Layala watched Thane bend his knees and hold out his palms for her to put her shoe into. The once-white slippers were stained in grime and dirt so thick she was embarrassed to touch him. Her filthy, ripped dress smelled like goat shit and sour sweat. And he’d have to ride with her pressed against him for hours? She hadn’t thought about it when she was falling to her death and he held her against him but now, her life wasn’t on the line. He might be a little sweaty and dirty but somehow, he still smelled good and looked as beautiful as ever.
He looked up at her expectantly. “What’s the matter?”
Tif popped out of the saddlebag. “Yeah, what’s the matter? Are you upset Thane didn’t bring Midnight? I said, ‘she’s going to want her horse’, when the bridge guard retrieved Phantom from the barns, but no one listened to the poor little gnome. I bet even Midnight is upset he got left behind.”
Layala glanced around at the Ravens, mounted up and already on their way moving out. “It’s not that… Are there any clean clothes for me to change into?”
“Midnight is fine in the barn. It was enough of a risk for the stable master to grab Phantom,” Thane said to Tif. He turned to Layala, “And if you’re worried anyone is judging your appearance, we’re not. Besides, the grimy look is turning me on a little.”
Leif and Fennan laughed, of course. Layala narrowed her eyes. “Only you.”
“Don’t worry, Layala,” Tif said with a big toothy grin. “I will wash your dress as soon as we can. It will be as bright and shiny as new.”
Layala fidgeted with her hands, scratching at the dirt under her nails. It sounded stupid when she thought about it, but she was the only one who smelled like animal droppings. The last thing she wanted was to be pressed up against Thane and have him revolted by her scent. This certainly wasn’t how she imagined their reunion. If she had Midnight, she might let this go.
Horses knickered and danced impatiently as the remaining Ravens waited on their mounts. Even Aunt Evalyn looked to be growing impatient. “Layala, you look fine,” Evalyn said. “Since when did you start caring about fashion?”
“I don’t care what I look like.” That was only a small lie.
“Go on ahead.” Thane waved them off. “We’ll catch up.”
Without hesitation, the group vanished among the trees into the darkness, except Evalyn who waited a moment, as if afraid to leave them alone together, but she too gave her horse a nudge and moved on.
When she was gone, Thane hooked a thumb on the weapons belt around his hips. “Do I need to threaten to put you on the horse again, stubborn one?”
“Oooo this is going to be good.” Tif rubbed her hands together with a wicked grin.
Layala lightly bit her lip to keep from smiling at Tif’s comment and folded her arms. “Try it and see what happens. You couldn’t even if you wanted to.”
He laughed. “Maker above, I’ve missed you.”
She no longer held back that smile as warmth blossomed in her chest. How she’d missed him too. “What happened after—” the rest of the sentence caught in her throat. It hurt to remember him bleeding out on the forest floor, and the gaping hole through his center.
“It’s not a long story but it’s one I’d love to tell you.” He gestured toward Phantom. “On the way.”
“I saved him,” Tif blurted out and rubbed her nails on her dress in a show of taking credit. Thane tilted his head in a lazy glare at her. “What? I helped. Don’t try to deny it, and if I didn’t speak tweet, think of the mess we’d be in.”
“Tif was with you?”
“As I said, on the way,” he motioned toward the horse again. “Besides, I’m more worried about getting you something to eat than what you’re wearing.” He reached into the bag and pulled out a brown cloth wrap. “It’s not much but something.”
“You’re telling me you don’t have any clothes in your bag?” She continued, stubbornly and snatched whatever was inside the cloth. She unwrapped it and bit into the hardened piece of bread.
“None that will fit you. But you can still take yours off. I won’t mind.”
Tif’s eyes widened. “Should I plug my ears now? I think I should plug my ears.” With her ruddy cheeks brightening she ducked into the bag again, closing the flap over her head.
Layala chuckled at both of them, but it was Thane she spoke to. “Oh, you’d have me ride naked? With your Ravens to see no less. I didn’t think you were the sharing type.”
“I’m not.” He stepped forward and lightly ran his fingers over her cheek. The gesture made her flinch. It was the same thing the Black Mage did in her dreams.
His brows furrowed and he dropped his hand. “My father hit you.” The growl in his voice brought chills to her skin. He took her bandaged hand into his. “And this?”
“He hurt me. Just like you told me he would.” She didn’t dare reveal her dreams and the real reason she flinched. She was disgusted with herself that she had any connection to the Black Mage at all.
Suddenly, the forest darkened like a cloud blocked out the morning sun and the tang of Thane’s magic coated the air.
“I’m alright.” She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his middle.
He hugged her close. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
“I know.”
They stood like that for what felt like a long time, basking in the heat and closeness. The embrace had its own kind of healing that no salves or magic could ever compare to. Her home.
He ran his hands down her sides and stopped on her hips and inhaled. “You do smell bad. No wonder you were worried.”
She jerked back and shoved him in the chest. “You had to ruin the moment.” She grabbed hold of Phantom’s saddle. “Just for that comment, you can smell me the whole way. I won’t even bathe or change when we get a chance. We’ll see if you’re turned on by my grimy look then.”
He smiled in that devastatingly handsome way that was difficult to be angry at, and dropped to one knee, holding open his palms. She stepped into his waiting hands, and he lifted her with ease. “You’re too easy to rile up, Laya,” he said. “But it worked.”
When she settled in, he climbed up and sat behind her. The corners of her mouth curled as she felt the pressure of his strong, firm body like a wall behind her. Maker, she loved him. “What worked?”
“To get you on the horse. I’ve successfully used your stubbornness against you. One mark for Thane.”
With her mouth agape, she looked over her shoulder. The nerve. “First of all, what sort of arrogant turd refers to himself in the third person, and this is the game you want to play? Alright then.”
“I’ve been besting you at this game since we met, my dear.” The timbre of his voice vibrated her skin.
She thrust her backside hard into his crotch and rubbed against him. There was nothing but cloth there, no armor to stop him from feeling her body. He sucked in a sharp breath and wrapped his arm tightly around her waist in reaction. “Mmm, don’t do that.”
She wiggled again with a growing smile. “What’s the matter, Thane?”
He chuckled. “I can’t very well hump you against those statues and have my father ride up and slit my throat then take you from me. Even though I thought about it a few times already. The humping part, obviously.”
Grinning, she twisted to look at the statues. The idea was intriguing.
Thane caged his arms around her to grab hold of the reins. “I think that might be what kept me alive. Picturing you naked. Or maybe it was the thought of your plump, soft breasts in my—” she elbowed him in the gut, and he laughed again. He nudged Phantom’s sides with his heels and the horse started on a slow walk. “Am I making you blush?”
Layala’s cheeks were indeed warmer. She shifted in the saddle, as a pleasant heat built in her. But as he said, it’s not as if they could get down and dirty when Tenebris and his minions could be nearby. “Hardly. A minute ago you were telling me I stink, and you expect me to let you carry on with your bedroom talk?”
“You’re blushing,” he whispered in her ear. She shivered as his lips grazed her ear. “So, are you going to tell me what Varlett said or was that a ruse to get me alone?”
Layala snickered and leaned her back into him, something she would have avoided before. “She said our mate bond can’t be restored. Do you think that’s true?”
His gentle breath brushed against her ear. The quiet hoot of an owl echoed from a tree branch nearby, but he didn’t speak. Layala’s mouth twisted, and she patted Phantom’s soft neck. After what felt like too long, she asked softly, “Did you hear me?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I’m thinking.”
“About?”
“Do you want that? To be mate bonded to me again?”
“Of course I do.” She turned to look him in the face. But then it occurred to her that maybe his hesitation was that he didn’t want to be bound to her. Her cheeks flushed. “Um, it’s alright if you don’t. I would understand.” As they both well knew, they hadn’t chosen that the first time. To be mate bonded through magic was the highest form of loyalty and commitment. It was a literal death sentence to be with someone else, and since their life force was tied to the other, it also meant they lived and died as one.
He brushed his fingers through her hair. His soft touch sent a tingle through her. “I can hardly stand not being bonded to you. It’s making me feel physically ill. But I don’t want your life tied to mine like that again unless that’s what you truly want. You have a choice now. I never wanted to take that from you. I’ve never wanted to force you into anything. I want you to choose me and even though you said you wanted to marry me, it was still me or turning into a pale one. That’s not much of a choice.”
“Varlett gave me the opportunity to break our mate bond with the necklace at her cottage. I chose you then. I chose you at that very moment.” She swallowed hard. “It’s even more cruel she took it away from us because of that.”
“The spell is at the castle. We’ll get it.”
“She said only the Black Mage could create a mate bond in us again because that spell can’t be reused.”
“It’s just a way for her to manipulate you.”
“That was my exact thought except… She helped the Black Mage create the spell, and she knew about Novak dying because of the loyalty clause in the bond.” Layala sighed. “What if she’s not lying?”
Thane wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her closer to him. “Let’s not worry about that right now. We’re together and you’re safe and that’s what matters most.”
“I say we find the All Seeing Stone and ask, along with everything else we need to know.”
“I like this plan, my dear betrothed.”
She was a little sad he couldn’t call her wife yet. That too had been stolen away from them by Tenebris. One person seemed to ruin everything. She glanced down at the ring Thane gave her, poking through the bandages. The purple jewel and silver band needed washing to sparkle again, like her. With a war against Thane’s father and the task of finding the All Seeing Stone, a wedding and a mate bond would have to wait.
Throughout the night, a steady drizzle breached the canopy of branches and leaves above. It was a warm rain, and the forest air felt heavy, damp. Thane offered his cloak, but she liked the feel of nature’s bath against her skin, rinsing away the dirt. Horse hooves splashed through creeks and padded over soft ground. The Ravens were eerily quiet in their travel. The toads and crickets made more noise. They rode for hours until morning birds began to sing, and first light peeked through the darkness. When they came to the edge of the forest, the sun pushed through rain clouds, to reveal waving fields of amber and blossoming pink crabapple trees. The wind carried a line of flowers around them on an airstream. Intermingled with them was a six pack of silver and purple pixies laughing and playing with the sweet-smelling blooms. It felt like a good omen from the Maker. A long, dark night to bring a gloriously warm day. She was finally free and reunited with Thane.
Thane held up a fist and the group came to a stop. Layala glanced around for signs of Tenebris or his army, but no threat was on the horizon. Thane twisted to speak to the group. “We will head west and ride along the lake towns. It will take longer than the main road but it’s the best way to avoid my father’s army. He’ll no doubt send trackers, but we’ll deal with them if they catch up.” He tugged the reins to the left and started them down a narrow dirt path. He said quietly to Layala, “And while we are in these towns, we can find out more about who might have the stone.”
“You think whoever took it will have told anyone?”
“The funny thing about someone who gets an item like that, is they’ll want to brag about it. Maybe even sell it. I mean, you read that note. ‘I got it first.’ That was practically a point-and-laugh moment. They’ll have told someone. I have a friend in the next town who deals in rare items, artifacts, and underground information. If anyone has heard, it’s him.”
“You? Your highness.” She turned to look at him. “Slumming with the underground crowd? I’m surprised.”
He smiled. “The majority of the elves in Palenor have never seen me. They don’t know what I look like. It’s easy to slip amongst them unnoticed. My friend Kail knows who I am but most in his tavern don’t.”
“A tavern? Maybe I can get rip-roaring drunk and give you a little lap dance.”
Aunt Evalyn gave her a disgusted scowl, and Layala lightly chewed on her lower lip. It was going to take some time for her aunt to get used to her relationship with Thane, wasn’t it?
Tif stuck her head out of the bag for the first time all night. “Oh, can I too? Get rip-roaring drunk that is, not the lap dance. Although, I mean, I could…” With a cocked eyebrow, Thane looked down at her. Layala couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Tif cleared her throat. “Or not. That’s inappropriate for a number of reasons.” She giggled and wiped her sweaty brow. “Don’t take much for me to get tipsy. A couple thimbles and I’ll honor you with my yodeling instead of dancing, High King.”
He took in a long breath. “Please don’t make my life harder than it already is. Either of you.”
