Page 45 of Peregrine's Call
“How long was that?” Octavian despised himself for asking the question, but he needed to hear the answer.
“Only a moment, really,” Robin replied, rolling her eyes. “But it felt like years.”
He put a hand out to her shoulder. “Robin. Look at me. Did he hurt you?”
She raised her chin unwillingly, her whole manner righteously offended. “He couldn’t if he tried. After he got too attentive, I pushed him away and showed him I meant it.” Robin flicked her hand, and there was the slim blade, flashing the firelight. She smiled, then returned it to its hidden sheath, somewhere in the folds of her dress.
“So he didn’t push you into anything.”
“Never.” Robin set her jaw. “But he did…well, he laughed at me the whole time. He enjoyed using me as cover for his own purposes. He wasn’t violent, though. Aside from the bite.” One finger edged up to touch the corner of her mouth, where he saw a spot of blood. The sight of it made Tav want to find Pierce and throw him out a window.
“Thebite?”
Robin misread his fury, because she said, “And now you’re angry with me for going there in the first place.”
“No, I’m not angry with you,” he said quickly. “I’m angry at Pierce for using you like that. And at all the other men before who you had to keep at knifepoint because they didn’t listen to a simple no. Why do all your encounters with men end up badly?”
“Not my encounters with you,” she said with a faint smile. “Those I thought ended quite well…if a little too quickly.”
The smile caused another bead of blood to well up at the corner of her mouth. He raised his hand to wipe it away. His thumb lingered on her bottom lip. She looked up at him with those deep blue eyes, and her lips parted. “Tav.”
She raised her own hand up to take his, and tipped her head upward.
Knowing he shouldn’t, Tav leaned down to kiss her.
She let out a tiny sigh.
“Now that’s a proper kiss,” she said.
He wanted to hear that. He wanted to hear it a little too much.
Robin’s hands dropped to her sides as he pulled away. “I’m sorry. I know we said we wouldn’t do this. Should I go?” she asked, her eyes locked on his, trusting him to give her the answer.
“Yes. You should.” He stroked her jaw with one finger, loving how she inhaled in reaction, opening her mouth, inviting him to taste her a little deeper. “But I don’t want you to go.”
He bent to kiss her again. When his tongue touched hers, Robin’s fingers dug into his skin.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh.” Her voice was throaty, almost entirely unlike the Robin he knew. But he liked the Robin who was revealing herself now—more mature, but still innocent. More vulnerable, but still trusting. She licked her lower lip without knowing she did it.
That was what broke him. The expression of desire from her.
“Stay,” he said. “Until you want to leave.”
“You’d let me?” she asked hesitantly.
It was madness to let her stay in his room with him in the middle of the night, but it was what he wanted. What he needed. He reached for her again, twining her hair in his hands while he sought another kiss.
She moaned softly when his mouth touched hers, and the sound vibrated through him. Then her tongue flicked against his just for a moment. Tav tightened his grip instinctively and his own body reacted to her presence.
Robin took a ragged breath, and whispered, “I want to stay, but…”
She said something else, but the words were too soft to hear. “What?”
Robin raised her head slightly, her expression half anxious and half defiant. “I don’t want you to hate me.” Then she ducked her head down, tucking herself into him.
“Why would I hate you?” he asked.
“I saw your face when I first came to the door, when you thought I’d gone to his room for…well,” she mumbled. “I disappoint you. Just as I disappointed Rainald and Cecily and Alric. Everyone I love, I fail them. I try. I want to be the sort of woman you’re all trying to make me into. Truly. But I can’t seem to ever forget the girl I used to be. Rude and thoughtless and uncivilized. Always ready to make a mistake. And whoever sees me gets this look in their eye. Just as you did at the door. A look that says I’m not what anyone wanted.”
