Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
“I don’t hate you,” I whisper, aching. “I just hate everything about this situation.”
He lifts my hand to his cheek, the hard planes of his face familiar under my touch. “I’ve been following ever since they broke into the cottage,” he tells me. “I’ve agonized over every moment. I haven’t slept, knowing that you were with them and vulnerable. Ten thousand times I wanted to slaughter them all and take the horses, but I cannot ride, either. At least this way you could cling to one of them.” He turns his face, brushing his lips against my palm, grazing the bite mark there. “I hated them. I hated them so much, and every time I nearly stole you away again, a new settlement would be on the horizon, and I was convinced that this would be the one that would have people. This would be the one where they would welcome you like the princess you are and feed you. They could give you more than a Fellian, and so I watched from the shadows and held back my rage.” He bares his teeth, his green eyes glinting. “I hated that they stole the food. If I had anything to slip you, I would have left it in your path. But there is nothing. The rain is washing everything away.”
The goddess is furious with humanity. Not with myself and Nemeth, but that bit of knowledge doesn’t make me feel any better. It’s difficult for me to see Nemeth so stern and not try to make him smile. So I manage a weak grin and stroke his strong chin. “You miscalculated, I’m afraid. We’re still at least a day out from the city and we’ve eaten the horse. If your plan was for them to take me to the gates of Lios, you’ve failed, my love.”
His teeth scrape over my bite, and it sends a shiver up my spine. “I couldn’t wait a moment longer. They were going to hurt you. Touch you.” He bares his teeth, his lips curling back with fury. “I’d destroy every human alive before I’d let them harm one hair on your head.”
My eyes go wide.
“You belong to me.” He places his teeth over the plump part of my palm, fitting against the bite mark. “My Candra. My mate. Do you know how feral it makes me to think that they might have touched you? Do you know how much I wanted to tear them limb from limb for the way they were looking at you?” Nemeth growls, his nostrils flaring as he gazes at me. “Do you know how much effort it’s taking me not to drag you to this floor and give you my knot because I need to claim you?”
My breath catches in my lungs. “Nemeth.”
“I know what I did was wrong. I know, and I hated every moment of it. But I would do anything for you, Candra.” The look he gives me is full of longing, full of emotion, and I’m right back there in the tower, listening to him confess his love for me. “You are everything to me.”
“I love you, too,” I tell him. “And if I didn’t feel like death warmed over at this moment, I’d ask you for that knot after all.”
That brings a smile to his hard, unforgiving mouth. He kisses the mark on my palm and gets to his feet. “I may not be able to knot you, but I can feed you. Right now, that’s almost as good.”
“Is it? Is it really?”
He pauses. “Well, no.” His wings flutter with shy agitation. “But it will have to do.”
Chapter
Sixty-Seven
We stay that night in the manor house. Nemeth makes me eat no less than three bowls of horse soup, staggered over two hours, and then I’m so tired that I doze in front of the fire while he sets up magical wards and more perimeter spells. I want to watch him to see what the spells entail, but I’m so groggy after both medicine and food that my eyes won’t stay open. I’m vaguely aware of the fire dying down, of Nemeth carrying me to bed.
I wake up, rested and no longer hungry, curled up against Nemeth’s side. His big, warm hand is palming one of my breasts through my chemise (I’m not sure how he got my outer dress off of me) as if it belongs to him. He snores, content, and I remember how he said he didn’t sleep a wink while we were apart. My heart fills with love for him and I tuck his hand closer around me, relaxing in bed. I’ll lay here and let him sleep peacefully, I decide. I’ll be a good, benevolent, unselfish mate and let him sleep.
But I can’t fall back asleep. Instead, I think about last night, and the vicious, feral look in his eyes as he checked me all over. Did they touch you? he’d asked, over and over again, as if he’d lose every bit of his sanity if they had. My Nemeth, who claims to be a scholar, had almost been a feral beast.