Bowstrings & Velvet (Spellbound #1)

Chapter 6: Interrupted

Shae stared into the campfire, trying to keep her eyes off Felix, who sat on the opposite side perusing a map he had purchased to help them find their way back to Messina. Whenever she wasn't focusing on doing other things, her eyes drifted to his mouth, remembering how it had felt against her own, and her lips tingled in response.

In their nearly three years together, she had never allowed him to kiss her. She had known it would be a bad idea. Last night had proved her right, since she could not stop thinking about what happened. What could have happened. Her body heated at the images her mind conjured. Feverish images of their bodies naked together in bed. Not in the impersonal, quick way their previous couplings had been—but filled with passion and kissing.

Shaking her head, she willed the visions away. She was an adult, not a lovesick youth—and her husband was in love with another woman. Their marriage had to remain the way it was, or she would risk her heart breaking. More than it already had. The thought came unbidden to her mind, and she groaned. I am not thinking about this. I'm happy the way things are.

"Are you all right?" Felix asked, and she looked up to find him studying her from across the fire, a slight frown on his face.

"Yes, thank you for asking." She tried not to look at his lips. She was most definitely not imagining them kissing a path across her bare skin. "Is the map any help?"

"It is. I believe I've found some smaller roads that will bring us home. We're less likely to be recognised if we avoid the larger towns, but we should still make good time." He smiled as he folded the map. "While the High Council is fully capable of dealing with matters while I'm away, I'd rather not have them in charge for too long. They tend to bicker when I am not around. I feel like the stern tutor, forcing them all to get along. And we are closing in on the Championship Games. The planning has been going on for the past year and a half, and I would hate to see us fail now. We are mere weeks away."

The Games had been a bi-annual event to foster camaraderie and togetherness between the kingdoms of Erya before the former High King had been murdered sixteen years ago. A friendly set of games where champions from the kingdoms could prove themselves and win prizes and fame. This would be the first one since then and a lot hinged on its success.

"I finally convinced the elves to join," Felix said with a sigh. "Their emissary appears not to hate me, which helps. Some of the other kingdoms are less than pleased, but we need to repair our relations with them. We cannot blame an entire nation for something one of their subjects did."

She nodded. "Deva was a Sorcerer. That he was also an elf is hardly important. He betrayed us all when he killed the High King and swore his allegiance to the Dark God."

"Exactly!" Felix leaned forward, waving an arm about in frustration. "But some of our fellow kinsmen cannot see that. The relations with the Elven Kingdom have always been strained, but Deva's actions broke any lingering trust. No one wanted to accept the elves' offer of help when we marched on Messina. There were so many rumours about how they were truly on the side of Deva and the Dark God."

"I wonder what people would have said if it had been a human corrupted by the Dark God."

"Who knows? People seem to enjoy drawing up the most preposterous scenarios." He smiled wryly. "Did you hear the rumour about me being a farmer's boy who lucked into becoming the High King because I happened to look like Prince Felix? And apparently, the real Prince of Ler is either dead or a prisoner of the elves."

A reluctant smile tugged at her lips. "Quite the turn for a farmer's boy. I think you've done well for yourself."

Felix's eyes widened, and he grinned. "What is this? Did my wife just crack a joke at my expense?"