An angry voice entered the relative calm of the tent as someone barged their way in, shaking sopping wet blond hair out of his face. Brea looked from Finn to the new intruder.
Lochlan.
He pushed his hair back, allowing her to see his blazing eyes.
“Ah, Loch.” Finn grinned as he turned to the other man. “Meet our newest Gelsi escapee, Breanne of Tarth.”
Lochlan’s dark eyes met hers. “If this is Breanne of Tarth, then I’m Jon Snow.”
Brea’s jaw fell open. “How… what… I mean, what?”
Lochlan’s jaw twitched, but he didn’t explain how he knew about a human TV series. Instead, he turned to Finn. “This is her.” He turned on his heel and marched away.
Brea scrambled from the bed, but Finn blocked her path, his face red with embarrassment. “You fooled me, Brea Robinson, but it is a pleasure to meet the woman who can vex the unshakeable Lochlan O’Shea.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She shoved him out of the way. “You can thank me for my service later. I need to talk to him.”
Darting out into the rain, she caught sight of Lochlan’s retreating back and ran toward him. “You can’t just walk away from me.”
He whirled to face her. “I can do whatever I please. I am the ranking officer here. These men follow my orders. I would appreciate if you no longer ran from them.”
“I make no promises.”
He approached her with the eyes of a predator, dark and dangerous. Griff hadn’t had a lot of the traits of the fae from stories she’d seen. He was beautiful, sure, but also smiley and seemingly kind. Lochlan on the other hand fit everything from human fiction novels. Cunning. Cruel.
Achingly attractive.
“How do you know about Game of Thrones?” she asked.
Lochlan shook his head in exasperation and gripped her arm, pulling her into a nearby tent. “It’s a deluge out there.”
“I noticed.” She crossed her arms over her soaking shirt. “Are you going to answer my question?”
“No.” He stepped around her and stripped the blanket from his bed. Holding it out to her, he met her gaze. “Wrap this around your body so you don’t catch a chill.”
“I’m fine.”
Lochlan’s scowl deepened. “Do you know how much risk you took tonight? We are in the middle of the Vatlands. Traveling at night is nearly impossible because of the mud pits that only get deeper and deeper. They’ve claimed many lives. You could have died.”
“But I didn’t.”
“Because of my men.”
He was right. She’d made a rash decision trying to escape and almost paid for it with her life. “I’m sorry.”
His expression softened for a beat before hardening into another scowl. “You are not to do it again. Since you so gratefully destroyed the tent we gave you, you will sleep in here tonight where I can keep an eye on you.”
“How will you keep an eye on me if you need to sleep? I could slit your throat with my knife.” She wouldn’t, but she could.
“What knife?”
She pulled the blade free and held it up.
Lochlan reached her in a flash, knocking the blade from her hand and retrieving it off the ground. “Not anymore.”
“Hey,” she protested. “That’s mine.”
“Let me be clear, Lady Robinson. I do not trust you. I have instructed my men not to trust you. We will deliver you to the palace unharmed, but should you try to injure any of them again, you will arrive tied to the back of my saddle. Do you understand?”
Her eyes narrowed. “The palace? Which palace?” He was a prince of Iskalt but a delegate of Eldur. She wasn’t sure which realm she feared more.
“Eldur.”
“With the dragons?”
He turned to the door. “Don’t worry, Lady Robinson. The dragons don’t eat things that smell like you.”
She would have sworn there was laughter in his voice as he sauntered from the tent.
She sniffed the shirt she wore and grimaced. Neeve’s smelly stuff had mostly worn off, leaving behind a faint rancid scent mixed with the smell of travel.
She just hoped Lochlan was right about the dragons.
“How long was I out?” Brea asked Finn as he sat in front of her, taking the first watch. He’d brought with him a canteen of water, stale bread, and dried meat. It wasn’t the gourmet meals she’d grown used to in Gelsi, but as hungry as she was, it tasted like five-star cuisine.
Finn sipped water from a tin cup, studying her over the rim. Finally, he lowered it and wiped his mouth. “Two days.”
Her eyes widened. So, they definitely knew she was missing from Gelsi by now. Had Griff returned and found her gone? Were Neeve and Moira okay?
“You should get some sleep.” Finn used his knife to slice through the bread and popped a piece in his mouth.
“Apparently, I’ve been sleeping for two days.” She couldn’t have relaxed if she tried.
Neeve told her she’d be safe once she reached the Eldur camp. Well, here she was, and she didn’t feel any safer.
“Why is Lochlan such a jerk?” she blurted.
Finn choked on his food, wheezing for breath. “I’m going to need you to say that again when he’s within earshot.”
She raised a brow. She’d only just met Finn, but she felt she knew Lochlan by now. From abducting her from a human prison to warning her in Gelsi, they’d already been through a lot together. “He’s your friend? You seem like nothing bothers you, yet he is kind of a douche.”
Finn sighed and ran a hand through his chestnut brown hair. “Appearances can be deceiving, Lady Robinson.”
“Can you stop with all the lady nonsense?”
“It’s what you are.”
“Because the Gelsi queen is my aunt? I’ll gladly relinquish that distinction.”
“No. Not because of that.” He didn’t elaborate, instead focusing on the meat in front of him. He offered her a piece.
She bit down. It tasted similar to beef jerky, only better. Myles used to make her gorge on Slim Jims and barbecue jerky his dad made in their smoker. She’d never liked it, but he did, so she went along with it.
“Why does the Eldur queen want me?” she asked.
Finn kept his eyes trained on his hands, but it was another voice that responded.
“That is not our business.” Lochlan stood in the opening of the tent with rivulets of water dripping off his powerful frame. “We do not question our queen. We follow her orders.” He gave Finn a pointed look that told Brea the two of them totally knew what the Eldur queen wanted with her. “I will take over Lady Robinson’s watch.”
Finn stood. “She wants to be called Brea.”
Lochlan grunted as if what she wanted was of little importance to him. It probably was.
Finn offered her an encouraging smile before leaving her be.
Brea crossed her arms over the dry shirt Finn had provided her with. “I’m surprised you want to sit in here with me considering I smell too bad even for dragons.”
He eyed her warily and took Finn’s spot on the floor. Ripping a piece of bread, he took a bite and chewed slowly. “You can bathe once we reach the palace.”