Once she reached the top, she scanned the area surrounding her, checking to see if she was alone. And then she began to shimmy out of the worn, brown cloak she wore.
My eyebrows lifted. I eased in closer.
Stripping completely bare, she hung the white cloth from a nearby tree branch and eyed the cool waters below. The glamour wasn’t complete, I realized. Under her clothes, the skin was merely a flesh-colored blur with no defined details. It looked really odd.
Naked, my mate dove into the water.
My smile spread. Now we were getting somewhere.
The one thing I knew about glamours was that they were susceptible to the elements. Too much exposure to fire, dirt, high winds, or water, and the glamour washed away completely.
No matter how good her glamour was, it wasn’t going to last after being submerged in the spring.
So whoever rose from those depths would bear my partner’s true image. And I, for one, couldn’t wait to see what he or she really looked like.
Chapter 5
Quilla
The water felt good: crisp, refreshing, and cleansing.
I swam around probably longer than I should have, my fingertips growing wrinkled and pruned in the process. But Melaina would return any moment, and she’d no doubt have something snide and degrading to say if she caught me in the water without any clothes on.
Knowing I should move, I lingered, anyway, floating on my back and closing my eyes as I turned my face toward the warm beams of sunlight that streamed through the branches of the overhanging trees.
My mind drained of thought, and my bones went liquid and limp, enjoying the moment of peace. Yeah, this was nice. Lips lifting with a languid smile, I lifted my lashes and focused on the blue sky above.
He had blue eyes, my brain reminded me. I’d seen them clearly when he’d winked at me in the market when I was disguised as the little girl. They’d been such a brilliant, alive blue, too. Way too blue and pretty for a cold-blooded killer.
My brow furrowed.
The High Cliff soldier had been following me for a solid week now. I’d even shed three different disguises to avoid him, but he kept getting right back onto my trail. It was exasperating, and a bit frightening, if I wanted to be completely honest.
If this kept up, something was going to have to be done about it. I might actually have to kill the blue-eyed dreamboat. I shuddered over the mere possibility. I hadn’t yet been forced to kill anyone, and it wasn’t something I liked to think about. But now the thought was there, and it bothered me.
Tranquil time over, I flipped upright in the water and wiped wetness from my face before paddling toward the shore where the rock overhang was. Gripping a tree root, I hoisted myself up until my bare toes got a good grip on the natural stone steps that were worn into the ragged side of the rock. Then I climbed. Once I reached the flat, jutting top, I grabbed the hanging frock I’d left waiting for me, and I shrugged it on.
Then I perched myself above the brook and concentrated on wringing dry my long mass of hair. As water evaporated from my skin, I curled my legs under me and wiggled my bare toes in delight, giving them a little freedom.
No matter what disguise I wore, I usually had thick boots on underneath. It felt nice to have them out in the open air for a few minutes, able to breathe a little.
Behind me, a twig snapped. I froze with my hands still wrapped around thick locks of damp hair and forgot to exhale.
But what was that?
Had he found me again?
No. He hadn’t been anywhere around when I’d left the settlement. At least, I didn’t think he had. It was probably just an animal. Lord, it better be an animal. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if—
“So, this is what you really look like, is it?”
Shit.
With a gasp, I whirled around to find the High Cliff knight there, easing toward the rock boulder I sat upon. Seeing my reaction, however, he pulled up short and lifted his hands to show me he carried no weapons.
As if that mattered.
There was no way he came in peace. High Cliff soldiers only killed or captured Graykeys.
Motherfucker. Where the hell had he come from?
How had he found me?
Heart leaping into my throat, I gulped and casually dropped my hands from my hair to let them land on the cloak I’d been wearing earlier at the market. It still lay pooled in a heap beside me and had a handful of daggers hidden all over inside it.
As my fingers crept along, inconspicuously searching, the man offered me a tremulous, almost nervous smile.
“Hi,” he said, his lips spreading wider. A friendly greeting.
I blinked. Never before had an assassin offered me a damn salutation. Especially a kind one.
I had no idea what that was about until his gaze dropped, and lust swirled in his blue eyes as he took in the places that my frock had soaked up some of the wetness from my skin and made the white cloth transparent. I was definitely giving him an eyeful of my chest, especially of my nipples that were still beaded and hard from my chilly dip in the stream.
Oh, hell no. If he thought he was going to get that before killing me, the sick bastard had another thing coming.
“I don’t think so, buddy,” I told him when I finally found a dagger. My fingers gripped the hilt, and I whipped my arm up, letting the blade fly with an underhanded flick of the wrist, aiming it directly at his head.
“Whoa!” He dipped to the side and just barely managed to avoid getting pierced in one of his pretty, blue eyes. He gazed after it as it embedded itself into a tree behind him. Then, with a low whistle, he turned back to me, his eyebrows lifted. “Impressive.”
“Thanks.” My fingers curled around the second dagger, ready to impress him again. I’d have to be faster this time; he’d had no problem dodging the last one. As I eased it free from its sheath and palmed the handle, I slowly rose to my feet.
The knight dropped his gaze to my hand and grinned.
“Though, might I suggest aiming for the body instead of the head when throwing a weapon,” he said. “You have more surface area there and better odds of hitting your target while still being just as deadly.”
“Good idea.”
I released the second dagger, and he swore fluidly as he jumped back, arching in his stomach to avoid contact.
“Yes,” he applauded, pointing at me with a proud grin. “Perfect. Maybe don’t try the same move twice in a row like that; you’ll start to become predictable and easily defeated. But that throw was spot on. Very nice.”
“New move, you say?” Stomping my foot down on the sword that had been lying beside me, I caused the hilt end to rear up toward my hand where I caught it and lifted it threateningly, ready to engage him in hand-to-hand combat. “Thanks again. Any other valuable advice you wish to give?”
Crouching into a defensive position with his knees bent and hands lifted, he ignored his own sword that hung from the scabbard at his side and merely offered me an amused chuckle. “I’m beginning to think any other fighting tips I give would not end to my benefit. Tell me, do you always try to kill people you’ve just met?”
“When they’ve been following me for a week after I’ve made it clear I don’t want their company? Yes.”
His brow furrowed. He didn’t like that answer, and it was the first time I’d seen him not look entertained since he’d started this cat-and-mouse game with me. “But how do you know you don’t want my company? You didn’t even give me a chance to explain my reasons for—”