Page 92 of Lake of Sorrow
“With your sword or with claws?” Kaylina hoped the danger to her hadn’t threatened to make him change but feared it might have, especially when he hesitated to answer.
“I did have to hum to myself to regain control. Knowing your brother was with you helped.” Vlerion lifted his hand from her arm to her jaw, his fingers brushing her skin.
Her body heated further, her nerves tingling, tightening with longing. “I’m glad you’re not off on the border. Maybe it would be good for you and the kingdom, but I can’t regret that I met you. Even though you’re haughty and order me around.” She leaned toward him, knowing they dare not kiss but wanting…
“Even though the druid plant wants you to kill me.” Vlerion didn’t step back, but he did lower his hand, and she sensed the emotional distance he was attempting to put between them.
Distance would be safer for both of them, but Kaylina hated the idea of the plant being responsible for driving them apart. She stepped closer and clasped his hand as she gazed at him, willing him to understand that she cared, that she wasn’t tempted by botanical bargains.
“You know I’m not going to do that. I want you to kiss me.” Kaylina wanted him to do more than that to her—with her. “You can’t do that if you’re dead.” She tried a smile.
“I’m aware of what you want.” He curled his fingers around hers and looked down at her chest pressed against his arm.
She hadn’t intended to mash herself against him, only to keep him from drawing back, but when she was around him, her body acted of its own accord.
“It’s what you want too,” she stated with certainty. Or what the beast wanted, the beast within him drawn to the anrokk within her.
Targon’s words came to mind: If the curse were lifted and his beast element disappeared, he might be indifferent to you.
She didn’t want to contemplate that. She wanted to be with him. Even the plant’s vision of the beast killing her couldn’t change that.
“It is,” Vlerion agreed.
“Since we’re both clear on that, you shouldn’t be concerned about manipulative plants. We’ll stay away from the castle until I figure out how to lift the curse.”
Too bad pouring the druid honey in the pot hadn’t been enough for that. She worried that all she was doing was making the plant stronger. It appeared much healthier than when she’d first climbed into that tower room. And what had it said about it being a sentinel? That implied more than a curse. What if it was there to watch over the druids’ interest for all time?
“That may not be enough,” Vlerion said. “In the preserve, the magic in that brand drew you to the druid ruins.”
“It didn’t exactly draw me. I was curious to begin with, and the sensation from it made me think it was a good idea. That I might find something useful in there.”
“What we found were vines capable of ensnaring me.”
A flush of indignation rose to her face as, for the first time, Kaylina realized he might blame her for that. “You didn’t need to come into the ruins. You shouldn’t have.”
“I believed you were in danger.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but Vlerion shifted closer, wrapping his arms around her. His face lowered to rest on the top of her head, his breath warm and appealing as it whispered across her cheek.
The warmth of indignation shifted to the heat of desire, her longing to be close to him returning. It was so intense that she struggled not to wrap both arms around him and capture him forever.
“I will always come when you’re in danger,” Vlerion murmured, his hand sliding around to her back and lower.
He didn’t pull her tight against him, but she sensed that he wanted to. She wanted that too, but…
“Don’t say that near the castle,” she said, “or the plant might set a trap for you.”
“It might force you to attack me at any time.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“It marked you,” he said softly. “It claimed you. And it’s powerful. The druids were extremely powerful.”
Even as he spoke of her being claimed by the enemies of the rangers, Vlerion rubbed her back through her shirt, fingers occasionally drifting lower, and she remembered his words about rewarding her. By all the craters in the moon, she wanted that, but it wouldn’t be safe now that a full day had passed since he’d shifted. It might not have been safe before, when he’d spoken of it, when he’d been thinking of bringing her the pleasure she longed to experience in his arms.
“The brand would have to do a lot more than tingle and itch for me to spring on you with a knife.” Kaylina rested her palm against his chest, but he wore his leather armor over his tunic, so she felt none of his warmth. She moved her hand higher, fingers trailing up his strong neck to push into his short hair and rub his scalp. A rumble almost like an animal growl came from him, and his response to her touch made her want to do more, to make him happy, to reward him for the times he’d stood with her. “Even if it somehow could, it’s not like it would matter. You’d stop me easily. I’m much better with a sling than a blade.”
“I don’t doubt that.”