Stella rolled her eyes. “As if my parents didn’t help yours keep your precious kingdom.”
Teddy stopped so suddenly that she almost ran into his back. He curled an arm around her hip, avoiding the ache on her ribs.
The bond in her chest flared with warmth and Teddy shifted like he felt it too. Since the night before, she felt hyperaware of him and his proximity, of the hint of his woodsy-citrus scent that lingered on her skin.
A shiver ran through her body as she remembered the heights to which he’d brought her body. The whiplash of being so gravely injured to feeling more vibrantly alive than she ever had was disorienting. She’d been out of step all day, and the fact that the score was unsettled between them made her even more uneasy. He’d saved her from the assassin in town; she’d saved him from the river. Then, he’d saved her from the wound Rett had delivered and kept it from getting infected.
She couldn’t quite name the gnarled feelings inside her chest. The messy tangle seemed less a result of their bond and more a result of his actions. Teddy was brave and decisive in a fight, gentle and soft when she needed it, and alarmingly sexy without trying. Her old contempt had morphed into affection, and she wasn’t sure what that meant for her—for them.
Teddy’s hand skimmed her hip and her mind went back to being woken early that morning, to his gentle hands on her side—to thesoothing feeling of him healing her wound. To wishing he’d done more.
Stella shook off the thought. The new intimacy between them was so disorienting.
Teddy pointed to a tree, and she followed the line to a dark brand a good ten feet up the trunk.
“Anyone can read a map if it’s stolen. The Argarian hunter bases were always marked in broad areas on maps. But to be able to find them, you follow the crest burned into the walnut trees.”
“There are tons of trees,” Stella said.
Teddy grinned. “But very few walnut. They are intentionally pruned back near these sites, and they are the only trees with markings.” He turned to meet her gaze. “Now that I’ve shared a secret, perhaps I should get one in exchange.”
His tone was teasing, but Stella didn’t know what to do with this playful version of him. They hadn’t spoken at all about the previous night, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to put the memory completely out of her head or relive it over and over.
He smirked as if reading the direction of her thoughts. “I hesitate to say the next part. I don’t want you to fall any more in love with me than you did after last night.”
She shoved him away. “Don’t flatter yourself. I had an okay time.”
He scoffed. “An okay time. Stella, I think I have permanent indentations on my shoulders from your heels digging in when I made you?—”
“Enough!” Stella held up her hand as if she could block the memory.
Teddy offered a smug grin. “This base has a bathing chamber.”
Stella couldn’t hide her relief. She hadn’t had time to bathe that morning and, despite the cooler temperature as they hiked, it was hard work. Her body was still exhausted from channeling so much magic and energy the day before. The blood loss alone was enough to make her want to lie down on the forest floor and take a nap.
Teddy strolled away, moving through the trees as if returning somewhere he’d been a hundred times before.
Finally, he came to a stop next to a huge outcropping of boulders. “The bath is back there.”
Stella glanced around but could not see a single building or structure large enough to hide a bathing chamber. “But where is the actual shelter?”
Teddy pointed up.
Sure enough, a good thirty feet above them was a small structure tucked into the branches of a sturdy oak tree.
“A treehouse!”
Teddy grinned at her delight. “It’s a small hideout, but there are a few like it throughout the region. This one is my favorite.”
“You learned this in training?”
He nodded, something like pride shining in his eyes. “Isla encouraged my father to have me go through hunter training. She thought the army would respect a king who went through the same training as his soldiers more than one who didn’t. My father agreed.”
“Wise of them,” Stella said. “That must have been hard.”
Teddy shrugged a shoulder and pointed to a rung hammered into the tree’s trunk. “When you finish bathing, just climb up these rungs. They wind around the tree, so they aren’t as easy to spot. Just be careful climbing up.”
Stella nodded and watched him easily ascend the tree before she ducked around the rock alcove. The bathing tub was tucked away and covered in a sheen of dust, but was in remarkably good shape. It must have still been occasionally used by huntsmen on patrol. She pumped water into the basin and rinsed away the dust, then unplugged the drain that let the water funnel out the side of the tub. When it was empty, she pumped in fresh water.
