Page 48 of The Court the Fae Forgot
A small spark of excitement alit in his eyes. In a second, he was tugging the earth-stained shirt over his head. He got clumsily to his feet, turning around in a shy circle as I admired the marks he was so proud of.
I could see why, too.
Not just the marks, but the body he’d chiseled out beneath them. He had the body of a warrior, that much had been obvious even with the shirton. Without it, he looked like a god.
Broad shoulders. Well-defined chest. A muscular back so strong it looked like he could sprout wings at any moment and simply take off. Every inch of him was built for killing, and yet here he stood before me, grinning down at me like a true gentle giant.
Despite the fact that I’d been invited to look, it suddenly felt like I was staring at something private.
I’d never seen anything like them—or him.
“I wish I could have really seen them before they began to fade,” I said, forcing my eyes to look at the markings instead of the body that made the blood burn hot beneath my skin. I’d felt his power as a bear, but my body longed to feel it as a man.
That was one thing I could firmly blame on Icarus. He’d awakened something in me that day in the river. Something that I’d yet to fully contend with.
Excitement glinted in Zev’s eye again, just for a second, as he glanced at his bag still strewn over the log at my side. In a second, he produced not only the vial meant to start healing my ankle, but a small kit.
“I think I might actually have a way to make that happen. If you’re willing?”
“Willing? After what you did for me back there?” I asked, starting to turn to glance over my shoulder at the dark forest.
Zev reached out a hand to stop me, his fingers cradling my jaw until I was forced to meet his gaze. Heat bloomed deep within me at his touch. I resisted—and failed—the urge to lean into him, to press my cheek even deeper into his palm.
“Then consider this a repayment,” he said, his eyes softening again at the way I responded to his touch. “And that never has to be mentioned again.”
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
I wasno artist like the master fae that had first inked Zev’s skin. My fingers worked clumsily as I slowly traced the lines marking his body. My work was shoddy at best, but he didn’t seem to care. By the time I’d finished, the trees’ long shadows were stretching over Shiel and Finch as they returned to our camp, Zev could barely contain himself. He leapt up from his perch on the log the moment they arrived, nearly accosting them, face glowing as he turned back and forth beneath the sunset to show off what I’d done.
Shiel’s face, of course, only darkened.
His head whipped to the side, to survey me where I sat, carefully packing away the needles in their case.
“That had to have taken all day,” he accused, head tilting back up as if to measure the minutes before sunset. “Did you sleep at all?”
Of course, we hadn’t slept. There was no chance of sleep after our near brush with the Wildness. Not here, so close to the forests that had nearly claimed us.
We couldn’t tell Shiel that, though. Not without outing ourselves and facing the rage that was sure to follow.
Anger creased Shiel’s face when he turned to me, that grim expression only growing when he caught me wincing as I stood to face him. His eyes travelled down to my foot and the fresh bandages wrapped around my ankle.
“Zev, it was your job to care for her. Can I not leave you for one—”
“Stop!” I snapped, cutting him off. “It’s not Zev’s fault. I tripped over the log as soon as we got here.”
Shiel looked between the two of us, clearly not believing my story. His hand went up, tracing his mouth and jaw in annoyance as he once again turned his head up to take in the darkening sky.
“You’re right. This is my fault. I never should have left the two of you alone. It was stupid enough, thinking you wouldn’t hurt yourselves if I did. I don’t like to imagine what might have happened if anyrealdanger presented itself.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zev’s mouth open as he prepared to defend himself, anger flashing across his face to now match Shiel’s. It flared in me too, at Shiel’s harsh words. I wished I could sing Zev’s praises, tell Shiel and Finch about how he’d rescued me in their absence.
Since I couldn’t, however, I at least stopped Zev before he could make everything that much worse.
“I couldn’t have slept out here anyway,” I said, nodding up toward that sky that Shiel seemed so obsessed with. “None of us has slept in a week, or is it longer? I’ve begun to lose track because I haven’t slept more than fifteen minutes consecutively since we left. It’s the middle of summer. We can’t even pitch one of your tents since it would roast us like suckling pigs under the sun, and setting it even ten feet into the trees to get some shade apparently isn’t an option.”
“Are you suggesting we take our chances with the Wildness?” Shiel growled, stepping closer. The menace in his voice was tangible. “Because I can promise you,Princess, you won’t like it.”
His use of the namePrincesssounded like an insult when he said it. My temper, already flaring, burned even brighter.
