What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(49)

“Did you have someone back home?” he asked, his fingers tightening on my hand almost imperceptibly. I only caught it because of my fixation on his body, the way I seemed to be so in tune to the way he moved and the nuances of it.

Everything had a purpose.

“It’s complicated,” I said, huffing a laugh when I realized how similar our answers were. “I had a friend, who was something a little more, but it never could have gone anywhere.”

His jaw clenched, annoyance crossing his face as he turned back toward the path and gave me his profile. I took pleasure in the stern set to his jaw, and the way his anger was practically palpable in the air. Even if I wouldn’t dare to venture there with him, it was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who felt the strange draw between us. “Why not?” he asked, the words coming out forced through gritted teeth.

“The Lord of Mistfell took an interest in me,” I said, glancing toward the sun in the sky as it slowly made its way across the horizon. Night would fall soon enough, and I hoped Caelum was right and we would reach the base of the mountains by then. I didn’t want to spend another night out in the open if I could avoid it. “He poisoned his wife and determined we would be married instead.”

Caelum twitched, his arm going taut. He kept walking as if he hadn’t flinched from my words. “You said he determined this? Did you agree to it?” The judgment in his tone disappointed me and stung; the men in Mistfell were never judged for their affairs.

Only the women they had them with.

“Of course not, but it isn’t like I would’ve had a choice,” I snapped. “He is a Lord, and I’m nothing more than a peasant who can’t afford a new pair of boots. He made it quite clear I didn’t have much choice if I wanted to live.” I yanked my hand out of his grip.

With the intimacy of our stolen moment gone, I wanted no contact with him and the reminder of what all men did. They judged and they took and they left women to deal with the consequences.

I wanted no part of that.

“I didn’t mean for it to sound as if you had any responsibility for it,” Caelum said, pausing his steps. I continued forward, storming past him in my aggravation with myself, unable to believe that, even for a fleeting moment, I’d allowed myself to believe he could be anything other than what all men were. He took a few quick steps, placing himself at my side as he caught my wrist in his grip and turned me back to face him. “I’m sorry, Little One.”

“I have a name,” I said, the words coming out more sternly than I’d intended.

“I’m aware. It is a beautiful name,” he said, the corner of his mouth tipping up in amusement. It filled me with the urge to punch him in the throat, knowing that he didn’t take my anger seriously.

Moving to do just that, I curled the tips of my fingers in and jabbed my knuckles at his voice box. He caught that wrist with his free hand, staring down at me with a raised eyebrow. “That would have hurt.”

“Fuck you. It was meant to,” I snarled, tearing my arm back from his unrelenting grip. He didn’t release me, holding it firm and using it to tug me closer to himself.

My breasts pressed against his stomach, his face leaning over mine as he grinned down at me. His eyes twinkled as those full lips parted to reveal his perfect, white teeth. “Are you ready for that, Estrella?” he murmured my name in that smooth, deep voice of his sounding like a purr of satisfaction. “I was under the impression you were still pretending that wasn’t exactly what you wanted.”

I flushed, shoving two hands against his chest as I attempted to step back. His knowing smile and the gleam in his eyes as he stared down at my pink cheeks meant that I needed distance.

Needed not to feel the ridges of his muscles against my heaving chest.

“That is not going to happen,” I said with a glare, lifting my free hand to pry at where his fingers gripped me. He somehow didn’t hurt me, but there was no releasing his grip until he willed it.

“Whatever you tell yourself to help you sleep at night, Little One. I sleep quite peacefully with my head filled with thoughts of you, and your breathy voice moaning my name while I devour you,” he said, relaxing his grip on my wrist. I stumbled back, finally gaining that desperately needed space between us.

“Don’t be disgusting,” I snapped, straightening his cloak around my shoulders and pulling it closed tight over where my nipples hardened in response to the way he stared at me. My chest heaved, my arousal and humiliation feeling tangible, stealing the very air from my lungs.

“For you, I can be downright fucking filthy, Estrella, and you will love every Gods damned second of it,” he said, taking a few steps toward me and closing the distance between us once again. He raised a hand, toying with a lock of dark hair where it rested against the fabric of his cloak hanging around my shoulders. I swatted his hand away, gritting my teeth and watching his face light with mirth. “The next time a man like the Lord of Mistfell tries to put his hands on you without your permission, you stab him in the fucking throat,” he said, touching soft fingers to the bottom of my chin and tipping my face up to meet his stare.

Something in those words resonated with me, awakening the part inside that had rebelled against the need to be subservient, for my family. The part of me that had wanted something more.

“Does that include you?” I asked, yanking my head back from his touch.