Page 73 of A Touch of Poison
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Kat
Sunlight crept into the stables, pressing on my eyelids. Below, deer snuffled and rustled through the hay and straw. And closer—much, much closer—Bastian was warm and solid at my front, one arm around me, his other pillowing my head. Our legs had tangled together in the night.
I kept still, pretending to be asleep. If I pretended, I didn’t have to move.
I couldn’t name it, but something had changed on our journey. Perhaps it was that he’d apologised. Perhaps it was the time away from his work. Perhaps it was time alone.
Something still felt broken between us—not quite fixed by our apologies, but…
Ithadall been real.
And that changed everything.
I gripped his shirt, heart tripping over its beats, and finally opened my eyes.
I should’ve known he’d already be awake, though he blinked sleepily and gave this slow smile like he’d only just woken. It only heightened the impact of his closeness.
Silver eyes that seemed to glow brighter in this dim light. Nose half an inch from mine. Hair mussed in a way that made his beauty less sharp and more human. Like maybe, just maybe, I could reach out and…
My fingers slid up his stubbled throat, rasping softly. His pulse thrummed as I crossed it and continued to the scar running from his chin and up through his lips.
Not just the most gorgeous person I knew but… perhaps the most broken. And yet… he endured. Shoulders set, he pushed on into every day.
My heart ached for him. I wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to endure. He didn’t have to push. He didn’t have to pretend it was all fine—that he was untouchable.
But I didn’t want to break the spell the sunrise had cast over us.
So I ran my fingers into his hair, combing it off his face, and arched into his tightening grip around my waist.
“Katherine,” he murmured, mouth so close to mine, I could feel the name on my lips.
“…at all?” From outside, a woman’s raised voice shattered the spell. “What do you mean?”
A low answer I couldn’t make out.
“There has to be some sign of them,” she went on, something familiar in her tone. “Maybe they stayed at an inn.”
“That’s what we’re going to check, madam.” A man’s voice I didn’t recognise. A guard, perhaps? “If you would just calm—”
“Therearen’tany inns between here and there.” Was that Asher?
“I’m coming with you,” the woman added, and I could picture the raised chin that went with her comment. “We’ll be able to sniff her out.”
“Wait.” I bolted upright at the same moment Bastian did. “Ella?”
I flew down the ladder and burst into the stable yard.
Ella, Perry, Asher, a handful of guards, and, at Perry’s side, sniffing the air—
“Vespera.” I half sobbed out her name, rushing forward.
They came. Why? How?
A small voice added,For me?
I jolted to a stop, a hand gripping my wrist—Bastian’s. The gentle crease of his brow and slight shake of his head smacked into me.
