13 #2
“They’re still following us,” the prince warns.
“Fuck. We can’t land anywhere until they’ve given up.”
“They won’t give up,” says the carpet. “Not as long as they can see, smell, or hear you.”
“Can they climb?” I ask. “What about the top of a tree?”
“Suppose he drops us into the middle of a spidermaw web?” Vawn says.
“Do you have any better ideas?”
Severin lurches, and Vawn nearly flies off. I grab him, pulling his body against mine and renewing my grip on one of the carpet handles.
“Down,” groans Severin. “Need to land.”
“Not yet, please.” I cast a frantic look over the carpet’s edge. Between the patches of ivy, the ground is covered with furry, scampering bodies.
“Up there! The river,” Vawn exclaims. “There are some large rocks in the middle. Drop us on one of them.”
Severin is flying so low that several of the wimmets start jumping, trying to leap onto the carpet with us. Vawn is muttering something—a prayer to the fates, maybe.
I’ve never been one to follow the old faith. Magic and strength are my religion. But if there was any time to pray for good fortune, it’s right now.
The carpet crashes onto a large boulder in the center of the river. The water splits around the rock, white froth churning at the stony edges.
While Vawn rolls up the carpet and replaces him safely in his case, I watch the riverbank.
The wimmets cluster there, chirping sadly, calling to us with their tiny voices.
They sound so pitiful, like we’ve broken their tiny hearts by daring to survive.
A couple of them leap into the water, but they sink instantly, too heavy to swim.
Exhausted in body and mind, I lie back on the slanted, sun-warm surface of the boulder. Vawn drapes himself beside me and pulls out his water flask. After taking a swig, he hands it to me, and I drink gratefully.
“We should have taken the trade road through Crowfang Pass,” I say.
“We would have been caught.”
“I know.”
Vawn caps the water flask and puts it away. “I’m sorry you have to go through all this for me. Maybe I should turn myself in.”
I prop myself on my elbows and glare at him. “After I’ve gone through all this trouble to keep you alive and free? If you ever attempt to give yourself up, I will kill you, I swear.”
He scoffs, smirking. “You’d defeat your own purpose.”
“To teach you a lesson, yes.”
“You’re insane, you know that?” His tone is indulgent, even affectionate. A delicious warmth spreads over my body, flickering more intensely between my thighs. I imagine him leaning over me as I lie on this rock, with the sun in his hair and his lips on mine.
So of course, I turn my face away and say something prosaic. “We should have some food and then keep going.”
“I could eat.” He makes the words sound deliciously suggestive. I can hear the smile in his voice.
Ignoring him, I sit up and poke through my satchel, selecting a packet of dried fruit. It got wet during our dip in the lake, but it hasn’t turned moldy yet, and it smells fine.
“You still despise me, don’t you?” Vawn murmurs. “You’re going to pretend you don’t understand what I just said.”
“I’m going to ignore your ridiculous flirting.” I dribble a few raisins onto my tongue and chew them. Not my favorite, but they’ll have to do. “I don’t understand the kind of man who thinks about eating a woman out right after nearly being devoured by wimmets.”
“I get this rush after we live through something.” He laughs breathlessly. “It’s like fire in my blood, and it makes me lustful, I suppose. Greedy for life, for pleasure… for everything.”
When he explains it like that, I understand him. Maybe a little too deeply.
“Ah, you’ve felt it, too.” He leans toward me. “Tell me you don’t want to celebrate after an escape like that.”
“Maybe… but not here.” I gesture to the rushing river and the red-tinged forest.
“Why not? There’s no one around.”
I frown, examining his face. “You’re serious. You want to fuck on this rock, right now.”
He grins. “Did you know there’s a theory that sexual activity replenishes magical energy faster?”
“I’m familiar with it,” I say dryly. “The male trainees at the Academy really liked that one. They’d cite it every chance they got.”
“And you don’t believe it’s true?”
I shrug. “There’s some validity to it. After all, what is a penis but an extremity? And it makes sense that the energy in its tip, while it can’t be harnessed through glyphs, could be shared with a partner through sex.”
“I’d be happy to make that sacrifice.” Vawn’s smile lingers at the corner of his mouth and in his luminous eyes, but he doesn’t touch me. “If it would increase our chances of survival.”
“Survival,” I echo absently, my gaze on his lips.
I’ve been resistant to the idea of fucking him, but in this situation, there are practical reasons to excuse it.
Maybe, if I do this, he won’t have the same vise-grip on my thoughts.
Maybe being with him this one time will weaken his seductive power over me and flush some of this repressed energy out of my system.
Vawn quietly pushes back his cloak and undoes three of the buttons on his shirt. It’s a calculated temptation. Does he realize how much I love the curves of his well-cut chest, the tempting valley between his pectorals?
Tentatively, I place my hand over the hollow between his collarbones, then slide it down to his heart.
A mistake. Because he lets out a shuddering breath, like he’s been dying for me to touch him there. When I lift my eyes to his, I see the searing intensity right before he cloaks it with lowered black lashes.
“No,” I whisper, lifting my hand from his chest. “You want me too much.”
“I do not.” He laughs, but the pitch is too high. Too desperate. “I’m addicted to sex, as I told you, and you’re convenient, that’s all. Besides, you need to recharge those glyphs or we’re going to die in the forest.”
“And that’s all?”
“That’s all.” His lip curls. “You think you’re so irresistible?
That I’m going mad with the desire to touch you, to be inside you, to taste you?
You’re just another pair of tits with a couple decent holes framed by pretty lips.
Why are you smiling? I mean it. You’re serviceable and available. Nothing more.”
He’s lying, trying to cover for himself because he’s embarrassed. I want to say, Who’s afraid to be vulnerable now? But I graciously refrain.
“What if I suck your dick? Would that give me the benefit of your energy?” I tap my lips as if I’m considering it.
“Never mind. Forget it.” Vawn gets up and collects his things. Then he opens the carpet case and pulls Severin out. “Can you get us to the other side of the river?”
Severin seems drowsy, but he manages to transport us. The moment we reach the bank, we roll him up and tuck him away immediately so he won’t be in distress. Concern for him nags at the back of my mind as we continue to navigate the forest.
When night comes, we camp on a rocky outcropping and take turns keeping watch.
The wind and the cold are brutal, and I’m half afraid we’ll die of exposure during the night, but we don’t dare camp in the forest or on a slope near wimmet holes, nor can we risk firelight drawing attention from any hunters that may haunt the sky, looking for us.