Nobleman Etkin was staring ahead at me as we passed, and I looked away as quickly as I could.
Three men hung from those spikes. Three men who all had a hand in hurting me, and I knew deep in my gut that the man responsible was the one who rode behind me. But he didn’t say a word as we passed.
He kicked into the horse’s side, pushing him harder as we left them and the palace behind, but I knew it was him just the same.
My stomach tightened as I thought about what he had done, of what he had risked, but I refused to let my guard down around him.
Jorah led us quickly through the capital streets, taking sharp turns I would have never been able to manage on my own, and before I knew it, we were outside of the capital and sprinting at full speed through the land that surrounded it.
My thighs gripped the sides of the horse to keep me as far away from Evren as I possibly could manage, but they had already started to ache even though we had only just begun our trip.
We rode hard and fast for a long while until we finally came to the edge of the Onyx Forest. We slowed as if the horses were as spooked as the riders as we approached the dark trees.
“Are we going in there?”
“We are.” Evren nodded behind me. “We have no choice unless we go through the human lands.”
“Then let’s do that.” I looked around the woods and noticed how perfectly still everything seemed.
“It will add days on to our trip, and we can’t afford that. We need to get you safe as quickly as possible.”
“Do you really think the vampyres will try to capture me?”
Evren groaned behind me and his chest pressed harder against my back. It took everything inside of me not to sag against him and let his body take the weight of mine. “You are the Starblessed to the future king. You are the future queen of Citlali. To the Blood Court, you are everything.”
My heart raced as I let his words take hold of me. I was nothing more than a chess piece to be used how they saw fit.
“The Onyx Forest is dangerous, but it’s dangerous for them as well. We will all face things in these trees that we’d rather not, and we hope to use that to our advantage. My guards and I have traveled through this forest more times than we can count.”
I wasn’t sure that made me feel any safer, but despite everything that had happened in the palace, I still trusted Evren more than any of the others. If there was anyone I believed could get me through the Onyx Forest alive, it was him.
But I didn’t say as much. Instead, I kept my mouth clamped shut as we pushed through the forest edge and a magic like I had never felt before washed over me. My marks buzzed in a dull throb, but the new cut on my wrist burned like fire. I pressed my hand against the bandage, and Evren looked down at the movement.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I pulled my cloak tighter around me as the chill blew through the air. It felt colder somehow, even though we had just moved beneath the blanket of darkness the trees provided.
We continued on through the forest wordlessly. I was on high alert, my gaze snapping to every possible movement I thought I saw in the trees, but after some time, the movement of the horse had my eyelids feeling the weight of the lack of sleep I had.
They would flutter closed before I would snap them back open, and I looked ahead of us at Jorah. He pushed ahead as if there was no threat around us, and my eyes fluttered closed once more.
When they finally opened again, it was because our horse had slowed almost to a stop, and my head gently rolled to the side. I let them flutter closed again, disoriented from sleep, and I breathed in the scent of Evren as my nose pressed against his neck.
I moaned softly as his hand pressed against my stomach, holding me against him, and I pushed back against him. His body was molded against mine, holding me up on the horse, and I didn’t want to move away from the warmth of him.
“Princess.”
“Hmm?” I breathed him in again. How did he always smell so good?
“Princess, I need you to wake up. We’re going to set up camp.” He pressed his hand harder against my stomach, and my thighs tightened around the horse.
I moaned softly against his neck. I needed his hand to drop just a few inches and take care of the ache that throbbed between my thighs.
“Princess, I swear to the gods.” Evren turned his head into me and spoke softly against my ear. “I will rip you off this horse and fuck you right here in front of my men if you don’t stop making those damn noises.”
I blinked my eyes open then and lifted my head away from his shoulder. Evren was right. His men were tying their horses to trees, but all three of them kept glancing in our direction. I shot away from Evren, putting as much distance between us as I could, and he laughed behind me before gently running his hand from my stomach to the small of my back.
Evren dismounted then, climbing off the horse as if it was nothing before he reached his hands up for me. I wanted to deny him, to do it on my own, but my thighs ached with more than my need for him. I was sore from riding, and as I lifted my right leg to swing it around, I couldn’t do it.