“I’m starving,” she blurts. My brows rise in surprise at her outburst. “Seriously, I’m starving. That corset is evil and you can’t even eat when you’re wearing it. Is there any way at all I can ask Martha to get some food brought up here from dinner?”
My lips curve up into a grin and I shake my head once. “Of course, you can, I’ll have her bring up some leftovers later.”
“Later?” she asks.
I dip my chin. “Later,” I murmur.
“After…” Her words trail off as she attempts to get me to answer.
“Were you upset last night?” I ask, thinking about Florence’s claims that she caused the rainstorm the previous evening.
She hums. “I was,” she admits.
“About?”
She shakes her head a couple of times, lifting her eyes to mine for a moment before she drops them to her lap. “No reason,” she lies.
I don’t call her out on her lie, I’m sure she has a reason that she just isn’t ready to tell me yet. Perhaps it’s something as simple as her sisters being missing and not here as she’d anticipated. I have no idea what upsets women or how they think.
“What other magic do you hold?” I ask.
Her head flies up and her eyes meet mine instantly. “I don’t,” she says quickly. “Florence says that I do, but I swear that I don’t. I’ve lived in this body for twenty-nine years, I think that I would know if it held magic. Don’t you think that you’d be able to feel something like that? I think that you could. I mean, I don’t know for sure, because I don’t have any, but I feel like that’s something you could just feel inside of you, to your bones, to your core,” she rambles.
I can’t help but smile at her words. I love the way she does this. It is so telling about her and this is the moment that I know without a doubt that she is telling me the absolute truth. Her mind works so quickly and she voices her words as she attempts to process.
It is endearing—she is endearing.
“I do not know if magic is felt, that is a question for Florence, perhaps tomorrow.”
Birdie’s eyes widen and she leans forward. “Are you telling me that Florence has magic?” she hisses.
Pressing my lips together, I try to keep from bursting out in laughter. I haven’t smiled this much in a decade and this woman causes me to almost be in complete fits around her, she is that comical.
“It is why I had her brought to me. Florence, indeed, holds magic. She is special and the only woman that I know who is in this country with her abilities. Aside from being Logan’s grandmother and a woman I have known my entire life, she is also an asset to my country.”
Saying the words aloud, they feel good. Witchcraft may be something that was illegal, that women were burned for in the past, but I have the power to change that. My position has the ability to reverse that law and no longer make it a crime for women to use the gifts that the gods bestow on them.
“You’re thinking,” Birdie whispers.
Jerking my chin, my gaze swings to hers. “I was.”
Her lips turn up into a small smile, one that I wish I could kiss in this moment. “You’re handsome when you think and I know that it must be something important, because you’re really focused.”
“It was, life changing for some, I suspect.”
“You’re going to do something to change your country, aren’t you?”
I don’t know where she gets any of these ideas or questions, but I wonder if her magic is something that is subconscious, perhaps she wields it without even knowing that she is using it.
“Perhaps, little dove.”
“Little dove?” she asks, scrunching her nose.
“Your name is indeed, Birdie.”
“I prefer, darlin’” she states.
I smile again, and lean forward, lifting my hand and touching that scrunched up nose of hers. “Alright, darlin’.”
Chapter Nine
BIRDIE
Colt is staring at me. My nose tingles from where he touched it just a few moments ago. I am seriously hungry, but that fades away as he watches me and another desire begins to stir. It shouldn’t—I shouldn’t. He was married, very much married and she’s gone in a horrific way. I need to respect that, respect his wife.
“Birdie,” he rasps, his hand is lifting again, wrapping around the back of my neck.
I try to hide my shiver when the thrill slides up my spine and the goose bumps appear all over my flesh from his touch.
I fail.
Completely and totally fail.
I expect him to release me and walk away, to ignore me some more, considering that’s what he’s done since I arrived, but something in his gaze has shifted.
“Colt?” I breathe.
He shakes his head once, then without saying a single word, he leans forward and touches his mouth to mine. I gasp, my lips parting and giving him the opportunity to slide his tongue inside of me. Without hesitation, he fills me and tastes me, in one swift swoop.
I hear his growl, it fills me from the inside and almost spills out. It’s deep, vibrating, and intense. Full body chills roll over my entire body. Colt pulls away from me, breaking the kiss for just a moment before he stands, never releasing his grip from the back of my neck.
I expect him to let his hand fall from me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he climbs onto the bed, his knees straddling my thighs, his eyes never breaking contact with my own. He’s breathing heavily, but I only know because his chest is rising and falling.
My ears are roaring with the blood that is pumping hard throughout my entire system. I can’t hear anything, I can only see his eyes as they stare down at me. His starving eyes. He growls again, his lips curving up into a snarl.
I lick my lips, wondering what he’s going
