I went still. We were seriously flirting? And what did Raeshal have to do with it?
“What does Raeshal have to do with it?” I went ahead and asked. Why not? What's the worst that could happen?
“You do know that he's in love with you?”
And that's the worst that could happen; he could answer.
“No, I didn't,” I said as my mind reeled. “I... I don't feel... I didn't expect...”
Dalsharan looked down and laughed. “Well, fuck me, a human has caught the Red Hawk, but he doesn't want him. Serves Rae right for all the men he's toyed with.”
“You're not mad?”
“That you're not serious about Raeshal?” He asked. “Why would that make me mad? You've just given me permission to proceed.”
“I don't think you need permission for anything,” I muttered.
“Hawks have excellent hearing,” he noted. “And you're right, I don't usually. But I do try to avoid stepping on the hearts of my friends.”
“Fuck, please tell me you're not going to back off because of Raeshal.”
“I believe I just said I was proceeding.” He chuckled again. “Humans are so... direct.”
“We're direct?” I scoffed. “Do you want to know how Rae got me in bed? He asked where my tent was and then asked why I wasn't naked in it beneath him.”
Dalsharan shrieked with laughter again. “Yes, that sounds like Raeshal. But that's only in camp. In Varalorre, he's a different man.”
“What does that mean?” I asked as I eyed the beach below; we were just leaving land and that anxious ball in my belly got larger.
The Hawk Lord peered at me again. “If you don't know what that means, I can say no more.”
“Rude. Just rude.” I crossed my arms.
He chuckled again.
“Does he really...?” I asked hesitantly.
“Love you? Yes. He wouldn't have fought so hard to keep you in camp if he didn't. I've seen Raeshal watch lovers die and not shed a tear, but you... he couldn't even stomach the possibility of you getting hurt.”
“Fuck,” I muttered. I liked Rae. I didn't love him, but I did like him. I didn't want to hurt his feelings.
“Don't worry about Rae; he'll recover. He'll have to head home soon anyway and then his days of freedom will be over.”
“Freedom?”
Dalsharan sighed and confessed, “Raeshal is engaged. To a woman.”
“Dear Gods, I'm so sorry for him.”
Dalsharan laughed uproariously. “He's not. He loves her too.”
“Greedy fuck,” I joked.
“Faeries have a broader view on love and sex than humans do,” Dalsharan mused. “We believe that a heart should not be limited by bodies or quantities.”
“Yeah, I know; you guys fuck whoever you want, whenever you want. I admire that.”
“Stop it,” he said with a laugh. “I'm trying to be serious.”
“So am I. I truly respect that you faeries take pleasure where you find it,” I kept teasing because, well, he was damn funny, and I think that shocked me and aroused me more than anything else—even more than his huge cock.
“Yes, that's a rather masculine human opinion,” he noted. “But it goes deeper than that for us.”
“Do tell,” I purred. “I love deeper.”
Another chuckle. “We believe that people can have many great loves.”
“That's because you fae live so damn long.”
“There is that,” he agreed.
I went quiet a while, watching the water go from turquoise to cerulean. Then I asked, “So, how long do you think it will take us to reach the first stronghold?”
“An hour perhaps.”
“Excellent.”
“I thought you were worried about having to pee?”
“Well, sure. Despite what you said, I can't just whip it out while we're flying. The wind would blow piss all over me.”
Dalsharan laughed again, and I grinned up at him. I was beginning to like that loud bird laugh.
“But I'm glad we have an hour together,” I went on as I reached up and laid my hand on his claw. “I think I like you, Hawk Lord.”
“Careful now, Corporal. I'm not Raeshal, I don't fuck every pretty thing that bends over for me.”
I flushed. Talk about a build-up only to be smacked down. “No, my lord,” I said crisply and removed my hand. “Of course not. My apologies for being so forward.”
“Don't get prickly with me,” he snapped. “I'm telling you that I want some substance with my sex and warning you that if I decide to make you mine, you will not be flirting with other men as they carry you off to sneak into Farungal fortresses.”
My flush turned into one of pleasure and my dick twitched as his possessive words. I don't usually go for the whole possessive dom thing, but for the Hawk Lord, I'd bare my neck and beg for a collar. Of course, I wasn't about to tell him that.
“I think I can easily promise that I will never flirt with another man as he flies me to a Farungal fortress. So, we're all good, Hawk Lord. Go ahead and think it over.”
Dalsharan started laughing again.
Chapter Six
I had never had so much fun just talking with a man. I was especially surprised to enjoy myself on my way to infiltrate a Farungal fortress. But then, my life had been about war since I was 16. You stop fearing the fight when your life is focused on it. If the war ever ended, I'd probably be fucked and not in a good way.
All of my amusement vanished when a jagged, misty coastline came into view.
“That's Alantri?” I asked as we drew closer.
“Yes. The coast is bleak but it gets better inland.”
“You mean there are pretty places where monsters live?”
“Of course. There are even pretty monsters.”
I pondered that as he started to descend. We dropped through the mist. There was nothing but black cliffs with windswept plains atop them; I saw no sign of a stronghold.
Dalsharan set me down first and even though he did so lightly, I wound up crumbling to my knees. An hour of dangling from the claws of a giant bird will do that to you. The Hawk Lord politely ignored my grumbling and awkward stretching as he landed beside me and shifted.