“Here.” Evren placed his hands on my sides before lifting me off of the saddle and against his body. He slowly lowered me until my feet touched the ground before him, and I could feel him through his trousers. He wanted me as badly as I wanted him.
And I wished that I didn’t.
Everything would have been so much easier if I hadn’t wanted him at all. But as I stood there looking up at him, I could barely force myself to step away.
“We need to set up camp and get some rest before we continue riding.”
I looked up at the sun that was trying to peek through the trees. “But it’s daylight.”
“It’s the only time one should sleep in the Onyx Forest. We need to be completely alert by nightfall.”
“Okay.” I nodded, and Evren reached out and moved some hair out of my face.
“You camp with me.”
His words pissed me off. After everything, here he was still bossing me around like nothing had changed.
“Did you kill those men?”
“What?” He searched my face, but there wasn’t an ounce of shock on his at my question.
“The men outside the gates. The men that held me down and Nobleman Etkin. Did you kill them?” I needed to know. Even if deep in my gut I already knew the truth, I had to hear him say it.
“I told you that no one will hurt you and not see the end of my blade.”
“Except your brother?” I held up my bandaged wrist in between us and forced him to look at it. I forced him to face what he had allowed. “Is he the only one allowed to harm me?”
Evren’s jaw tensed as he gently gripped my wrist in his hands. I tried to pull it away from him, but he forced it to his mouth and pressed his lips gently against the bandage. He held his mouth there as he stared at me, and his jaw clenched with unspoken words. Words he wouldn’t allow himself to say to me.
“I can heal this.”
“No.” I shook my head and pulled my hand against my chest. This time, he let me go. “I don’t want to lose the reminder of what they did to me. Of what you allowed.”
His gaze darkened, and he stepped impossibly closer to me. “I didn’t allow that.”
“You did.” I took a step back and almost ran into our horse. “You’re just as bad as your brother.”
I didn’t wait for his response. I dropped my gaze from his and moved toward where the guards stood, providing hay for their horses.
“Jorah, is there somewhere that I can have a bit of privacy?”
He looked up at me, and I knew that he hadn’t expected me to come to him.
“You can go just behind these trees, but we will have to stand guard, Starblessed. It’s too dangerous.”
“Fine,” I huffed and headed in that direction. “But I’d like you to be the one to do so.”
He looked back toward Evren before turning back to me. “Okay.”
I stepped past him into the trees, and I could feel his footsteps directly behind me. “Also, Jorah. Please stop calling me Starblessed. My name is Adara.”
“I’m sorry, Adara.”
I stopped beside a tree that was far enough away from the rest of them before twirling my finger in the air. Jorah grinned before turning his back to me.
Neither one of us spoke as I relieved myself and Jorah was stiff as a statue until I came back to his side.
“I’m sorry you ended up on this job.” I straightened out my cloak, and Jorah finally looked down at me.