Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
SOFIA
Sofia and Chalia scouted ahead, flying low along the snowy slopes, ducking into crevices and caves when they saw them, trying to find sufficient protection against the wind and snow.
The sun was nearing its zenith when they found a cave tucked behind an outcrop of rocks.
Sofia practically cried when she stepped inside, enveloped by the hot, damp air.
It smelled of sulfur, but she didn’t care.
She closed her eyes, savoring its heat. Sweat prickled along her brow, not from exertion but from the humidity in the air, and she thought of the rainforest. The cave was perfect.
It wouldn’t matter that there was only a scattering of trees outside with which to build a fire.
They’d be safe and warm here for as many days as they needed.
By the time she returned to the cave with the entire heat-starved group, the sun had set, and they were navigating by the moonlight.
The tension of the day’s journey released as the others stepped into the cave and felt the heat of whatever hot spring hid away in the shadows.
She hadn’t bothered to explore originally, but as they set up camp, she noticed a few dark tunnels reaching farther into the mountain at the back of the cave.
“Tomorrow, we’ll leave for the dragons’ nesting grounds,” Micael said, handing Sofia her ration of dried wolf meat and nuts. The meat was a pleasurable mix of salty and smoky—so long as she ignored the stringy texture.
Sofia nodded, eyeing the rest of the group. Whatever arguments Clarita and the others had had seemed to have been worked out during their hike. Fox was silent beside her, and she felt his unease in the stiff set of his shoulders.
He’d saved Micael’s life, and the man thanking him had been nothing to scoff at, but it would take more for the group to truly trust Fox. What was it like to feel so alone while surrounded by people? And what were they to him? Allies? Reluctantly. Surely not friends.
And what was she to him?
What a pitiful question to dwell on while her people stood on the brink of war.
Yet, when they laid out their beds and furs for the night, she found herself pushing her pad against his.
This time, she didn’t have the cold as an excuse, and he didn’t argue.
Ignoring the voice in the back of her mind, she closed her eyes and slipped beneath her cloak, feeling his chest against her back, the smell of him enveloping her.
He didn’t smell like a king’s man anymore.
His scent had taken on the familiar musk of the forest, bark and loam and the sweet scent of decay.
She could almost pretend they were back in the woods alone.
She closed her eyes and remembered their one-night truce, the feel of his skin beneath her hands, the taste of him on her tongue.
It had meant nothing. They’d both said it.
But it hadn’t felt like nothing.
She shifted, and behind her, Fox’s breath hitched. Her body froze, muscles going tense, and they both held their breaths, neither of them wanting to be the first to move again. Her blood hummed beneath her skin. Impatient. Hungry.
It had been days since their kiss by the lake before Chalia had shattered the moment. And since then, they’d done little more than stare each other down across the fire and press too closely together at night when it was dark enough to pretend nothing was real.
But sometimes, the only thing that felt real was the feel of Fox’s body against hers and the sound of his breathing.
He had tasted of musk and salt. His thighs had trembled beneath her palms when he’d come undone on her tongue.
It hadn’t been nothing. It had to be nothing.
Her body burned.
It could be nothing again.
Sofia made her choice. She pressed harder against him, aware of every place his body touched hers.
A war waged inside her mind, but her body knew what she wanted.
She cursed the clothes that formed a barrier between them, hating every breath of space as an impenetrable barrier.
She shifted again, her hips slotting into his so perfectly.
Fox let out a soft groan, his breath hot against her neck.
“Sofia,” he said, voice a low growl against her skin. “Stop. Moving.”
The words brought a new flush of heat to her blood, and she smiled, rocking her hips back purposefully.
Her own breath caught in her throat at the feel of him, hard and needy against her backside.
Someone nearby let out a snort, and Fox’s hand grabbed her hips, holding them still against him.
She let out a breath, her eyes scanning over the cave in the dim light.
The fire had gone out, and the others were scattered around, sleeping in their cloaks and furs.
Jacinta sat near the front of the cave, leaning against a rock and staring out into the dark night, distracted.
Fox’s heated breaths brought her back to her own body, feeling the tremor in his hand where he gripped her hip.
She knew she should stop. She needed to stop.
She still didn’t even know if she could trust him.
But her blood sang and simmered under her skin, and all she wanted was a distraction from everything.
Her body shuddered against him, and she felt more than heard his groan as he pressed his forehead against her shoulder.
He jerked forward, grinding himself against her—once, twice.
She bit her lip to stifle her moan. She needed him. She needed this.
But she couldn’t be quiet.
She nearly let out a yell of frustration, taking a slow breath instead. They couldn’t do this here.
Her skin prickled with goosebumps as she slipped out from beneath her cloak.
The cave echoed with the sounds of snores, and their bare feet were nearly silent against the stone floor.
She didn’t look back as they moved in the darkness, her hands feeling for the wall and the break that led into one of the back tunnels.
The softest whisper of cloth behind her told her Fox was following.
The tunnel wall was damp, some parts nearly dripping with water.
She expected to stumble around in the dark, but as they made their way deeper into the tunnel, she noticed a faint pink glow drawing her forward like a faery light.
She could only hope this wasn’t some cave-dwelling species of the lunitas that led travelers astray in the forest until they fell to their deaths over the edge of cenotes.
“Oh,” Sofia’s breath came out in a rush as she turned the corner, and the tunnel opened up to a cavern, larger than the front cave everyone else was sleeping in.
But it wasn’t the size that made her eyes go wide.
A large lake stretched out before her, steam rising from the surface.
The air was thick with humidity, and the entire space glowed pink from the luminescent crystals scattered across the ceiling and walls.
“It’s…”
“Beautiful,” Fox echoed behind her, but when she turned, he was only looking at her.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, hating the way her skin crawled at the plain adoration she saw shining in his gaze.
“Like what?”
“Like you—” she cut herself off. She couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t say the words out loud.
Fox stepped forward, slowly, as if she were an animal that might dart away at any moment.
“You are one of the strongest women I have ever known. You’re passionate and unflinching and unapologetic in everything you do. I wish I had half the strength and passion you hold in your pinky finger.”
He took her hand, caressing the stub of her ring finger without flinching. He touched her scars as if they meant something powerful about her rather than what they truly were: an accounting of her failures.
“I fail over and over again.”
“And you keep going every time. Isn’t that what you told me courage was?”
Sofia couldn’t swallow. Her eyes burned and her throat went dry.
“You don’t believe me,” he said, eyes darkening with something other than annoyance.
Without warning, he kneeled down in front of her, eyes casting upward through impossibly long eyelashes.
“If there wasn’t a god sitting outside guarding our cave right now, I’d think you a goddess. Perhaps you still are one.”
Sofia gave a soft laugh, even as the heat built in her stomach, looking down at him like this. “That’s treason, sir.”
“You seem to bring it out in me, my captor,” he said. “Now let me worship you like the goddess you are.” Fox leaned forward, nipping at her stomach, and she stifled a moan, looking around as if someone might jump out at them at any moment. Someone could. And then what?
“Always thinking,” he said, hands wrapped around her waist. His thumbs rubbed gently back and forth as his fingers found their way under her shirt. “You might want to hold on to something.”
She startled and backed up until her foot hit a stalagmite.
Fox kneeled a few feet away, where she’d left him. She grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it slowly over her head and baring herself to him. His pupils blew wide in the dim light, face flushed red from more than just the heat.
When she grabbed the waistband of her pants and undergarments, she hesitated.
She wasn’t one to be shy about sex, but there was something in Fox’s gaze that made her breath catch in her chest, her throat going tight.
She didn’t think she’d ever seen the look he was giving her now on another partner’s face, man or woman.
He licked his lips, and she swallowed. With one smooth, definitely not anxious movement, she pulled down her pants and kicked them away. She stood naked, the damp heat in the air sticking to her skin in beads.
“You are so radiantly beautiful, it’s almost painful,” he said, brows pinched together. “I don’t know what I did to deserve having you in this moment.”
It hurt to swallow as his eyes traced along her body, caressing every curve from afar.