Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
GRAYSON
Despite the afternoon sunshine, there was a bite in the air. The higher we climbed, the cooler the temperature. And this was just the foothills. In a few days, when we reached the mountains, the cold would steal the breath from our lungs.
Had anyone packed a cloak for the shield? I glanced behind me, making sure the confounding woman was still behaving.
She was. She rode in front of Pierce. And he had his arms wrapped around her as if she was the most precious thing in the world.
He’d lost his fucking mind. My friend, my brother, the man who barely acknowledged women, was staring at the one in his saddle with hearts in his eyes.
If she asked, he’d fetch the stars from the night sky and give them to her.
His infatuation would destroy our quad—or worse, get them both killed.
“Pierce,” I barked. “Your horse looks tired. Give the shield to Flynn.”
I could feel the weight of their scowls. Especially hers.
I smirked at her for a half second, then schooled my expression into one more befitting of a colonel in the guard. This woman. She had me behaving like a callow boy. “Now.”
Pierce’s expression tightened, and he raised a single what-the-fuck brow.
“About time.” Flynn grinned like a fucking loon, making me reconsider my decision.
“Do I get a say?” the shield demanded.
“No.” Why did she challenge every single order? “Ride with Flynn.”
She shot daggers with her eyes and made no move to dismount.
“Why is he such an asshole?” Her words were whispered, meant only for Pierce, but I heard them loud and clear.
“He is in command.” Pierce sounded none too pleased about that.
“Now!” I barked.
We paused as she dismounted Pierce’s horse and climbed aboard Flynn’s. Then I let Flynn and Teal take the lead and rode next to Pierce. “She’s getting to you.” I kept my voice low, even, nonconfrontational.
He shrugged, not denying it.
“She’s a shield,” I reminded him. We both knew what that meant. Her life was measured in months, not years. Getting attached would only cause him heartache.
“She’s more than that.”
That first day in the gymnasium, she’d met Pierce blow for blow with her staff. She’d faced a wyvern with courage, allowing me to kill it. If Flynn and Teal were to be believed, she’d heaved ice spears at a wolven. She’d held off a dozen wraiths. But she was still a shield.
Pierce’s gaze measured the distance between us and Flynn, then he pitched his voice low. “Her grandmother is a seer.”
“I’m aware.” I’d seen the floating hair, the milky eyes.
“She had visions of the skills Haven would need.” His voice was so low I had to lean in to hear him. “She hired her tutors and trainers. Language. Weapons. History. Politics. Etiquette.”
My brows lifted. She’d shared all that with him? What else did he know? “Seems like a lot of trouble for a girl from Grimswood.”
Pierce turned in his saddle and stared at me. “You don’t see it?”
“See what?” I feigned ignorance.
“She’s special.”
“She’s a shield.” The words came out automatically. But even as I said them, I could see her defeating the wyvern, protecting my men, challenging me with those blazing eyes. She was extraordinary. And that terrified me more than any enemy I’d faced.
His jaw tightened. “Are you deliberately blind?”
“Not blind. Watching her every move. Wondering what secrets she’s hiding.”
The unmistakable crack of an open palm meeting a cheek startled the horses, and they danced beneath us.
“Put me down. Now.” The shield sounded livid.
I urged Caspian into a trot, catching up with Flynn in only a few seconds.
“Now,” she demanded.
“I was only joking.”
“Exactly what men say when women call them on their bullshit.” She swung her leg over the pommel and jumped to the ground.
Flynn looked down at her. “I barely touched you.”
“That’s the problem. You touched me at all.”
Flynn’s expression shifted from sheepish to irritated. “Most women would be flattered by the attention.”
“After you’ve bought them dinner?”
Flynn’s eyes narrowed. “The village where we’re spending the night is miles away.” It was a threat. He’d make her walk. We didn’t have time for that. But Haven didn’t know that.
Her cheeks blazed red. Her eyes filled with fire. She raised her hand and gave him the middle finger.
I’d had enough of her attitude. She couldn’t talk back or make obscene gestures or ignore my orders. “Shield!”
She ignored me. Of course she did. I ground my teeth. Why didn’t she see that her defiant attitude would cost her what was left of her life?
“It’s a long walk.” Flynn’s grin was mocking.
“Pretty sure Pierce or Teal will give me a ride if I get too tired.”
Pierce or Teal. Not me. She didn’t trust me. Didn’t like me. And she was right.
What had Flynn said? Or done? I wanted to kill them both. Slowly. Painfully. “I told you to ride with Flynn.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not happening.”
The fire in her voice, the way she stood her ground against all of us—it stirred something dangerous in my chest. Admiration. Desire. Things I had no business feeling for a shield. Things that could get us both killed if anyone noticed. “You don’t get to decide that.”
“How could I forget?” Her annoyingly plush lips twisted into an ugly snarl.
“I’m a shield, not a person with thoughts or feelings, not someone deserving of even the tiniest amount of respect.
Doesn’t matter if I saved his worthless life.
” She jerked her thumb toward Flynn. “He can do what he likes.”
Fucking idiot. What had he done? I kept my gaze fixed on her—her blazing eyes, her flushed cheeks, the angry line of her mouth.
“Doesn’t matter if I gave you the sword you needed to kill the wyvern or protected Teal and Flynn from the wraiths. I’m just a shield.”
My jaw clenched involuntarily. Every word was true.
Every accusation deserved. She’d saved us repeatedly, and we treated her like an object, not a person.
Well, I did. My brothers seemed to be adapting.
But admitting she was right would only make things worse for both of us. “Must you argue constantly?”
“Yes!” She practically vibrated with ire.
“Either you ride with Flynn, or you ride with me.”
“I’ll walk.”
“You can’t walk; you’ll slow us down. Make your choice, or I’ll decide for you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You.”
I’d expected her to pick Flynn.
The shield stepped closer to Caspian, taking a moment to stroke his neck.
My fearsome warhorse nickered as if the shield was his long-lost love.
“We don’t have all day,” I groused.
Caspian flicked his ears at me.
Without a word, the shield swung into the saddle, settling in front of me, her ass pressing uncomfortably against my cock. Her scent—cinnamon and sunshine—invaded my nose, and I forced myself to breathe through my mouth.
This was why I’d tried to keep my distance. Why I’d been harsh with her. Because when she was close like this, when I could feel her warmth and smell her hair, it was impossible to think of her as just a shield.
I should have made her ride with Flynn. The miles until we reached the village promised to be torture. “Hold on,” I gritted out. Then I spurred Caspian to a canter. The faster the shield and her scent and her soft body were out of my saddle, the better.