Chapter 10
NARYA
The next day, the journey continued well into the night again.
Mist clung low across the land, spilling thick silver shrouds over the broken hills.
Not once did we stop to rest. Daigen seemed determined to reach a particular point before he allowed his men to break for camp.
Tension coiled each command, in the hard rhythm of his body behind me. He wasn’t just tense. He was simmering.
Although he’d barely spoken since we hit the road, this silence felt heavier.
I wanted to ask him about it, but talking about it would make me think of the night before, and I really didn’t want to do that. I was content to journey in silence all while trying, and failing, not to notice the heat of his body pressed against me.
By the time the sun started to set, my bones were aching so much my legs had turned numb, and I was desperate to relieve myself. I also needed to eat something more than the dried meat and berries Daigen frequently passed to me.
Just as I worked up the courage to say this, Izyák urged his chestnut horse next to Shadowmane. Their pace slowed, copper fire and black oil gleaming together in the moonlight.
“There’s a village two miles east…” The captain paused, and by the way his eyes briefly flicked my way, as if considering his next words in my presence, I just knew what he was about to say.
“It’s been a while since we paid them a visit.
The men are getting… restless. Might be wise to let them stop. ”
My stomach twisted. By paying a visit, he meant raid. Pillage and burn whatever they touched to the ground. It was a barbaric practice that made my skin crawl. Because raids meant screams, death, and villages turned to ash.
I didn’t want to be a part of something so grotesque.
I turned my head back to Daigen, silently pleading with him not to allow this. His dark gaze met mine briefly before flicking up again.
“You know my orders. Do not make me repeat them.”
Izyák opened his mouth as if to protest but thought better of it. He dipped his head then yanked his horse back into position.
I turned back and breathed a small sigh of relief. Fatigue blurred at the edges of my vision and my arms trembled as I tried to keep a tight hold of the saddle horn. If we didn’t stop soon, I was certain I would pass out. The last thing I wanted was to appear weak in front of the Bloodstones.
Daigen suddenly switched the reins into one hand. With his other, he pulled me back against him, his gloved palm spreading across my stomach. Heat seared through the leather barrier. I squirmed against the warmth blooming where it had no right to grow. Hated how good it felt.
“Rest against me,” Daigen said, his breath ghosting my ear.
I took a sharp breath. “Why… can’t we stop? Your horses are growing tired.”
“We will rest when we reach the Gate. Besides, we need to get there before word spreads of our… delay, at the farm.”
My muscles tensed beneath his touch at the memory that came flooding back. All the death and blood, and not getting to see my family one last time. Perhaps his urgency made sense but sense it didn’t make it hurt less.
I never truly got to say goodbye to my father.
“Is that why you killed the priest?” I asked, gasping as his hand tightened, anchoring me to him. I could feel every breath caressing the side of my face. His heart beating on my back. “You thought he carried the missive?”
His mouth hovered near my throat. “Yes.”
I shivered. Why wasn’t my skin crawling when he touched me like this? Why didn’t I even flinch? Instead I stayed still while his hand slid higher, along my ribs, and I held my breath as the warmth inside me started to tingle.
“There are inns beyond the Gate,” he said after a moment. “We will rest there.”
“L-Luthrin’s Gate?”
“Mm. The very one.”
I drew up a mental image of the realm map, anything to distract myself from the feel of his hand.
Everyone knew of Luthrin’s Gate. There was one in each border—a hundred-foot wall that spanned the length of the kingdoms. It was built centuries ago to keep each other out, but once the Solar Alliance was made, the Gates were turned into toll bridges to keep track of those passing through.
I’d always wanted to visit one of them. I just never imagined I’d do it with the Bloodstone King.
“Was it not a Moonstone nobleman who built the Gate?” I asked quickly, trying to steer my thoughts away from him. “I read about it in a book once. It said Luthrin built the gates to keep the Bloodstones out.”
There was a pause that made my heart trip against my ribs.
“Your book was wrong,” he said, voice caressing the pointed-tip of my ear.
“Luthrin was one of the first Bloodstones to walk the realm. He built the Gates as a gesture of goodwill to increase trade. Not that it mattered in the end. You can ask him yourself when I next hold court. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to correct you. ”
I frowned at the back of Shadowmane’s head.
That… couldn’t be true. Could it?
I’d always been taught the Bloodstones were born of selfish gods and dark urges. That’s why they were so dangerous: they were the borne of a divine love that should not have existed. Did they really build the Gates as a gift?
Daigen’s hand slid over my breast, and I gasped again. “What are you doing?”
“Distracting myself,” he murmured.
A dangerous heat flared low in my stomach. I hated how quickly my body responded to him.
I shifted in his arms, trying to pull away, but not enough to break his hold.
I wanted more—it frightened me.
“Then seek distraction elsewhere,” I snapped.
Daigen’s grip tightened instead, pulling me to his hard chest.
I pushed at his arm. “Let me g—”
I barely got the words out before his mouth brushed the side of my throat.
A helpless sound slipped out before I could stop it.
My skin burned where his lips caressed me. But anger seared beneath it. He was doing this in front of his men, like I was just a prize of war to be shown off. One of his conquests. It made the blood in my veins pound with fury.
But my blood wasn’t the only thing that pounded.
Desire, cruel and traitorous, made me want to lean back and bare my throat to him.
I clenched my muscles, forcing the desire down until it curdled into anger, then I grabbed his wrist and dug my nails in as deep as I could go. He didn’t even flinch.
“You said you wouldn’t touch me!”
“Did I?” His thumb drew a slow circle beneath my ribs.
Heat pooled between my legs, a betrayal I couldn’t hide.
“Yes,” I hissed through clenched teeth, hating the way I shuddered.
“Hmm… I do not recall,” he said, grazing my ear.
I drove my elbow into his chest. It was like hitting a stone wall. I winced while he barely even reacted. He just chuckled and moved his lips lower, kissing me. Making my skin ache and burn for more. Such a kiss was too gentle for someone so cruel.
It was torture. Slow, humiliating torture. And in front of his men!
I could hear the snickers between them.
Damn him! Damn him straight to the blood moon that bore him!
“That was before,” he whispered as his hand slid dangerously low. “But then I felt you trembling for me and whispering my name in your sleep, and I wondered…” He inhaled against my neck. “Are you trembling because you hate me? Or because you want me?”
I wanted to scream—at him, at myself—because both answers felt true.
Heat flared through me as his hand brushed my breast. Hotter still was the heat that gathered between my thighs, seeking more. I tried to pull away from him, disgusted by myself, but he yanked me back with a chuckle.
I glared back at him, hissing. “So your word means nothing?”
One arm locked around my waist, the other stayed firm against me.
I bit my lip until blood bloomed. I refused to let him hear the sound rising in my throat. I’d sooner take his blade to my own skin than let him hear me moan.
Because moaning meant surrender. And I wasn’t ready to fall.
“I haven’t slept in days, Narya,” he murmured. “Haven’t touched anyone longer still.” One of his men laughed. I heard the grin sharpening in his voice. “If I’m to march into battle, give me something worth dying for. Something I’ll feel pounding in my blood for you.”
His voice dropped, a hot brand against my ear. Gods, I had to stop this.
“Is there an eminent battle I’m not seeing?” I managed to sound unaffected. Barely. ”Why not ask one of the women I’m sure your men will round up while they’re raiding? I’m certain one of them would be happy to oblige you in exchange for their freedom.”
A nip of my earlobe made me suck in a hiss that wasn’t entirely from pain.
What was happening to me?
“Lie all you want, Narya. Fight me. Curse me. But your body already knows what it wants.“
I bit down on my lips again, tasting blood.
“And what’s what?”
“To be mine,” he said, and I didn’t recoil.
That terrified me more than any whispered threat or truth.
I had sworn to never let anyone touch me again without my consent.
Not after what happened to me. When my screams went unanswered.
Yet there I was, enjoying it. Hating it. Wanting it.
A surge of defiance rose in me.
I wouldn’t let him believe I had submitted to him so easily.
“Touch me again without my permission,” I whispered, “and I’ll make sure your blade is the only thing you feel.”
He didn’t let go. But he paused, and I hated the traitor inside me that didn’t want him to.
“I could take you right now,” he said, his voice terribly low. “Right here, and no one would stop me.” Then his voice lowered. “But I won’t. Not with my mate.”
Tears of relief burned my eyes, stinging as sharply as fear.
Fear of my own capitulation.
“I’m not”—my throat tightened—“your mate.”
Even to my own ears, the words sounded untrue.
Daigen’s hand moved lower until I fought for breath.
“Is that so?” he murmured. “Then why does your body answer me like this? Why are you so slick with wanting?”
I shook my head at him. No, I couldn’t be. But I was. I felt it.