mouth hitched up. “It’s late. Get some sleep.”
Some nearby creature made a weird croaking sound, like a toad but way scarier. “You expect me to sleep out here like this? What if I get eaten?”
“Nothing will eat you. Relax.” He closed his eyes. “The fire will keep them away.”
“Them? Who’sthem?”
Rowan peered over at me. “You really don’t know where we are, do you?”
“Should I?” Hearing another sound, I snapped my head toward the left where several trees grew closer together. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it looked like a dark shape passed behind the trunks.
“If you knew a thing about your kingdom, you wouldn’t need me to tell you. I’m surprised you’re so… ignorant. Not what I imagined you to be at all.”
“Gee, thanks. Adding insult to injury. Now, tell me where we are before I get mad.”
Rowan sat up, one brow curved. “I’d like to see you mad. Like an angry bunny rabbit.” I tossed the apple core at him, and he laughed. I didn’t think about how the sound caused flutters in my belly. “Fine. Allow me to enlighten His Highness. I’m taking you through the dark forest.”
“The dark forest?” I asked, confused, but then a light bulb blinked on in my head. “Wait. When you say the dark forest, do you mean… like…thedark forest? Aka, the place where demons and all sorts of horribly grotesque monsters live?”
“I wouldn’t say that too loud. You’ll hurt their feelings.”
“Oh my fucking god, Rowan! Why are we in here?” I shuffled closer to the fire. “This will keep away demons? Are you sure? Do we have enough wood to keep it burning through the night? Should we get more? What if it goes out when we’re sleeping?”
“It won’t.”
“How do you know? Are you the fire whisperer?”
“Because I enchanted it,” he answered with a glimmer of amusement in his topaz eyes.
“Enchanted it? You can use magic?” He had used sleeping dust on me, but it was possible to create a concoction like that without magic.
Rowan nodded before tossing a small stick into the fire. “I’ve been able to wield it since I was a kid. Never learned how. It was just there, inside me.”
He was like Thane, then. Born with the gift. “Why not use that magic for good? Why become a criminal?”
Hardness touched his features. “You say that like I had a choice. My magic didn’t open any doors for me. It closed them even more.”
“Why?”
“Do you always ask this many questions? It’s exhausting.”
“Sorry.” I chewed my bottom lip.
Rowan breathed out a sigh. “Go on. Ask another. I know you’re dying to.”
“Why did your magic close doors?” I asked. “My boyfriend, well one of them, is a physician and heals people with his magic.”
“One of the three men who warm your bed?”
“Um.” My face heated. “Yeah.”
“Not all magic is the same,” he answered. “It depends on the person and how the mana speaks to them. Healing magic isn’t my specialty. My life would be a lot easier if it were. Maybe then people would be more accepting. Mine is… darker. I was an unwanted orphan kicked to the streets with no fancy title or family name to hide behind, so I used my magic the best I knew how. To survive.”
I didn’t need it spelled out for me; he specialized in dark magic. I dropped my gaze to the fire pit and watched the flames crackle along the wood. “How will this keep demons away?”
“By creating a sort of camouflage,” he answered. “Any demons who wander past won’t see us. Those who are stronger may sense us, but they’ll mistake us for one of them. We’ve also both eaten from the forest, so that will strengthen the glamour.”
