Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
He withdrew a tied scroll from his pocket. “May as well save an emissary.”
“For Mother?” He tucked it into his pocket.
“Yes.” At Huntley’s height, Ian looked just as much a king with that fur cape over broad shoulders. His eyes were the same color, but they had a greater sharpness to them than Huntley’s did. They possessed more pain too, like he carried the world on his shoulders. Or perhaps he carried his mother’s resentment instead. “Our scouts say the Plunderers are passing to the west. Be careful not to cross their path.”
“I will.” Huntley brought him in for a one-armed hug.
Ian reciprocated then quickly withdrew.
They reminded me of my relationship with Ryker—just with less talking. “Thank you for the horse.”
Ian shifted his gaze back to me and stared.
“And for riding with your brother to rescue me.”
He turned his back to me and walked off.
“So, my mother-in-law is a bitch…and my brother-in-law is an asshole…and my half sister-in-law is also my half sister, and she hates me.” I gave a slight nod. “That’s fine…totally fine.”
“He’s not an asshole.” Huntley turned back to me. “He just trusts less easily than I do.”
“So, that means you trust me?” I asked. “Because when you climbed into my bedroom, it didn’t seem like you trusted me then. In fact, you were about to kill me.”
He stared down at me, his gaze hard. “Are you trying to piss me off?”
“Just making a point.”
“I’m not in the mood for your points, Ivory.”
“Ivory?” I asked, because I never heard him say that name. “Don’t call me that again.”
The anger faded from his eyes. It was a subtle movement, hardly noticeable.
“For this to work, we need to trust each other. And I trust you—implicitly. I need the same from you.”
He pivoted his body closer to me, his height nearly rivaling the horse’s.
“You should have trusted me when I went to Delacroix. I would never betray you, and you would never betray me.”
He continued to stare. “I trust you, baby.”
I released a drawn-out breath, feeling the relief. “I just don’t want us to get separated again, and you wonder if it was intentional or I have a trick up my sleeve or something…”
“We won’t get separated again. Not letting you out of my sight.”
Good. Because my world didn’t feel the same without him in it. I felt lost, like a piece of myself had been left behind.
He continued his stare, as if he could hear my thoughts as I spoke them in my mind. “You will earn my family’s trust as you’ve earned mine—and they will treat you like family.”
“I can’t see that ever happening with your mother…”
“I didn’t see it happening with me either, but look at us now.”
I considered myself an outdoors kind of girl. I could work in the heat, get so sweaty that my shirt clung to my back, and it didn’t bother me one bit. But these long travels by horseback got old…quick.
When we got to HeartHolme, we would leave again, and I was already dreading that.
Maybe I was a princess after all.
Huntley kneeled by the stream and refilled his canteen before he took another drink. Our horse did the same, his hooves submerged in the cold water as he drank his fill. We stopped for a short break, the sun high in the sky, the earth now dark with dirt because the snow didn’t fall this far south.
“How much farther?” I asked, enjoying the shade under the tree.
“A day.”
My back was sore from sleeping on the ground, and my thighs were bruised from straddling a horse two days in a row. I couldn’t wait to be home, to be upstairs in our bedroom with the fire roaring. The sun rose and filled the bedroom with warm light, and that was my favorite part of waking up in the morning.
“I can tell this isn’t your thing.” He filled his canteen again and took another drink.
“Do you hear me complaining?”
“I know exactly what you’re thinking without you sharing a single word.”
I rolled my eyes. “Alright…it’s not my thing.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I will.”
“You’re strong, baby. Don’t underestimate yourself.”
“I know I’m strong. I know I can do anything. But actually enjoy it? That’ll never happen.”
He rose to his feet as he capped his canteen then wiped his mouth with the back of his forearm.
“Do you enjoy it?”
“I enjoy being in the wild. I enjoy the solitude.”
That didn’t surprise me. “Is that your dream?”
He turned to look at me, a behemoth of a man, his weapons across his back, his shoulders broad like a mighty oak.
“To have a quiet farm somewhere…raise a family?”
He reached me under the tree then squatted down so we were eye level. With his forearms on his knees, he considered the question. “Yes.”
“That’s hard to do if you’re king.”
“But one day, our son will take my place.”