Page 43 of Ashborne Forged

She stared up at me, curious. But not ignorant. She could feel it too. The bond thrummed.

“There’s something I’d like to show you,” I said, my voice low, graveling, because I wanted her so, but had to fight it.

Grace’s lips curled up. “I told you, I always want to learn.”

“Are you certain? I would have to teach you. You’d have to listen and… obey.”

To my delight, her smile broadened. “I like it when you instruct. You’re a very good teacher.”

A low rumble of approval rolled in my chest. “Then, let’s get started.”

Her brows rose, and she looked around. “Started with what?”

“I need mushrooms for the meal. The kind shaped like teardrops. Do you know them?”

I almost laughed when her face fell, but she recovered quickly, because she was so willing to please. “Yes, I know them.”

“There’s a patch about a hundred feet north. Look for the elm blossoms. They like the same soil.”

She nodded again, tried to cover her disappointment. I had to cover a smile.

“They shrink a great deal when they’re cooked, so we’ll need about twenty.”

“I’ll find them.”

“Take your cloak, it will be colder in the shadows and away from the fire.” I kissed her quickly, thanked her, pretended the anticipation she felt brimming in the bond was for what would come after the meal. Then I turned back to the vegetables I’d been chopping and began to mentally calculate how to get the meat tied and hung again so we wouldn’t lose it while we were otherwise engaged.

Grace collected her cloak from the hut, then walked quickly north, offering another dazzling smile as she passed.

I smiled back, then waited for her to disappear into the dark before I launched into action.

14. Hide & Seek

SOUNDTRACK: The Hunted by Oskura

~ GRACE ~

I pulled my cloak more tightly around me as I slipped into the trees that surrounded the hut. I wasn’t cold, but I suddenly needed to feel held. I was struck once more with my inability to read men correctly. I’d been certain something important was happening. That he’d intended to teach me something much more intimate than foraging for mushrooms. Yet, he’d turned away and gone back to cooking as if nothing would happen.

Oh, the anticipation was there in the bond. I had no doubt we’d enjoy our evening together after the meal. Perhaps that was his intent. But it frustrated me that I lacked the wiles that most women seemed to possess by instinct.

My passage was slow as I entered the thick wood. In the clearing, the world still glowed golden and orange. But under the canopy, night had fallen. I slowed my pace as everything turned a deep gray that shrouded details. There was still light, but my eyes needed a moment to adjust.

Then Koa sang in my head, and some of my unease was soothed in the face of her joy.

‘The mate is coming!’ she chittered joyfully, amid images of Kham pursuing her somewhere in the nearby forest.

I couldn’t help but laugh—Koa adored leading Kham on a chase.

‘Enjoy yourself, Koa,’ I sent with a genuine smile, yet feeling the pinch and bracing myself. As her desire rose, mine would as well.

‘The games, Firebird. Enjoy the games!’

I nodded and sent her a rush of love. Her pure joy, and her devotion to Kham, were beautiful things. I couldn’t always interpret every word, especially if she was excited or anxious. But I felt her. Her heart was beautiful, and fierce. She loved deeply, and with abandon—and she preened under Kham’s attention.

Their love was as beautiful as her ruby scales, and I now held precious hope that Voski and I might reach something like that, some day. A hope that deepened as he softened.

But I couldn’t shake the niggling fear that it was our solitude that had freed his heart. That when we returned to the Keep, his tension would return with it.