Chapter Ten
Fenric
T he second she bolts, my blood turns to ice.
One moment, I’m riding the high of victory—goblet raised, hall roaring, my little songbird sitting pretty at the high table like the treasure she is. Next, Annie’s eyes go wide, and she looks horrified in that way that makes my gut tighten, and then she’s fleeing.
The cheers die in my throat. I shove the goblet at Beatrice, who snarls something like “ You idiot! ” as I shoulder through the crowd.
I take the back corridors, the ones only us warriors know.
I know exactly where I'll find her. In the garden, her sanctuary.
I slow when I hear her quiet, shattered sobs.
The sound claws straight through my ribs.
Fuck. I did that. Me. The thought makes me want to break something, preferably my own face.
Then I see her curled into herself, knees hugged to her chest, face buried in the skirts. The lavender sways around her, brushing her bare ankles, andStars, even now, even like this, she’sgorgeous.
I crouch a few feet away. Close enough to catch the hitch in her breath when she senses me. Far enough to give her space.
“Annie.”
Her shoulders tense. A fresh tremor runs through her, and I have to fist my hands to keep from reaching for her.
Wrong move, Fenric. Too soon.
“Go away. Please.”
“I can’t do that.”
It’s silent between us for a moment, except for the sound of her sniffling, and my chest feels like it's about to crack open. “Hey, blossom,” I try to keep my voice light and teasing. “I, uh… might’ve gotten carried away back there.”
Silence.
Damn it.
I rake a hand through my hair. “Look, I thought you'd want this…wantme. Then, you didn’t give me your ribbon, and I started thinking maybe I’d imagined it all, or you’d changed your mind.
” The admission burns, I'm not used to feeling like this. “Then that pompous bastard opened his mouth like he had a right to claim you—” My jaw clenches. “And I lost it. That’s the truth.”
I chance a glance down at her. She’s listening, her fingers are clenched so tight in her skirts, her knuckles are white. I want to pry them loose and kiss each one.
“I didn’t mean to trap you or scare you.
But, Annie—” My voice drops, rough with the truth I’ve been choking on for months.
“You’re all I think about. The way you hum when you’re nervous.
How you bite your lip when you’re concentrating.
That fuckingribbonyou didn’t give me—” A ragged laugh.
“I’ve never wanted anything like I want you.
And if that’s not what you want? Tell me now.
I’ll go back in there and undo it and make a fool of myself in front of the entire tribe. ”
She finally lifts her head to look at me, and fuck . She's tear-streaked, flushed, angry, and still the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen.
“Say something,” I beg her. “Please.”
She glares up at me and Stars, I stop breathing.
Her dark eyes are wet with tears, but they’re burning . A wildfire in a girl who’s spent her whole life being told she was made of embers. Her chin trembles, and she lifts it. Her shoulders square, fists clench, and, for the first time since I met her, Annie isn’t hiding.
She’s furious.
At me.
“You don’t even know me!”
Her voice cracks me like a whip, hitting me directly in the heart, butGods, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.
Her curls are a storm around her face. Her chest heaves under that thin dress, and I can see the rapid flutter of her pulse at her throat.
That delicate,fragilethroat I’ve imagined biting a hundred times.
Her lips… fuck , her pouty lips are pulled back in a sneer.
She's somadat me, I could die happy right here.
“You should have come to me first!” she shouts, and my cock twitches like I’m some green Calf who’s never been scolded. “You just—justdecidedin front of everyone! Like, I don’t even get a choice in the matter!”
I should apologize. Grovel. Beg for her forgiveness.
But all I can think about is howbadly I want to rut her.
Not like this….not angry. When that fire turns to something else and she’s panting beneath me, those big eyes gone hazy, those perfect lips swollen from my mouth. I want to hear her moan my name like a prayer. I want to see if her skin tastes as sweet as it looks.
Fuck, I’m hard just thinking about it.
I rise slowly to my knees, careful not to crowd her. My heart’s hammering so fast I’m lightheaded. There’s heat in my throat, my chest, myblood—because this girl, thisangel, who usually flinches at raised voices, is staring me down like she’d carve out my heart if I gave her the knife.
“I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” I say, voice rough. “But you’re wrong, Annie.”
She glares at me.
“Idoknow you.” I inch closer, drinking in the way her breath hitches. “I know you once patched up a bluebird with a broken wing. I know you sing when you think no one’s listening. That you bite your lip when you’re nervous—just like you’re doing right now.”
Her teeth release that plush lower lip.Damn it.
“And I know,” I murmur, closing the last bit of distance between us, “that I’ve never wanted anything as badly as I want you.”
Her eyes widen, and I want to kiss her. My hands shake with the effort of not grabbing her.
“Tell me to stop,” I breathe. “Tell me to walk away, and I will.”
She doesn’t, and I thank every fucking Star in the sky.
When my mouth crashes into hers, it’sworship. Her lips are softer than anything I’ve ever touched. She tastes like honey and summer rain, and the little noise she makes…Gods, that little noise nearly has me coming in my leathers.
I pull back before I lose control, resting my forehead against hers. My voice is wrecked. “I’ll wait, Annie. As long as it takes. Just… don’t hate me.”
Her fingers curl into my tunic.
“I couldn't hate you,” she whispers back.
Victory .
The second her lips meet mine again, it’s like setting fire to my blood. I devour her. My tongue claims her mouth, and she moans, the vibration of it searing through me. I crush her against my chest, one hand fisted in her hair, the other gripping her ass hard enough to bruise.
She whimpers, and my cock throbs against her hip.
Fuck, I’m already so hard it hurts. I don’t give her a second to breathe, I bite her lower lip, tugging just enough to make her gasp, and she shudders against me.
Her nails rake down my back, and I groan into her mouth.
“Again,” I growl. She does it harder this time, and I swear to the Gods, I’ll have her screaming my name before the sun finishes setting.
I don’t care that we’re outside. That anyone could stumble upon us. Let them. Her breath comes in ragged little pants, her chest heaving against me, and I palm her large breast, rolling her silk-covered nipple between my fingers until she arches with a cry.
“Fenric!”
I’m seconds away from tearing her clothes off, from bending her over in the flowers and taking her—
Suddenly, she pulls back, her cheeks flushed, her lips swollen from my kisses.
“I-I’m sorry,” she breathes, looking up at me. “I’ve never kissed anyone before.”
A rush of possessiveness surges through me. Mine. I’m the first. The only. I open my mouth to tell her exactly how much that turns me on—
And then, there’s a sudden white-hot sting on my neck. I jerk back, slapping a hand to the spot. What the fuck? A bee ?
My throat begins to tighten. Shit . Shit!
I wheeze, clawing at my neck like something invisible is strangling me. My lungs refuse to work, each gasp thinner than the last. The world tilts, the sky spinning above me.
Not now .
I was seconds away from having her, and now I’m choking on nothing. My body is betraying me at the worst possible fucking moment.
Annie’s eyes widen. “Fenric?”
I can’t answer her. Can’t breathe. Can’t do anything but collapse onto the grass, my muscles locking, my vision splintering at the edges. The last thing I see is her leaning over me, her hair a dark curtain against the sunset, her scream tearing through the air.
I was so Gods damn close.