Page 48 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

Her eyes scanned the tree line, a small frown settling between her brows when she found nothing but dappled sunlight.

Where were these images coming from, and why were they making her chest ache?

“Booby traps?” Bronn asked, letting Caly walk ahead of him. “Why would smugglers set traps in their own hideout?”

“To ward off trespassers.”

He flashed her a grin. “The island tends to do that on its own.”

Tension crawled between her shoulder blades. “Why? Is it a secret volcano or something?”

“What?” he asked with a bark of laughter. “No. Of course not. Well... I don’t think so. It’s just that these isles aren’t exactly easy to get to. Anyone who stumbled on one of them likely did so intentionally.”

“Except for us.”

“We do tend to be the exception rather than the rule,” he said with a smirk.

Shadow didn’t have as easy a time dismissing the possibility, which was why she continued to sweep her gaze across the ground, checking for tripwires or other potential hazards.

“You should look where you’re going,” Ronan murmured, shooting her an amused glance as he lifted a branch out of her way.

She blinked up at the thick limb she’d almost walked straight into. “Thanks.”

He nodded, that small smile still playing about his lips.

“What?” she demanded, hesitating before walking on.

“It’s almost like old times.”

“We don’t have old times.”

His smile dimmed a bit at the edges, but he shrugged and kept his voice light. “It’s not the first forest we’ve traipsed through together.”

She couldn’t exactly refute the point. With the gaps in her memory, it was certainly possible she’d forgotten such an occasion. For the first time, the possibility of lost moments between them really bothered her.

“It’s a jungle, not a forest,” she snapped, her frustration with her own shortcomings leaking out in her voice and sounding like an attack.

He dropped his hand, letting the branch smack her in the face. “Call it what you will. We’re hiking through trees and other green shrubbery, and not for the first time.”

I... deserved that.She sighed, her shoulders slumping a little as she spat out what she hoped were only a couple of leaves and followed along after him.Perhaps antagonizing the man you just decided to explore things with is not the wisest course of action, Shadow dear.

She hadn’t meant to. Really. She just wasn’t used to being... nice. Not that she walked around making a point of verbally cutting people down, she just hadn’t had much of a reason to make an effort to be friendly. The people she was surrounded by rarely spoke to her outside of issuing orders or asking for progress reports, and the townsfolk were terrified of her. Neither situation lent itself to developing any sort of meaningful relationship. Platonic or otherwise.

Shadow frowned. Did she really not have any friends? Did she want them?

Dovina and the rest of the flock hardly counted. They were more like coworkers or fellow soldiers. People that one spent time with due to proximity rather than intent. Besides, the Raven only saw value in others based on the information they could provide. One would have to be a fool to consider the spy a friend.

A feeling that could have been loneliness crept through her chest, weighing down her heart. Shadow blamed the day’s near-death experience on her uncharacteristic melancholy. She was an assassin, for fuck’s sake. What in the darkness was she supposed to do with afriend?

“That’s a new expression for you.”

Shadow snapped to attention a mere step away from walking face first into a tree.Stars. “What is?”

“Thoughtful,” Ronan replied, his lips tugging up in a teasing grin.

“I think,” she said, indignation giving the words bite.

Did I really just say that?Laughter made his eyes dance, and embarrassment crawled up her neck.Stars, I did. It’s no wonder you’ve never had a long-term lover, Shadow. With your scintillating conversational skills, why would any man want to keep you around for longer than a single night?

---