He grew silent, so much so that she could not hear his breath for a time. When she glanced at him, it was to see him staring up at the ceiling the same as her. ‘Yes,’ he finally said.
She wondered then if that was the true reason he had come all this way seeking to avenge the death of a father he had not been particularly close with. Perhaps he was hoping that it would make him belong at last. Why did that thought make her so sad when she hardly knew him at all?
A prickling heat spread over her skin and with it came clarity. She knew why the image that had come to her at dinner had sent a flutter of longing through her belly. It was not so much that belonging to him excited her, it was the idea of him belonging to her that did it. She admired him. Like her, he had harboured a deep need for vengeance to restore his family honour. He had nurtured that need for years and travelled far to see it accomplished.
Also like her, that need had been fuelled by so much more than the wish to restore honour. When the layers of that need were peeled back, the heart of it was so much more. The heart of her need had been an inability to accept the losses. Perhaps his was a hope to find his place.
No matter what it was, she could not help but admire the strength it had taken him to consider the fact that there was something more driving him forward. It was silly to give the imagining any credence. He would not belong to her and she would never belong to him. But it made her feel better to know why the thought had provoked her.
Rolling away from him on to her side, she closed her eyes and tried to find sleep.
‘You never answered my question.’ His voice had her opening her eyes. She need not ask which question he meant. She knew.
‘I do not intend to wed if I can help it. My freedom is too important to me.’ Hoping that would suffice, both for him and herself, she closed her eyes again.
Rurik awoke to the feel of a woman’s soft curves pressed against him. It had been a long time since he had awakened to such a simple pleasure, so he took a moment to enjoy her. The sweet scent of her filled his nose, wildflowers and the salt of her mingled together. He gritted his teeth, both enjoying and bracing himself for the sensation that moved through him when she shifted and pushed back, her lush bottom shoving gently against his hip. The blood thickened in his veins and his thoughts turned carnal. They seemed especially powerful because Annis was the woman in bed with him.
The attraction he felt for Annis was one that he could not deny any longer, not that he had been very good at denying it from the first. She was beautiful and strong and talking to her last night had only whetted his appetite for more of her. She was perceptive in a way that would have been unnerving if he thought he had anything to fear from her. True, he was currently chained to a bed and her prisoner, but she had obviously found it distasteful to keep him chained in that cage and saving him from Cedric’s rightful caution was the reason they were here. In this bed. Together.
He had to open his eyes because the imagery that thought provoked was too tempting. He could not lie with her and there was no sense indulging the dream. She still lay on her side, facing away from him, but at some point in the night she had covered them both with a thick blanket that they now shared. It was the only thing saving his rather obvious erection from making itself known to anyone who might walk into the room.
Shifting his hips to ease the pressure in the confines of his trousers, he disturbed her and she rolled on to her back, spilling flame-coloured hair across the bed. Whether she had released it from the intricate plaits or whether it had come loose during the night, he did not know. He only knew that it was the most fascinating colour and he itched to have it wrapped around his hands so he could feel the silk of it.
Forcing his thoughts from her and how strangely good it felt to wake up next to her, Rurik thought of what had passed between them the night before. No matter how he tried to go over the entire conversation, he kept going back to the end, when she had asked him if he had felt he had not belonged. Her startling perception had given him pause. That feeling of not belonging was one that even he had not allowed himself to dwell upon. It seemed odd that the one place he had lived his entire life, surrounded by people who had known him since birth, would not feel like home. So instead of facing that, he had found ways to simply not face it. Women were one distraction of many. He had thrown himself into training, learning to best his brothers and the older warriors from a young age. He had focused on guiding other warriors, becoming someone that his father had trusted to send out to speak on Sigurd’s behalf.
Now he realised that he had done those things not because he held a deep devotion to his people, but because he had always been looking for that moment when he might finally belong. If he became the best warrior, the trusted advisor, the one to find his father’s murderer, then it might all somehow come together.
The thought settled in his stomach like a coal, glowing and hot. His plan
