“You had a fly on your face,” she muttered.
“Liar. Try again.”
Ailsa glared at him and huffed a frustrated breath. “You’re justsohandsome and irresistibly touchable, I cannot seem to keep my hands off of you.” His laugh loosened his jaw enough she could slip from his bite, her skin retaining the lines of his teeth.
“Yes, it is a curse I must bear.”
“I don’t know how you manage to get out of bed each morning.”
He flipped to his side, his face too close to breath normally, without smelling his rich scent that reminded her of pine trees in deep winter. “Admit it,” he murmured. “You like my face.”
“What—” she said, but she was cut off by his fingers threading through her hair, pushing the wavy strands from her face so he could run a knuckle down her temple and smooth a thumb over her cheekbone. His palm was warm, smoothing across her skin in a way that felt like a question.
“You have particularly sharp features for a human. They’re almost fae-like,” he said.
“I suppose that is a compliment coming from an elfin?”
He ran the tip of his finger down the slope of her nose. “Just an observation. No, you’re obviously not fae, even the giants could tell at first glance you were human.”
Ailsa’s heart drooped with disappointment. “Because I’m so plain?”
Vali flinched. “Plain? Is that what you think you are?”
“I feel plain among beings like fae and gods and giants.”
He scoffed, bringing his hand beneath her chin before leisurely running his thumb over her bottom lip, stretching its plumpness. “I think you are the least plain being I have ever seen.”
Blood rushed to Ailsa’s cheeks and other gullible organs deep within her core. His eyes set on her lips, hooded in the half-suspended space of sleep. The rough callous of his thumb grinded against the smoothness of her lip, a pleasing variation of sensations.
Vali nose flared with a forced breath, jerking back as if having a sudden realization he was lingering over her lips far too long. He cleared his throat and all but jumped out of bed, leaving an empty space next to her that felt much larger now that he was gone.
“We should start getting dressed to leave. It will be morning soon and I’d rather not see Drieger in case he’s changed his mind about owing him.” He sat in a chair and pulled on his boots.
“Aye, good idea.” She found the dress the giantess had donated to her and glanced at Vali.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll go find Seela and Ivor while you change. Meet us in the hall when you’re finished.”
“Okay,” she said quietly.
Ailsa was grateful when he finally left the room, somehow finding the breath she lost under the spell of his touch. A troublesome feeling wormed its way into her gut, and she couldn’t place the reasoning as to why she felt this way. Perhaps Vali had unnerved her with his prodding, or perhaps it was only unnerving because he stopped. Either way, she buried the uneasy sensation sticking to her stomach like a warning.
She changed, gathered her things, and left their room. With the click of the latch, she shut away the intimate memories and budding emotions that were forbidden for her heart to feel for such a male. When she felt strong in her convictions, she turned and left in the direction of the hall.
Until blackness fell like a curtain over her eyes as pain erupted in the back of her skull—receding only when she fell into a world of oblivion.
Vali and their companions waited in the hall. Seela looked at him hard, noting the flush edging his skin long after his fingers left the heat of Ailsa’s lips. Gods, he wanted to kiss her, and if he hadn’t reminded himself of who she was in that moment, he would have. It had taken every ounce of his willpower not to turn his head when she grazed his cheek, to taste the breath caressing his skin. But Ailsa was not just another woman he shared a bed with. She carried stipulations the size of his realm. Her lips were not his to claim. They never would be.
But that didn’t soothe the covet in his flesh. Nor did it help him forget the way she sat over him, looming with those deep blue eyes and brandishing smirk. Just the memory of her heat on top of his core made him hard as iron, the feel of her thighs squeezing his hips. It made him wonder if she had wanted him too, if she also thought to remove the barrier of the sheets and feel her weight on his length, rub all her soft places where he was hard. To really kiss him. Why else would she touch him while he slept? How could anyone look at him like that and not feelsomething?
“What’s taking her so long?”
Seela tapped her foot impatiently as they waited. Dawn was peaking over the valley, spilling a new sunrise through the frost-covered windows with a glaring light. Vali sighed, feeling her exasperation and resisting the urge to find out for himself.
“Ivor, will you go check on Ailsa?”
The wolven nodded and left in the direction of their room. She returned a few minutes later, her strides quick against the floorboards. Vali stood, sensing the urgency in her steps.
“She isn’t there,” Ivor said. Her voice was rigid as the muscle in her jaw. “When did you last see her?”