Page 56 of A Touch of Shadows

‘What kind of trouble?’ she asked.

‘Infinite trouble. But I wouldn’t be anywhere else, Wren.’

She still had both hands on his chest, palms flat. She ought to push him back, run while she could. Get out of here.

And suddenly she couldn’t even manage that. She could feel the warmth of his body through the simple shirt he wore, and the movement of his muscles underneath. She could feel his heartbeat.

He growled something soft and dangerous and closed his eyes, seeking composure. ‘What have you done to me, Wren?’ The whisper came out hoarse and heavy with need.

‘Nothing.’ She knew that was a lie as soon as she said it. ‘I didn’t—I mean, I didn’t mean to do anything.’

Great light she wanted him. Everything about him. She wanted to touch him and keep touching him, to kiss his lips and pull him to her. This wasn’t natural. She knew that. It couldn’t be. She tried to push him away again, this time determined, if not for her sake then for his, but there was nowhere left to go. His back had come up against the wall.

His hands closed around her waist, pulling her to him, firm, but at the same time so unbearably tender. As if she was something precious, something treasured. He hesitated, waited for her to move away again, to free herself and leave him.

When she didn’t, he bent his head to brush his lips to hers and she let out a breath in surprise at the gentleness.

For a moment they just stood there, frozen together. His skin felt warm, his lips so soft. She lifted herself on her toes and his mouth opened to her.

And all of a sudden she was kissing Finnian Ward and she couldn’t think of anything else.

CHAPTER 33

WREN

She wanted him.

That was all Wren knew, all she wanted to know. Just him.

She had done from the moment she had first seen him in the forest, wanted to make him hers, wanted to never let him go. It might not be logical, or even sane, but she couldn’t deny it. He was hers. Somehow he always had been. Like he had been made for her.

Did it really work that way? The stories said it did but Elodie had always called that utter nonsense.

His mouth against hers, his tongue and lips moving in perfect harmony, drove all thoughts from her mind. She would do anything to protect him and the intensity of that feeling was terrifying. It was so unfamiliar and wild that she couldn't give in to her need for him just yet.

Because she had to know.

‘Is it real?’ she asked. ‘What we’re feeling?’

Perhaps she hadn’t felt it from the very first time she saw him, but she had felt something. And once they were in the forest… in the darkwood… and… had it been real then? Was any of it real? He knew what she was, he had to. He had seen everything. Or nearly everything. And yet he was still here, with her, holding her, kissing her.

‘It’s stronger than anything I’ve ever felt,’ he admitted. ‘Like I’m being swept up in a flood, where the only choice is to let it take me with it. Do you understand? I don’t know if this is something to do with the magic you used to save me or… or something else… I just don’t know. And, Wren—?’ He pulled her to a stop again, stared down into her eyes. For a moment he chewed on his lower lip, as if hesitating to speak. But the words would not be stopped. ‘I don’t care.’

Finn wrapped his arms around Wren, held her close against him, shielding her from everything. He’d protected her from the first, thrown himself into danger for her time and again. He was her champion, just like the Paladins and the knights from the old tales.

‘What happened?’ he asked. ‘Back in the forest. What did you do?’

She pressed her forehead against his chest and closed her eyes. ‘I was trying to heal you, to drive out the shadow kin’s poison. But I don’t know… it didn’t work like I thought it would. The light… the light burned inside me and I think… I think I did something else. Changed you. So when Leander threatened me…’

‘The bastard should never have even touched you.’ The snarl was there again, buried in his otherwise gentle voice like a barb.

‘He’s your brother.’

‘Half-brother. Different mothers. His a queen and mine… I don’t know, a courtier, a servant, some other unfortunate who caught our father’s eye. When Alessander recognised me as a son, my beloved brothers tried to drown me the very same evening. Joke’s on them though, since Leander and I are the only ones still alive. And since he keeps trying to kill me at any available opportunity you can’t say we’re close.’

‘How many brothers did you have?’

‘Five. Alessander never did things by half and he delighted in setting us against each other.’ His hand strayed to her hair, stroking it, running his fingers through it idly. ‘It’s the Ilanthian way, you know? Succession by murder. A delightful subject. We should talk about something else. Come on, let’s go inside.’