“Good enough to eat you.” Zandora made a move to bite him, her white teeth clicking an inch from his nose, which she touched with her finger before smiling. Her sisters laughed.
“All better then,” Tiern said, his back stiff. “Well done.”
“Though I am not happy with your healer.”
“Why?” Paxton asked.
“She gave us a potion to sleep and we missed all of the fun.” She appeared indignant that she’d been held back from joining them in their freezing hike.
“You have the heart of a true hunter, Zandora,” Harrison said.
“Of course I do.” She strapped on her bow. “Now you will tell me every detail we missed.”
As they set off with the Ascomannians and Zandalee, Paxton furtively checked his nails. Then he wondered what in the high seas he was thinking remaining in this hunt. It was foolhardy at best for him to stay. His mind felt like a sapling caught in a gale, leaning this way and that.
When he’d decided to reveal his true nature to Aerity, he’d been fairly certain she would keep his secret, yet thought for sure she would be disappointed enough to finally let him go. What he’d not expected was for her to kiss him with more passion than he’d ever felt before. It turns out that the princess, in all her riches and innocence, was as hot-blooded as he. Even now his blood heated, warming him against the chill in the air, imagining her soft lips and the island scents of coconuts and berries that lingered over her fresh skin.
Deep seas alive, that kiss . . .
But even if Aerity accepted him, the kingdom never would. Secrets had a way of revealing themselves. If the people found out there was a Lashed among their royals, Paxton imagined riots, looting, and uprisings. Worst of all, he imagined the people would take their fears out on innocent Lashed and their families. Paxton would be selfish to take such a chance. He couldn’t see himself living in a castle, anyhow. Though he could imagine himself sharing a bedchamber with Aerity.
Cursed thoughts.
Paxton shook his head and made his way quietly through the fallen leaves to the same spot they’d hidden in last time. They would line the same river, and the watermen had agreed to help once more, their boats offshore. Their hope was to lure the beast down from the mountains or out from the water.
They waited hours, feeling the frost set in around them. Paxton crouched under the drooping branches of a persimmon tree, his frozen ears perked for any sound. From a distance he could see Tiern shivering, even in his fur-lined leathers, but Paxton wasn’t worried. The temperature was cold, but not quite freezing like last time.
The Zandalee were as still and quiet as ever.
The night was silent. No horns. No beast. No hunters calling out. No fishermen throwing rocks toward shore. Paxton nodded to himself as the far sky began to lighten. The creature had probably taken the night off to tend its wounds. Heclenched his teeth in frustration at another unsuccessful hunt.
As the hunters marched stiffly back to royal lands, tired and sullen, Tiern and Paxton kept toward the river, talking in low tones in case Harrison or the Zandalee caught up to them.
“How long will that last on your fingers, whatever she used?” Tiern whispered.
“Few days, maybe a week if I’m careful.”
They walked in silence a few moments until Tiern looked around to make sure nobody had come near. “Listen, Pax. In no time at all those marks’ll be gone, and nobody will ever know. If you kill the beast, you can marry the princess, and—”
“No. Tiern, get it through your mind. I cannot marry her. Lashed . . . we don’t even live full lives.”
“What do you mean, you don’t live full lives?”
Paxton shrugged. “Lashed need to work magic to live longer. Haven’t you seen how quickly they age?” His brother’s eyebrows were drawn together. Of course he hadn’t noticed. “I’ll most likely die in my forties, as ragged as an old seafarer.” He hadn’t let himself dwell on this part, though it bothered him far more than he let on.
“Deep seas,” Tiern mumbled. “But you could secretly use magic and just keep wearing that paint—”
“No. I can’t live that way.”
“Why are you so keen on having another marry her, Pax? I thought you wanted her for yourself.”
Paxton could feel Tiern staring at him when he didn’t respond, as if trying to work a puzzle. “I know you care forher, you bloody brute. At this point, I would only marry her so that I might take care of Mum and Papa.”
Paxton gave a dry laugh. “How quickly your attitude has changed. You make marrying Princess Aerity sound like a chore.”
“Not a chore. It just feels . . . wrong now. And perhaps I fancy another.”
The little sister. Paxton chuckled for real now. “She has several years before the king will let you sniff around her, Brother. She’s bound to fall in love with a dozen officers and lords between now and then. Long after the hunters’ invitations have expired.”
