Page 65 of A Fate of Wings

“Well?” I mumbled against her lips, not wanting to let the kiss end.

She shoved my shoulders backward until I repositioned them so she could look into my face.

“My body remembers. My mind doesn’t.”

“Shit.” I sat up, drawing her with me into a sitting position once again.

“We can always try more?”

She was amazing, even with no memory.

“We can, but I doubt that will help me think of the one word that will help you.”

“A word will help me?”

“Supposedly.”

She scoffed. “Words won’t help. More kisses might.”

“All more kisses will do is make me think of you and your luscious body, of how much I want to feast on your arousal until your legs tremble around my ears.”

She shifted in my arms. “I would have been a fool not to love you.”

I laughed. The sound echoed over the landscape like I’d sent my happiness on a wave to find others so they could hear my joy.

“Come, let’s find shelter for the night.”

“Out here?”

“There are small hollows near each spring that are perfect for curling up in and sleeping.”

That’s if a chimera wasn’t already in them, that is, but I didn’t mention those to her.

I helped her to her feet, took one of her delicate hands in mine, and led her over the moss-covered ground. She slipped once, clinging onto me tighter, and it only made me want to lose myself in her body harder. Perhaps seducing her would fetch her memory back, but I doubted it.

No, it was a word.

But what word?

We found the spring gurgling up from the rock pool. Steam wafted from the heated water. Thea gazed at the spring with a longing so different from the first time I brought her here when she’d complained about her feathers being wet. She didn’t have her wings out now though, so maybe that’s why she wasn’t looking at the water like it’d ruffle her spectacular feathers, or perhaps having no memory had changed her.

“You can bathe if you wish. I won’t harm you.”

“So you keep saying.” She fiddled with the buttons on her dress.

“I will look. though.”

She rolled her eyes.

“What? I need to make sure you’re safe.”

“You said it was safe here.” She glanced around frantically as though she didn’t trust my word.

Now I was required to mention the chimeras otherwise she wouldn’t believe me she was safer here than anywhere else.

“It is, but the chimeras aren’t always welcoming to intrusion.”

“Have you had a few run-ins with them?”