“Gorlassar, eh?”
Grimacing over my laxity, I pushed Owein away. “We’re all the same. Beauty is irrelevant in Gorlassar. We don’t judge each other on physical appearance.”
“You see us though. You see every smudged face and smell every reeking breath. You judge mortals.”
“I haven’t had time to judge. Just observe.”
“Is that what you call it?” he asked. “Interesting. Take me to Gorlassar, and I’ll observe your people.”
“Oh, you’re shameless! Just invite yourself to my realm!”
“You would never take me, would you? I’d love to fly on Seren.”
My face fell. “I can’t. Mortals aren’t allowed there.” I’m not allowed there.
“Why not?”
Should I tell him that emrys judge mortals? Should I tell him the emrys believe humans are corrupted? That the elders taught us from infancy that evil existed in the mortal world and emrys shouldn’t enter or else we would be subject to the same corruption?
“I lied to you,” I said. “I’m not here for a visit. And besides, Seren would never let you fly on her.”
“She wouldn’t? I bet I’ll finagle a flight out of her someday. Just you wait.”
“Don’t hold your breath.” I rested my chin in my hands as I leaned toward the fire.
“So why are you here? What’s so awful about mortals that we can’t go to Gorlassar?” Owein copied my position and stared into the fire.
“There’s nothing awful about you. It’s just a rule.”
He flinched upright. “I can’t believe you’re avoiding my questions.”
“That’s nothing new.”
He laughed.
As I turned to him, I realized I loved his curious, blue eyes, especially as they searched my face. “Oh, Owein. You just have to take my word for it.”
“What did you do? Did they throw you out?”
I jumped up. “You’re unbelievable! I’m tired of your assumptions.”
Owein grabbed my hand and pulled me back onto the log. I let him.
“I’m sorry I’m prodding. I’ll give it a rest,” he said.
“Thank you.”
“Niawen, I don’t care why you’re here. I don’t care what you’ve done. Just be here. In the moment. I accept you for who you are. Can you do the same for yourself?”
I looked him square in the eyes. “You’re amazing, you know.”
The side of Owein’s mouth curved up. “So they tell me.”
SEVEN
Looks as though there’s only room for the ladies.” Owein slipped over to the cart where Arnall was leaning, picking at the dirt under his nails. The rest of the company was busy securing goods and settling the horses.
Arnall groaned. “Aww, should have thought about that. With the festival—”
“Every room’s taken.”
“So where does that leave us?”
Owein cleared his throat. “The barn.”
I shifted my eyes from Arnall’s disappointed face to Owein’s. He didn’t seem too dismayed. “Let’s settle the ladies. Then we’ll gather the buckets and have ourselves an ice-cold sponge bath in some chilling creek water.”
“Well, Owein, this keeps getting better and better. So much for the hope of a long soak in a deep tub in front of a roaring fire.” After punching Owein in the shoulder. Arnall raised his voice. “All right, men, time to get settled. Straw’s better than nothing.”
Owein turned to me and offered his arm. “Right this way, my lady. I’ll show you to your room. You have the pleasure of sharing it with Alis, Eira, and Morgan.” His voice dropped. “Shouldn’t be too bad, but I hear Alis snores.”
“Really, that’s not necessary. I’ll probably sneak out to Seren anyway.”
“You don’t want to fight the ladies for the tub? If you’re first, you get the clean bath water.”
I cringed.
“I’m joking.”
I stopped Owein at the inn’s entrance and touched his forearm. “I’ll find my room later. You take off.”
“Can I come with you to visit Seren? I don’t want to bathe in a barn full of stinky men.”
“I thought you wanted to keep an eye on Arnall. Thought you were worried about his roving eyes.”
Owein smirked. “It won’t do any good. There’ll be a shapely body beside him in the hay by morning. And I’m not speaking of Morgan. Those two are on the outs. Near disastrous skirmish last night. Thank the stars you were with Seren.”
“Is that why Morgan was so disgruntled?” I laughed. As if I couldn’t tell by sensing her emotions.
“Disgruntled is one way to put it.”
Owein’s face glowed from the light that filtered through the inn’s front window. He was too hopeful. He had grown rather fond of me over the past few days. I wished he could conceal his feelings from me. I wasn’t sure I wanted a mortal pawing over me, even if Owein was nothing but a gentleman.
What would he say if he knew I could read his feelings?
Rolling my eyes, I said. “Come on. Grab that bucket. You need a bath.”
“What?” He sniffed himself and shook his head. “How about that? I sure do.”
EIGHT
Owein lifted his bucket out of the creek. The other men had long since taken their pails back to sit on a fire. “It’ll be ugly in there. Naked men scrubbing their clothes on washboards. Hanging them up to dry overnight and sleeping with nothing but woolen blankets to cushion their hides against the scratchy straw.”
While crouching in the grass, I swirled my fingers in a pail full of water, watching the bubbles surface as I waited for Owein. He was teasing me again, as usual. I didn’t need or want those disturbing images in my head. I picked up the bucket and followed Owein back to the barn. He veered toward the campfire to join his bucket with the others’.
The group was already jovial, having drunk too much. Clearly ale affected mortals differently. I might receive a slight euphoric
