Page 123 of Scourged

Mischief.

He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Her gaze dropped to his lips, just for a heartbeat, before she turned back around. “He just doesn’t let anyone other than me ride him. That’s all.”

Andrian knew the game.

“Perhaps you’re not as special as you thought, princess.”

“I highly doubt that’s why.”

“This confidence is unbecoming.”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Andrian.” She purred his name, shooting him a glance over her shoulder. “I think you, of all people, should know that this confidence isearned.”

“Careful,” he said, his voice low, far rougher than he intended it to be. Every single place where they touched was ablaze, the bond between their souls awake and alive and burning. Thesame fire he felt was reflected in the green of her irises. “Don’t start something you’re not ready to finish,nio.”

She stiffened, turning away from him.

He didn’t know why he’d said it. She’d told him not to. But it meant more—gods, so fucking much more—than he could ever express to her. And he couldn’t stop calling her it. It was the only piece of his past that he still clung to, a piece he hadn’t meant to impart to her but that she now owned, even if she didn’t realize it.

But he could feel the way she changed. The way she shut down. All the heat he’d felt from their bond only a few seconds ago cooled to marbled ambivalence, solid stone closing him off from her once again.

His hand fell from where it had rested at the juncture between her hip and thigh. She shifted forward, just a touch, no longer pressed to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, a barely-there whisper spoken to the back of her head.

She didn’t speak to him again as they rode through the palace gates. Didn’t glance at him as she slid from her horse, leaving Kodie with Andrian and the two stableboys who sprinted from the shadows. She strode away, heading for the palace, her hands clenched into fists.

Even with thecoldness Mariah had left him with, Andrian couldn’t shake the heat of his memories. Of her against his chest, of her body between his thighs. Of her breathy laugh against his cheek and the wicked gleam in her green eyes.

The way she’d glanced at his lips, if for only a second.

The way she’d leaned forward, pressing her ass intohim.

The way she shifted and moved with the rocking of the horse, with him, as if her body had been fuckingmadefor him.

Fuck.

He rolled his shoulders, running his hands through his hair. Too long. His hair was too fucking long, and the way it fell into his eyes and curled against the back of his neck made his skin crawl. He ran his hand through his hair again, this time grabbing onto the ends and pulling, hoping it would shake the tension ripping through him.

The feeling brought back a memory. Memories. Of bare skin under his hands, smaller hands in his hair, pulling much the same way he was now?—

He dropped his hands, clenching his jaw and fists, and pushed his steps faster toward the game park.

He’d nearly sprinted to his room after their arrival back at the palace, quickly changing into training clothes and heading right back out the door. Outside once again, the setting sun warm against his skin, he hoped a run through the park would clear his head. Release some of this energy desperately trying to claw its way out of him.

His feet pounded the packed earth, and each step jolted his teeth.

Fuck, that bond between them … He’d thought it was bad enough just having it exist. Feeling so connected to her, always knowing what she felt or wanted or needed. That was the real reason he’d drowned himself in booze during those initial days after discovering the truth about what had happened to her in Khento; it was the only thing that dulled the onslaught, numbed the reminder ofherembedded in his fucking soul.

But then he’dtouchedher.

Not just touched but had herthere. So close to him that he could feel every inch of her, could breathe in her intoxicating jasmine and cedarwood scent. It turned that bond between theminto a live wire, athingwith too much power and charged energy that wrapped around his chest to where he could barely breathe.

That they’d foundaberrantin the city, that she hadtouchedit, made his restless energy even more unbearable.

He pushed his pace faster. His lungs were burning, sweat forming on his face and at the back of his neck.