Quilla
I glared at the horizon, gauging the time. The sun had long since dipped behind the skyline and even the pretty colors that followed were beginning to fade. Soon, all daylight would be gone. And Indigo hadn’t returned from the spring yet, where he’d claimed he was going to bathe.
Except baths did not last this long.
I spun toward Melaina. “What exactly did you tell him about the Graykey curse while I was gone?” I knew I shouldn’t have left those two alone together. She’s probably scared him off for good.
My aunt fished a carrot from her steaming bowl of stew and blew on the spoon before answering—because, yes, he’d even been gone long enough for me to cook supper.
“I told him everything, sweets.”
Oh, great. It was definite, then; he was never coming back. He’d heard about my genes full of crazy and decided to get out while the getting was good. We wouldn’t be hearing from that High Clifter again.
Unless it was to return with an army full of his friends to extinguish us.
“Well, he’s taking an awfully long time bathing, don’t you think?” I muttered to combat my panic over the fact that I might not see him again.
Melaina smirked and waited until her mouth was no longer full of stew before she patted her lips with a napkin and chuckled. “After watching the way he looked at you before booking it out of here, I’m not at all surprised he’s been gone so long.”
I sat up in alarm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
How had he looked at me? With horror? Revulsion? Loathing? He was mated to a product of monstrous people. How else would he have looked at me?
“With stark, raving lust, my dear,” Melaina finally answered. “He wanted to fuck you. Badly. Why, from the way he tore out of here, he probably didn’t even wait until he got to the stream before he started masturbating.” Finding a chunk of potato in her soup, she brightened and chased it around with her spoon, intent to catch it. “He’ll probably jack off a few times at least before returning,” she told me before plunking the spud into her mouth.
I frowned at her conclusion, thinking that couldn’t be true, even as a small vain place in me warmed around the idea that I could maybe, possibly arouse him to such a degree. In a perfect world where I could gain a mate who loved me and lived happily ever after with me, that would be nice.
But that was fantasy. And this was reality. He couldn’t desire me like that. It just wasn’t possible.
“Or he ran off to find friends so he could return and slaughter both of us,” I countered.
Melaina laughed. “You really believe that?” she asked. “After the impassioned speech he gave you not even two hours ago about how he’d never leave you and you were his future, no matter what?”
“He only said that malarkey to gainsay whatever I was saying,” I muttered, not sure if I believed my own words. “He likes to disagree with me, if you hadn’t noticed. The man will spout any lie to make himself look right.”
Melaina shrugged. “Well, I disagree. He seems like the pathetically honest type to me.”
I threw up my hands in disgust. “You are the most wishy-washy woman I’ve ever met, I swear. One second, you’re all fired up and ready to kill him; and the next, you can’t seem to praise him enough. Will you just make up your damn mind already? Is he a saint or a devil?”
Lifting her chin arrogantly, Melaina squared her shoulders. “He waffles. And I can change my mind if I like.”
“Every three seconds?” I asked dryly.
She shrugged. “If it suits me.”
I rolled my eyes.
“And would you look at that?” She motioned with her spoon, pointing past me. “Here comes your true love now. Guess he didn’t run off, after all. Happy now?”
I whirled around, gasping slightly when I saw a dark form approaching through the trees. At first, it was hard to tell if it was actually Indigo or not, but then he stepped from the shadows and his distinct silhouette took shape along with the familiar way he walked.
A sudden and crisp rush of relief flooded my veins. He hadn’t left me. Thank God.
No, wait. That wasn’t what I meant. I just—
I only meant I was relieved he hadn’t run. It would’ve been annoying to have to chase him down before he’d alerted anyone to our whereabouts. We really would’ve had to kill him then. And I’d prefer to leave the Outer Realms without any blood on my hands. I didn’t want to succumb to the Graykey stereotype that we were just a brood of murderers.
But Indigo must’ve caught on to the sensation of relief rushing from me, because he paused, glancing up curiously. I hoped he didn’t rightly—er, wrongly—assume I’d been worried about him because I cared, or anything. Since I definitely didn’t care. Not at all. Not even about how incredibly attractive he was.
Water dripped off clumps of wet hair spiking from his head, and his clothes held damp spots that stuck to his torso, revealing cut muscles I’d never seen on him before. Dear God, but who knew his tunic had been hiding such nicely defined shoulders and biceps.
Clearing my throat, I sat up a little straighter and reenacted one of Melaina’s superior poses before saying, “So, you really did bathe after all?”
“Yeah.” He let out a refreshed sigh as he approached the fire, pausing before it to hold up his bound hands and warm his palms. “The spring water felt good, too. Almost couldn’t drag myself out again.”
Brow knitting as I focused on his cuffs, I shook my head, suddenly wondering—
“How the hell did you bathe with shackles on?”
His grin turned wicked. “I’ll gladly tell you. All you have to do is—”
“Never mind.” I slapped my empty stew bowl down on the log next to me and surged to my feet, glaring at him. “I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do,” he taunted to my back as I turned away and got to work, setting up my bedroll. “Just come here and I’ll whisper the secret in your ear.”
“How about you whisper it in my ear,” Melaina offered, curling her finger in an inviting gesture.
Indigo sent her a frown. “That’s a hard pass, thanks.”
Her leer fell. “What? Why?”
“You’ve drawn blood on my throat twice now. I’m not going anywhere near you.”
“Pfft.” She pushed to her feet to gather my empty bowl. As she took both hers and mine to the cleaning bucket to wash them, she added, “You’re not still put out about that, are you, darling? That’s all in the past now.”
“It was yesterday and this morning,” he reminded her dryly. “And besides…” He glanced my way. “Quilla doesn’t like it when you flirt with me.”
Spinning around with my bedding half prepared, I glared openly, ready to strangle the jerk for making such a crazy, slanderous claim. “The fuck if I care!”
“You do.” He smirked. “The moment she made her offer, your emotions raged out with fury. You did not like her making a move on your man.”
“As if,” I cried. “You are not my—”
“Yes, I am,” he murmured, leaving the fire to retrieve his own bedroll. Strolling my way, he added, “Whether you like it or not, I’m yours. Always and forever.”