Chapter 4
DRUGGED
FELíNE WAS A CATERPILLAR. SAFELY cocooned in a sanctuary of warm silk.
She dangled high above the forest floor, hidden from hungry predators lurking below.
A faint dappling of light illuminated the world beyond her little haven and warmed her face.
A breeze wound its way around her, carrying the intoxicating scent of honey, amber, and something smoky.
The softest smile lifted one corner of her lips, and she hummed a gentle tune in her contentment.
Slowly, so slowly, consciousness seeped into her. And suddenly she wished she were still dreaming.
Reality was much less sweet. The taste of ash, vomit, and something awful coated her tongue.
Her body ached as though she’d been beaten with a barrage of stones the size of grapefruits.
Her toe throbbed. Her knees burned. Her arms were stretched across her belly and pinned to opposite sides of her body…
Wait. Why were her arms tied?
Felíne cracked tear-crusted eyelids, squinting against the soft light that penetrated the canopy of green high above her. Her head pounded with the beginnings of a fierce headache. Or maybe the remnants of one? She couldn’t tell.
Felíne groaned and struggled to sit up. When she finally managed, she glanced down at herself.
She was wearing an oversized, long-sleeved jacket, the arms of which extended across the front of her body in opposite directions and fastened behind her.
Her pants were not her own. She wore thick trousers, and her ankles were tied together with a length of rope.
Her feet had been padded with woolen socks.
Panic clamped down on her like a vice. Where was she? Who tied her up? What happened to Kal?
She began to wriggle, pulling at her aching arms and kicking her legs. She wrenched her body sideways.
A twig snapped behind her, and she froze. Feline’s breath quickened, and she braced herself to scream. Like hell was she getting kidnapped again.
Kal stepped into view. His dark hair was tousled. His mouth was set in a hard line, his brows tensed. Shadows purpled the skin beneath his eyes as though he hadn’t slept. A gaze like two chips of black ice settled on her. He squatted an arm’s length away.
For a strange moment, the two of them stared at each other.
Kal’s deep voice was the first to break the silence. “Care to explain what all that was about?”
Felíne bristled. She looked down at herself before pegging him with her own frosty glare. “Me? Do you care to explain what this is about?”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you remember from last night?”
A fresh spike of pain pierced Felíne’s skull, and she winced.
“I remember…” Trying to escape. A swallow lodged in her throat.
She’d been trying to leave him. And then…
“The star,” she murmured. “A star fell out of the sky and…attacked me. My skin was burning where it touched me. There was gold lightning and—”
She sounded insane. But Kal wasn’t looking at her like she was crazy. He just watched with that steady, unreadable expression.
“Kal,” she said carefully. “Why am I tied up?”
“Because you kept taking off your clothes.”
Felíne opened her mouth. Closed it. That wasn’t the response she’d expected.
“Every time I attempted to put them back on, you wailed like a banshee and tried to gouge my eyes out.”
She paled. Dear blessed gods above.
Kal held out a hand, still a safe distance away. “You bit me.”
She what? Felíne was afraid to look. But sure enough, there on the side of his hand, in the meat of his thumb, was a crescent of teeth marks. Her teeth marks, apparently.
“I gave up trying to force you back into your breeches. Oddly enough, you were much more compliant when I put my clothes on you.”
“I’m going to be sick,” she said.
Kal got up and came closer. “You did a fair share of that, too.”
“I was being choked,” Felíne said, remembering. “I tried to scream, and gold lightning jumped into my throat.”
Kal untied the sleeves of the jacket she wore, and Felíne moaned at the ache in her shoulders. She rolled her neck.
“It wasn’t lightning,” Kal said. “It was me.”
She shot him an incredulous look. “You choked me?”
Kal held up the first two fingers of his right hand—the one she’d bitten. “Gagged would be more accurate, and be grateful I did. I think you threw up most of the poison.”
Poison?
“Why would you do that, Kitty?” His voice was hard. His eyes, harder. “It’s a coward’s way out.”
“What are you talking about?” It took a moment for his meaning to sink in. When it did, her jaw dropped in shock. “You think I knowingly poisoned myself?” Was he delusional?
A skepticism crept into Kal’s expression. “You poisoned the food.”
Felíne blinked, stunned. “You told me to season the potatoes!”
“Kitty, you dumped four different kinds of potent hallucinogens into that pot. And then you ingested them. All of them. What in the name of the gods were you thinking?”
“I don’t know! Maybe I was thinking what kind of psychopath keeps deadly, poisonous herbs just casually tucked away inside his bag? I thought it was seasoning!”
Kal gaped at her. The expression looked so ridiculous on his typically serious face that she barked a laugh.
“I think you’re still high,” he declared finally, shaking his head.
“If I am, it’s your fault,” she snapped. “What kind of person keeps drugs like that lying around?”
“They weren’t lying around. They were carefully organized in a sealed inner pocket of my bag.”
Guilt sank its teeth into her conscience. She would never have found them if she hadn’t been snooping for supplies. Kal’s tone implied as much. She deflected. “And you have them in the first place, why?”
Kal eyed her. “There are more ways to maim someone than with a blade or bow. Sometimes, more discreet methods are required.”
“So, now you’re a herbologist, too, I suppose?” She was pouting, but it was better than being gnawed alive by her own shame. “You probably picked all those deadly herbs with your own two hands.”
“Some, yes,” he replied matter-of-factly. “The kossroot I bought, but two of the bags you emptied were a specific blend that took me weeks to compound.”
Fantastic. He was a weapons wizard and an evil scientist.
“Speaking of herbs,” Kal added, “you’re due for another dose of anti-toxin.”
Five minutes later, Felíne sat huddled next to a fire, warming her frigid body and sipping the gods-awful tea Kal brewed for her. She was still wearing his clothes. They smelled like woodsmoke, honeyed bourbon, and Kal.
“Drink some more,” he instructed from where he sat adjacent to her.
She wrinkled her nose. “It’s terrible.”
“Do you prefer brain damage?”
Felíne gave Kal a side eye. “I know this herb,” she said, indicating her mug. Belohna. A sticky little weed known for its incredibly powerful antidotal properties. “But I’ve never had to take it myself. We treated patients for overdoses with this stuff. No wonder we had to tube feed most of them.”
“You know belohna, but you didn’t recognize the kossroot?”
Felíne shrugged, not having to feign ignorance. “By the time shurii made it to my mender’s clinic, they’d already ingested whatever it was that required treating. Belohna works on just about any poison. I was more focused on making sure they kept breathing.”
Perhaps, if she’d been a little more concerned with the cause instead of fixating on the symptoms, she wouldn’t have unknowingly overdosed herself, a thing she’d certainly consider in the future.
Felíne looked around. The forest was tranquil.
The trees directly overhead still held summer’s green leaves, but the rest of the wood had been painted in color.
She’d read books about fall and the changing of leaves with the cooler seasons, but seeing it for herself left her awed and breathless.
Everywhere she turned, bleached trunks and twisting tree limbs reached toward bursts of crimson, gold, and vibrant orange.
The morning air was crisp. A gentle breeze swept through the underbrush, so different than the arid, scorching heat back home that lingered this time of year—summer refusing to let go.
In a few more weeks, the temperature in Asteros would break, ushering in frigid nights and chilly mornings.
She’d always looked forward to her birthday for that reason.
Felíne wondered where her birthday would be spent this year, if she didn’t figure out how in the Goddess’s name she was going to get home.
Her attempt last night hadn’t ended anywhere close to how she’d intended. And now…
“We’re in Stillwater Wood.”
Kal nodded. “Don’t sound so morose about it,” he said. “The forest saved your life. Belohna grows in abundance just inside the tree line.”
No, Kal had saved her life. Again. Felíne was becoming increasingly indebted to him. Something she’d been trying desperately to avoid. And it was making it harder and harder to leave. To lie to him.
That’s not why it’s so hard.
She ignored the quiet voice in the depths of her mind. If she gave it any attention, she’d lose what little hold she had on her ability to distance herself. She was already more emotionally involved than she could afford to be.
Felíne kicked back the remainder of her tea and gagged involuntarily. She shuddered.
“Good girl,” Kal praised. “We should get moving.” He held out a hand to her. Felíne accepted it. Her legs felt weak and shaky as she stood.
Without warning, Kal hooked a hand under her knees and swept her into his arms. A little gasp left her, and her face heated.
She was braced against his chest, feeling the strength in his biceps as he cradled her.
His breath was soft and warm, smelling faintly of mint.
Her own breath probably smelled like sour belohna tea.
Felíne nonchalantly angled her head away.
“Who’s a dragon now?”
Oh, the arrogant…She scowled. There was no getting anything past him.
Kal’s dark eyes lit with mirth, a black sea reflecting the sun’s glow. “Reach into the pocket of my shirt.”
Felíne did as he asked, slipping her fingers beneath his leather vest and pulling out a small bundle of mint leaves.
Grateful, she popped one in her mouth and started to chew.
Immediately, the foul taste of her tea dissipated.
She tucked the remainder back, trying to ignore the feel of his flexed pectoral as he shifted his hold.
What would it feel like to touch him, skin to skin?
It wasn’t the first time she’d wondered as much.
“Damn me for a fool, but sometimes, I really wish I could read your mind.”
Felíne worried he could, the way his knowing eyes searched her own. “I don’t,” she replied immediately.
Kal smiled, lips kicking up at one corner, teasing a dimple out of his cheek.
She stared. The last time he had been this close, he’d kissed her, awakening a roaring fire inside Felíne that refused to be stamped out.
It had slowly been burning her alive ever since, and she worried it was only a matter of time before she was wholly consumed. And then what?
She’d be done for. And her purpose? Incinerated.
“Why not?”
“Never mind,” she grumbled. “It’s got nothing to do with you anyway.”
Why did he have to smell so good? Kal’s chest rumbled with a laugh, and the vibration against her own body sent gooseflesh down her arms. She should insist that he put her down. Sig was close enough.
“That’s unfortunate,” Kal said. “Would you like to know what I’m thinking about?”
Felíne’s eyes flared, and her heart stuttered. Kal’s mouth was inches from her own. Her lips parted slightly on an intake of air, and his breath filled her lungs. “I…”
Kal was everywhere. His body held hers. His scent saturated her air. He was so close she could practically taste him. It was torture. Sweet, terrible torture.
“Kal…”
“Breathe, Kitty.”
She was breathing. That was the problem. Every minty inhale was laced with the essence of Kalevar Kaine. She was being drugged all over again. And Felíne was certain that no amount of belohna would cure her. No, the only cure was…
Kal’s gaze dipped, and his head lowered infinitesimally.
Yes! Yes, this was what she needed!
She could have groaned with how desperately she wanted him to close the bit of distance that remained between them.
A faint whistling disturbed the peaceful forest.
Kal registered the noise a moment before his body jerked.
How he didn’t drop her, Felíne had no idea. Because there, an inch away from where her hand still rested over the breast pocket of his shirt, the shaft of an arrow quivered, protruding from Kal’s chest.