Josephine's voice kills any man who hears it-except for the assassin sent to capture her for the king that's been chasing her all her life...but what happens when he decides he doesn't want to hand her over and keep her for himself instead?
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The soft velvet of the mare's fur beneath my fingertips grounded me as I attempted to keep the back of my body far away from Oren's.
Despite the warmth that attempted to stretch between us like a welcoming hand, beckoning me to relax back against him, to lower my guard and allow his body to shield me from the wicked cold that had crept into the caves we'd been traversing for over twelve hours, I did not slump back against him.
After the piercing arrow of shock that Soraya had delivered after I'd attempted to glean the truth out of Inala had fallen upon my shoulders, the rest of the group had fallen silent yet again until Oren beckoned them to travel with us.
They'd roped their own horse to the carriage and decided to take a break from riding on the saddle and took up residence inside the small carriage while I decided to ride on the horse with Oren, much to his surprise.
It was only after we were well on our way that I languished over the questions of what they were doing traveling in the caves in the first place, and why if they'd been headed the opposite direction they'd decide to go back the way they had come to travel with us.
"You're rather quiet for someone who couldn't stop complaining the first half of the trip."
"I don't see how I possibly could have complained while drugged and gagged and tied up out of ear shot."
Oren tensed behind me, the stiffening of his muscles flowing through that energy of warmth that was still coaxing me, still stroking my cloak-clad back, still whispering to me to simply relax.
"I meant when you were in the carriage with Inala. Your talk of escape and whatnot."
"Oh. You mean when she called you a dog? I rather liked that moment of the trip."
I could've sworn I heard a snort of laughter come from the carriage.
Continuing on, the slow and steady clomp-clomp-clomping of the hooves against stone echoed off the cave walls as the passage grew more narrow and my breath thinned.
The glowing crystals ranging in shades from an electric blue to a vivid green, the colors casting shadows off the walls were awash in an eerie tinged luster that made me think of the monsters hiding in the corners of my nightmares as a child.
That warmth pulsing behind my back attempted to soothe the thoughts that had been running through my mind of old nightmares and invisible monsters instead of the one behind me, but instead of an invisible hand trying to comfort me, the energy transformed into that of a lone finger, sliding down the back of my neck and raising chills along my skin.
I shuddered in both revulsion and pleasure, though those two emotions need not be placed together, ever.
"Are you alright?"
Oren's voice was entirely too far away and yet not close enough at the same time.
I needed to focus, to clear out my straying and drifting thoughts and ask him questions, try and glean the truth from answers that he might guard from me, and discern whether I was making the right decisions or not.
