Page 67 of The Sunbound Princess
We stared at each other, our hands still clasped and moonlight spilling over us. The look in his eyes mirrored my own shock and wonder. The Dokimasi had expanded beyond Dain and me. Now, it connected me to Nikolas, too.
He turned my hand and rubbed his thumb over the pulse fluttering in my wrist. His dark eyes gleamed, understanding shimmering in the chocolate depths.
Movement made me turn. Dain sat up in bed, the look in his eyes letting me know he’d seen everything. The magic bound all three of us.
Dain rose and crossed to us with quiet steps. I reached my free hand toward him, and he took it, his large palm swallowing mine.
The magic pulsed again, stronger this time, flowing around us in an unbroken circle. The Dokimasi beat in sync with my heart.
“Tomorrow,” Dain said, his deep rumble as steady as the magic, “we start this quest anew.”
Chapter
Eighteen
DAIN
Morning sunlight filtered through the forest canopy as we left the inn behind. We stayed off the road, instead moving through the trees that ran alongside it. Pine and damp soil scented the air. Dew clung to the tips of my boots.
One of the bounty hunter’s swords hung from my belt. Two of his knives rested in holsters against my chest. His axe rested in its leather scabbard against my back. Birds chirped, and squirrels chattered. Nikolas carried the other half on the bounty hunter’s armory.
Ezabell was a vision in dark green between us. Before we left the inn, Nikolas had surprised her with a scarf that matched her new gown.
“There,” he’d said as he helped her adjust it over her ears. “Now you’ll blend in with the trees.”
He was wrong, of course. Ezabell would never blend in. She stood out no matter what she wore. But she wore her new clothing well, the green complementing her shining dark hair and bright gold eyes.
She tugged at the scarf now, her eyes worried as she swept a look over the forest. “Helios should have caught up with us by now. He said he’d stay close.”
Nikolas made a gruff sound. “Maybe he got lost in thought. Preferably for several hours.”
She gave him a sharp look. “You better hope that’s not true. We need him to shield us.”
I touched her shoulder. “Helios will turn up.” I smiled. “He never misses an opportunity to torment Nikolas.”
She grinned, and it was like a goddess smiling up at me. My breath hitched. Memories of her sleek body in the pool—of her tight, hot pussy clenching around me—spun through my mind.
They were still spinning when she murmured something and kept walking. I stumbled after her, a beggar desperate for any crumb she might toss my way. A look, a glance. Anything at all.
She caught me staring and raised an eyebrow. “Something amiss, Dain?”
“No,” I said quickly, my face heating. I jerked my gaze back to the trail. “I was just thinking you look…appropriate for forest travel.”
On her other side, Nikolas laughed out loud.
I shot him a glare over her head. He blew me a kiss. When my face flared hotter, he chuckled again.
Biting back a curse, I focused on the magic in my chest. The Dokimasi tugged us in the same direction, its pull stronger than it had ever been. It connected all three of us now, drawing us northeast.
Toward Solbarren.
Viraxes’s curse still moved through my veins, but its path was slower, like water trickling through a dam. Ezabell’s presence kept the flood at bay, the same as it did for Nikolas.
I’d probably never understand why or how. Magic was far too complicated for someone like me to untangle. But it didn’t matter. Ezabell had come back. She was safe, and it appeared as though she might forgive us. I understood that. Whatever happened next, the rift between us was starting to mend.
“The sunstone is close,” Ezabell said, pressing a hand to her sternum. Excitement trembled in her voice. She walked faster, and her skirts whipped around her legs. “It’s this way. I can feel it.”
Nikolas and I looked at each other, and I knew my misgivings showed on my face.
