The Flame and the Arrow

  Chapter 6

  a smooth operator

  Annika felt a soft whoosh of warm air on her face. She opened her eyes to see Ghassan’s huge black nose in front of hers, nuzzling her awake. He gave her a gentle nudge and whickered deep in his chest, like a parent sweetly telling their child that it was time to wake up. Annika stroked his nose and heard shouts and laughter. About twenty yards away, Runa was squealing with delight and Hilda was shouting, “It’s my turn!” Next to Hilda stood a slender man in black, towering over her. A quick glance around their little campsite showed that she had missed breakfast, and Sariel was no where in sight.

  “That wasn’t nearly as good as Hilda’s last shot!” he called to Runa. He then turned to Hilda. “You had better give her another go before she starts crying,” he teased. Seeing that Annika was awake, he waved for her to come over to him. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, taking her sweet time. She refused to run obediently to him the way Runa and Hilda had the night before. After inspecting her foot and turning her ankle around a few times, she stood up. It was a little stiff, but the pain was completely gone.

  She walked over to where the trio was trying out their new arrows. They were all aiming for a tree far off in the distance which was marked with one of their green sashes. Talvi was concentrating hard with his elbow pulled back, then let go quickly. The arrow moved without a sound through the trees, and hit an inch above the center of the target. He turned towards her and rested his bow on the toe of his boot, wearing an overly proud expression on his face. Runa and Hilda clapped at his achievement, but Annika just gave him a little nod of acknowledgement.

  In the bright morning sunshine she could see him almost as if for the first time. His unruly hair was indeed as black as pitch, but his long sideburns turned reddish-brown the closer they crept to his jaw. His skin was fair, but bronzed by the sun during the warmer months. The black suede clothing he wore was covered by intricate designs sewn out of silver thread. It was striking how handsome he was; in fact, he was almost pretty. His lips slowly curled into a mischievous grin as he noticed she hadn’t joined in the clapping.

  “Weren’t you going to show me how skilled you are with my bow?” he asked and held the weapon out to her. There was no way she could get out of this situation. She walked closer to him, forcing one foot in front of the other. What if she embarrassed herself in front of all of them, especially after acting so sure of herself when he’d offered to help? He handed over the longbow, and Annika was intrigued to see it was an amazing work of art created from a single solid piece of wood. Intricate carvings decorated the sides and an exotic form of script ran up the length to both ends. After a brief moment of admiration, she took an arrow from him and put it against the string.

  “Just like riding a bike, then?” he asked quietly and raised an eyebrow.

  “Yep,” she said with her jaw clenched ever so slightly. She went to draw back the string, but he leaned down to whisper in her ear. Runa and Hilda stood off to the left, unable to see him graze her cheek with his nose as he spoke.

  “Do correct me if I’m mistaken,” he mused, “but weren’t you telling me last night that you wanted to stay out of trouble?”

  She relaxed her pull on the string and looked at him quizzically. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  He returned to his former standing position and began to loosen the strings of his leather arm guard. “I think you’re just asking for trouble, Miss Brisby,” he said with a twinkle in his blue-green eyes.

  “Excuse me?” she demanded and lowered the bow. No one had ever spoken to her like this before in her life. It seemed nothing gave him more pleasure than saying the most outrageous things imaginable just to make her squirm.

  “Are you a masochist, or are you so tough that you don’t mind a little string-slap?” he asked with that smug smile he wore so well. She immediately felt her face turn red with embarrassment. It would’ve been very foolish and very painful for her to not use an arm guard. She’d acted like a know-it-all and he’d caught her. He couldn’t have looked more pleased with himself if he tried. She said nothing as he slipped the leather guard onto her left arm, determined to keep her composure.

  “I get the distinct impression that you are a little of both,” he said under his breath, but she ignored him. She concentrated hard, but she swore she could feel him inhale next to her ear. How was she supposed to focus if he was constantly distracting her? She pulled backwards and shot the arrow so high into the branches of a tree beyond the target that it wasn’t likely to ever be found. She wanted to slug him in the face. Hard.

  “Hmm, that wasn’t too bad,” he commented, looking surprised.

  “How can you say that when I didn’t even hit the right tree?” she finally erupted.

  “Look at the bows they’re using,” he said, motioning to the nymphs, who were preoccupied with their own skills and seemed oblivious to their private conversation. “Now look at how large mine is. It’s much more difficult for a petite girl like yourself to use. I’m impressed by your skill.”

  Annika felt a little burst of pride, but it didn’t last long as he continued. “Even though you can’t manage to wrap your little fingers around it completely, I think you handle my bow very well.” She took a deep breath and pursed her lips. Was this guy for real? Who the hell said things like this to a woman they just met? Who the hell said things like this at all?

  “Well, thanks for the lesson. It was very enlightening,” she said coolly, handing the bow over to him. But he only crossed his arms. He refused to take it back, and it was far too fine an object to be angrily thrown on the ground.

  “Try it again,” he said. She glared at him and took another arrow.

  “Keep your feet farther apart. No, no, not like that.” He walked behind her and nudged the inside of her leg with his own until they were shoulder width apart. “You mustn’t be so shy about spreading your legs,” he breathed into her ear. Annika’s head suddenly went fuzzy as her blood ran hot, but she did as she was told. He stood close to her without touching her at all. He only lifted her elbow gently with a couple fingers, helping her perfect her form. It was a wonder that she could focus at all, given the amount of sexual energy he was bombarding her with. Even in his voice, she could imagine him giving her instructions in the bedroom.

  “Yes, that’s right. And pull your arm straight back, not down. No, higher. Higher. Yes, that’s good. Hold it right there. Now release.”

  Annika let the arrow go and this time it narrowly missed the tree, whizzing right past it. She shot quite a few more times; every now and then Talvi would lightly lift her elbow with his finger, but for the most part he just stood aside and watched her. Finally one hit the targeted tree. And then another. And another. The samodivi looked over at her.

  “Well I guess that settles it,” Hilda said as she shot one of her own arrows into the tree. Annika looked at them both.

  “That settles what?”

  “You need to go get some more of this wood if we’re going to have another archer in our circle,” she said with a silly grin.

  “You want me to go?” Annika asked.

  “You’re losing more arrows than the rest of us combined,” Hilda explained. “So you should be the one to go get more. It’s only fair.”

  At this, Annika looked to Runa for help, but Runa only shrugged and gave an equally silly grin, clearly agreeing with her sister.

  “I don’t have a clue what kind of wood to get,” Annika said. “How am I going to know exactly which trees you found last night?”

  “Bring Talvi with you,” said Runa, and sent another arrow into the target. “It’s his forest. He knows every tree that grows in it.”

  Annika’s eyes grew wide. There was no way she was going to agree to that idea, especially not after the comment he’d just made about her legs and his bow’s girth. She stood like an idiot with her mouth hanging open, looking for a discreet way to refuse his company. She wondered if she was being set up by R
una and Hilda. Maybe that was the reason why they’d giggled so much back in the cave when they said she’d wish she’d never laid eyes on him.

  “Runa, you’re so bossy. Maybe he doesn’t want to go,” Hilda chided. But Talvi had already gathered Ghassan’s reins and was leading him towards Annika. He touched her shoulder to coax her along, and they started off walking away from the samodivi. Annika didn’t know what to think. She felt as if every step she took was that much closer to her doom. It was nearly ten minutes before either of them said anything.

  “You seem to be doing fine on that foot,” he observed.

  “Yep,” she said, looking straight ahead.

  “It’s not causing you any pain, is it?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well something is making you uncomfortable,” he insisted. “Perhaps you’ve got a pine needle in your knickers?”

  Annika stopped in her tracks and whipped around to face him. She could feel her blood pressure starting to elevate.

  “Has anyone ever slapped that grin off your face?”

  “Oh, there have been countless attempts,” he said, grinning wide, “However, as you can see, none of them were victorious.”

  “I can’t believe I let Runa talk me into coming out here in the middle of nowhere with you.”

  All the frustration she’d kept bottled up since she got lost threatened to erupt as either violence or tears. She turned away and blinked vigorously as adrenaline began to seep into her bloodstream.

  “Hmmm,” Talvi looked the other way for a moment, trying to think of what to say. “Yet here you are. Do you really think Runa and Hilda would send you off with someone harboring ill intentions? Do you think I would do anything you didn’t want me to do?” There was an overall sincerity in his tone that soothed Annika’s frustration.

  “It’s hard to say. I don’t know you that well.”

  Annika started walking again. Talvi trotted up to her and grabbed her hand. Immediately she could feel that electromagnetic connection between them. He coaxed her near to him, and for a moment she smelled that honeysuckle and spice she noticed from inside the bookstore.

  “Well, what do you want to know?” he asked. “Ask me anything.”

  “Do you give all the girls archery lessons like that?”

  “Not all of them,” he said with an impish grin.

  Annika said nothing at that remark but dropped his hand.

  “Are you jealous?”

  She finally burst out laughing at his response.

  “Oh, please! Jealous of what?” she cried, still laughing. “I’ve never met a guy who was so full of himself! You must think just because you’re hot that you’re automatically entitled to sleep with whoever you want. Give me a break! If you try anything with me, you’re going to be so sorry. I wouldn’t think twice about breaking your nose. And the crap that comes out of your mouth, well, you might as well save your breath, buddy.”

  “What?” he pretended to be offended, but it was clear that he wasn’t.

  “Plus I know you and Runa have something going on,” she said. “You could at least wait until her back is turned around completely before you hit on me!”

  “What makes you say that?” he asked, trying his best to look innocent.

  “I see the way you act around each other, and I’d rather not get involved with whatever freaky game you two are playing. Just leave me out of it,” she warned.

  “Do you think that I have no decency? I can’t help that my best mate is a samodiva,” Talvi said and chuckled.

  “I don’t know how decent I would call that comment about my legs.”

  “Well, you weren’t standing correctly,” he said. “I was only trying to help you.”

  “Oh, right, helping me by whispering in my ear about your big bow?” she said sarcastically. “Why don’t you save those lines for Runa? I’m sure she’d appreciate it a lot more than I do.”

  At that last comment, Talvi made a face like he’d just tasted sour milk.

  “I could never speak to her like that. She and I are just friends,”

  “It would be pretty difficult for me to just be friends with her if I were a man,” she quipped.

  “It’s a good thing I’m not a man or I would most definitely be a lost cause in her company,” he quipped right back.

  “I thought Runa was your girlfriend,” Annika pointed out. This time it was Talvi’s turn to feel embarrassed.

  “Runa is my best mate,” he explained. “I’ve never thought of her in that way. We grew up together…she’s like one of my sisters. I could never imagine snogging her!” He wrinkled his nose at the thought.

  “Oh,” she said, and felt a bit relieved. So he wasn’t as much of a creep as she’d thought. She gave him a questioning look. “So what were you doing last night? Were you trying to kiss me?”

  “I was reading your mind,” he told her. “It’s far easier to see your thoughts if I can look in your eyes. In regard to kissing you, I thought about it, but I don’t know you that well,” he smirked. At that she delivered a playful punch into his arm, and all the awkwardness between them dissolved.

  “I wish I could read minds the way you can read mine,” Annika said after another few minutes of walking through the leaves. “That would be pretty awesome.”

  “It would be useful at the very least. I think if you tried hard enough that you could do it.”

  “How would I go about it?”

  “Looking into the eyes helps, but as long as you’re really focused, you only have to concentrate on a particular thought and direct it to the receiver. You’re definitely Magda’s descendent. You look so much like her.”

  “Did you know her very well? What was she like?” Annika wanted to know.

  “I didn’t know her at all; I’ve only seen a drawing,” he confessed with a shrug. “Only Anthea and my parents knew her. She was very loyal, and very loving. That’s why she never came back to stay. When samodivi marry a man, they almost always steal their clothes back from him and come running home to their river. If they have any children, they rarely bring them with. They’re wild creatures; they’re rarely tamed by anything. They belong to no man for very long, if ever. You’ll soon learn that men are little more than amusement to Hilda and Runa especially. Sariel cares even less for them. Magda was a rare exception. She chose to remain mortal for the sake of her husband and their children. Now she’s only a legend, save for the ones that knew her.”

  “How can samodivi just leave their kids behind so they can climb trees and play in the water?” Annika asked. “It seems beyond selfish.” At this question, Talvi became more somber than Annika had seen him in her brief time of knowing him. He gave a sigh after a moment of deep thought.

  “As I said, they’re wild creatures. And for whatever reason, not all of their children carry the samodivi blood. Say one of them returns with two children. One child may mature and live as long as her mother, and the other child may remain human and die before their eyes. It’s heartbreaking. That’s why it’s forbidden here. It causes nothing but pain and confusion. It’s an act of selfishness that simply isn’t worth the brief joy it gives. The children grow up, wither and die, not understanding why their mothers stay the same. The fate is even worse for the immortal children left with their fathers. Humans never have reacted well to a creature that walks among them and remains unchanged by time.” He lifted a low tree branch out of their way as they passed underneath. “Let’s talk of other things, shall we?” he asked politely.

  “Sure,” Annika agreed, and decided to shift the conversation. “Can the samodivi read minds or heal twisted ankles the way you can?”

  “No. Their abilities are more subtle.”

  “Can you elaborate on that? Because Runa’s convinced that I’m a samodiva like her, but I think I’d know it if I was actually a wood nymph.”

  Talvi laughed to himself, and seemed much more eager to elaborate.

  “Many of the half-nymphs I’ve met had no idea what they truly
were. Your powers would register as random things in your life that only you would take note of. For example, have you noticed that birds and other animals don’t shy away when you walk near them? I’ve seen that already in the brief time we’ve been walking. Why, look at this little buggar right here.” He pointed to a squirrel with pointy tufted ears that was nibbling on a seed. Instead of running away, it merely watched them walk past.

  “That squirrel’s too fat to run anywhere,” she dismissed. “I don’t think that means I’m a samodiva.”

  “Well then, have you ever noticed that everything near you lives far longer than it ought to?”

  “I had a cat that lived for nineteen years,” she joked. “Does that count?”

  “Without question,” he confirmed in such a serious tone that Annika couldn’t help laughing at him.

  “Yeah…I’m not sure that qualifies me as being a samodiva, either.”

  “Perhaps you have incredibly good luck?” he suggested impatiently. “Perhaps you’ve had a close brush with death, only to walk away unscathed? Perhaps you sing in your band and everyone drops what they’re doing to listen? I wonder how many people tell you after a performance that you’ve utterly enchanted them with your songs? Some might say they enjoy the music, but I’ll be damned if it’s not something about your voice, isn’t it?”

  Annika stopped right there in her tracks. He’d obviously struck a chord in her.

  “How would you know anything about that?”

  “Because nothing makes a wood nymph happier than when their soul sings, and it enchants anyone who listens to it,” he stressed, with that intense look in his eyes again. “You may have been born a human, but you have a magical twist. It’s really quite an intoxicating blend. I was expecting an ordinary human girl to be traveling with the samodivi, but that assumption was grossly mistaken.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “It’s got something to do with that hair around your ring. It doesn’t matter if you’re a human, elf, samodiva, or even a fairy…unicorns rarely approach anyone. They prefer to be left alone. It means the one you saw trusted you, which means I can trust you as well.”

  “Well…thanks,” she said awkwardly, not sure if he was lying or not.

  “It’s the truth. I’m a very bad liar. I always get caught, one way or another.”

  Talvi looked down at Annika and winked. This time, however, she felt warm and tingly inside, rather than irritable. It was a nice change from constantly being on the defensive around him.

  They walked to the edge of a thicket, which was so dense that he had to search for the right spot to lead Ghassan through. Apparently he really did know every tree in the forest. When they passed through the brush they came upon a group of trees perfect for climbing. The warm autumn air carried the sunshine down from the canopy above. The pale light was bright silver, more enchanting than ever.

  “I wish I would’ve eaten something before we left,” she sighed, and sat down under one of the majestic trees. Talvi joined her and opened the bag he’d brought along. He handed her a canteen of water and a large piece of dense bread.

  “I ate before you woke up, so have as much as you like,” he said, and lay on his side in the lush, deep carpet of leaves.

  “That was very thoughtful of you; thanks.”

  “It’s nothing. So did Runa tell you about the grand celebration coming up? I expect you’ll be in attendance.”

  Annika frowned as she licked some honey off the bottom of her lip. “What celebration?”

  “My birthday. It’s in less than two weeks. We’ve invited just about everyone we know. Now that I know you, you’re invited as well.”

  “Really?” she asked, and smiled to herself. “It would be your birthday in two weeks, wouldn’t it? That explains everything,” she laughed to herself as she recalled a bit of astrology she had picked up over the years.

  “Explains what?” he asked as he leaned closer, dying to hear more about himself.

  “If your birthday’s coming up, then that makes you a full-fledged Scorpio.”

  “I hope that’s not a problem,” he smiled and raised an eyebrow.

  “Only if you make it a problem,” she said, and shot him a stern look.

  “Regardless of when my birthday is, there’s an important meeting shortly afterwards that my father has arranged. We’re trying to find out why the gates are being closed.”

  “You mean the portals that have me trapped here?”

  “Yes,” he said, examining one of the milky white leaves he was lying in.

  “I didn’t think it would take two whole weeks just to get home,” she sighed. Can’t I at least make a phone call or send a letter to my family?” Talvi looked at her skeptically.

  “I don’t think you understand the situation you’re in. You’re not being realistic. You’re still thinking of your automatic modern world, where you simply push a button and have what you want. It’s not like that here. You have to realize that it could be some time before you can go home. It could be months, or years, if ever. I really don’t know.”

  “Months? Years?” she wailed. “What about my mom and dad? What about Charlie? What about Vince?” Her eyes began to water, and she fought to keep the tears at bay.

  “Who is Vince?” he asked casually.

  “He’s going to think this is his fault, because I came to Sofia to be with him!” she said, choking on sobs that threatened to become larger if left unchecked. Talvi stopped twirling the leaf and looked up at her.

  “Is Vince your lover back home?”

  “Eww, gross! No, he’s my uncle!” The thought of Vince as anything but a shaggy, chain-smoking insect nerd was repulsive, and Annika was quickly distracted from her crying.

  “What about this Charlie fellow?” Talvi asked. “Is he the one who gave you that exquisite ring?”

  “Huh?” she said, looking down at her left hand. “No, Charlie’s my brother. I don’t even know why I’m still wearing this.” She took it off and put it on her right ring finger instead. An image of Danny’s hurt face in the restaurant came to her mind. She could see their fight happening all over again in front of the entire wait staff and other diners. She could have been to Hawaii and back already, married on a nice beach to a nice man with a nice car, a nice job, and a nice house. But she was sitting on a carpet of dried leaves and dirt in the middle of nowhere with a Scorpio elf who oozed sexual innuendo from every pore in his skin.

  “Who is he?”

  “Who is who?” she replied, and looked over her shoulder to see no one there.

  “Who’s the fellow who gave that ring?” he asked. Annika sighed heavily, and realized that her thoughts were no longer private.

  “Just some guy.”

  “Just some guy?” Talvi seemed perplexed by the ambiguity of her answer.

  “Yeah.”

  “That ring is far too lovely to be given to you by just some guy.”

  “Fine. He asked me to marry him and I said no.”

  “Really?” he cried. He sat up a little straighter, as if he had misunderstood her. “I thought that’s what ladies want more than anything, is to trap themselves a husband. That’s certainly been my experience.”

  “I suppose a lot of them do want that,” she said with a shrug. “But you said it yourself; I’m not ordinary.”

  “So why did you tell him no? Did he philander about? Or perhaps you did?” he crooned, leaning closer with interest. She gave him a mean look.

  “It wasn’t anything like that. Danny’s a total sweetheart. My whole family thinks he’s perfect. I just wish…” Annika buried her face in her hands, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you,” Talvi apologized, looking sheepish. “Perhaps things will sort themselves out in the future? You know what they say; absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

  His well-meant words sent Annika’s tears down her cheeks, and despite her best efforts she began to cry.

  “
I just wish I could see my family and tell them I’m alright. I know they’re worried by now.” She could just imagine her mother getting the phone call from Vince and felt sick at the thought. Annika had always been in relative control of her life, in control of her goals, but now she was in a strange land where she could only rely on the kindness of strangers. She hated movies where the Hollywood starlet always fell down or was taken hostage and had to be rescued by the leading man, and now she was the girl she despised, sitting on the ground, helpless, and needing to be rescued. Talvi put his arm around her and wiped away her tears with his other hand.

  “If you’re as close to your family as I think you are, then they’ll know you’re safe,” he gently assured her. “Picture them in your mind and focus on that one single thought. They’ll most likely hear you.” Annika closed her eyes and pictured her parents, Charlie, Vince, and even James. She repeated over and over in her head to them, I’m safe…I’m safe. It was like a meditation mantra, and had a calming effect on her. After a few moments, she wiped away the tears that Talvi had missed.

  “I suppose there’s nothing else I can do, is there?” she asked. Talvi gave her nose an affectionate tap and went back to lying on his side.

  “You can try to find something enjoyable about being here,” he said with a soft smile. “A pleasant distraction always makes time go by quickly.”

  “Yeah, I guess riding deer around the woods is kind of awesome,” she agreed. “And sleeping under the stars and shooting arrows is pretty fun, too. That reminds me; aren’t we supposed to be finding wood to replace the arrows I lost?”

  “I believe we’ve found it,” he said, motioning to the trees surrounding them. He grabbed a narrow stick lying on the ground near him and began to scratch a glyph into the dirt. “All you have to do is climb those trees and cut down a few handfuls of branches.”

  Annika took one look at the trees and raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.

  “Did you not happen to notice I’m over a foot shorter than you? And even if I could climb up there, what would I cut the branches with?”

  “I expect you’ll have to ask someone taller than you who keeps a well-sharpened knife with him at all times,” Talvi chirped with a grin. Annika held back a smile of her own, yet refused to ask him for help. Instead, she watched as he continued to write in the dirt. He strung together a series of characters until it formed a sentence. The writing resembled Japanese kanji combined with ancient runes, but with even more flourishes.

  “What language is that? It’s really pretty.”

  “It is quite lovely, isn’t it? It’s Fae,” he explained. “The fairies’ native tongue.”

  “Come on,” she said. “You’re joking. Fairies? Like, with wings?”

  “What other sort of fairy is there?”

  She looked at the word in the dirt. Annika would have laughed out loud if it hadn’t been for the serious look on Talvi’s face.

  “Okay…so what does it say?” she asked, playing along with him. He smiled to himself, looking at the words.

  “Mo reis to comp an ya vlatzee.”

  “Maurice toe, companya vlatzee?” she repeated slowly, making him laugh.

  “Your pronunciation is very good.” A faraway look entered his eyes. “I wonder how someone like you ended up not being born here. I get the feeling that you could have grown up as one of Runa’s sisters.”

  “Maybe I was switched at birth with a samodiva,” Annika laughed, but Talvi looked like he was actually considering the idea.

  “If you didn’t already have the mark of the other samodivi, that would definitely be my guess. You’re such a strange girl,” he said with a sweet smile. That was probably the best compliment she’d heard in years. Annika touched his hair gently, picking out a bit of dried leaf.

  “You have split ends,” she observed.

  “That’s impossible,” he said, turning up his nose a little. “I’m very particular about my hair.”

  “Well, they’re not bad. But you do have a few here and there. My mom’s a hairdresser, so I think I know what I’m talking about.” He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to look at the ends and see for himself.

  “If you want, I can give you a trim,” she offered, but he shook his head.

  “Oh, I don’t think so.”

  “I would only need to take off half an inch.”

  “Sorry, but no one touches my hair except me,” he said with authority.

  She lay back and looked up at the silvery leaves dancing a hundred feet above her. The wind shushed through the trees gently, and carried the earthy scent of decaying vegetation with it. She didn’t want to leave this place, not right at this moment, anyway. Vince’s kitchen was in the back of her mind, as an afterthought, along with her life in America. She glanced over at Talvi to see him looking back at her with his green and blue eyes twinkling.

  Kiss me.

  Annika didn’t move. Was she thinking this? Or was he speaking to her with his mind? One corner of his mouth twitched, and all she could look at were his lips. Suddenly she was sucked into a magnetic field, filled with tension and the earliest stages of desire.

  Come on, kiss me… I could be that pleasant distraction, the silent voice urged. Thinking she was hearing things, she covered her eyes with her forearm and tried to block out the voice. An image of him crawling over her and caressing her body appeared in her head, and a light dusting of goose bumps covered her skin. Every hair on her arms stood up in the electric wave that passed through her. She opened her eyes and was only somewhat startled to see him hovering over her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked softly. “I’m not going to kiss you.” He seemed to disregard her comment.

  “I’ve been thinking about this red hair of yours ever since that day in Sofia. And your eyes…” He ran his hand up and down the side of her body, over her clothing, across her waist, making her quiver in suspense. “Your eyes have haunted my dreams every night since.” She shut her eyes again, caught in a strong undertow of desire. Did he know that he’d been in her dreams as well? Everything he said was so enticing, even his touch carried allure.

  “I’m not going to kiss you,” she assured herself out loud once more, but her voice lacked the sternness she was grasping for. Her will had been strong until he had laid his hand upon her skin, and now she could not pull away from him.

  “So don’t do it, Annika. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do,” he taunted. He pressed his forehead against hers, touching their souls to each other. She was certain that her soul was looking right into his. His eyes were no longer bright and charming but dark and intense, yet they still twinkled. He was tempting, but was he harmful?

  “Don’t do it,” he whispered again, touching her nose with his. Annika felt her heart racing as fast as her mind. His lips grazed her cheek as his arm hugged her body against him. She could smell his skin; he smelled like honeysuckle, cherry trees in blossom, cinnamon. His long eyelashes tickled as they brushed against her skin. She closed her eyes and lifted her chin to his mouth in a fathomless kiss. The taste of honey still lingering in her mouth passed into his. It was electric, incredible. It felt too amazing to be good for her, but she drank him in anyhow.

  His strong arms tightened around her, pressing their bodies snug against each other. She saw fields of roses in bloom; could even smell them. It felt like running through the forest without her body. She moaned in rapture, not letting him go as he tried to pull away from her.

  Annika’s body was swelling and burning for just another taste. She had never been kissed like that; she had never been made to feel like that. He was a powerful drug that she wanted more of, but she got the feeling that even if they kissed all afternoon, it would never be enough. He pried her arms off of him and sat up, causing her to crash back into reality. He looked at her with the same dazed expression she was certain she was wearing, wondering where on earth a kiss like that came from. He appeared inebriated and confused. For being so suggestive
since meeting him, Annika was surprised that he’d been the one to stop it from escalading into more than just a kiss. His touch was so erotic, she probably would have let him seduce her right then and there. He abruptly stood and climbed one of the trees, leaving her to sit by herself and try to decipher the strange force between them. He didn’t seem angry or frustrated, and she could still taste his honey-laced flavor in her mouth.

  From his boot, he whipped out a knife that closely resembled Runa’s little ebony-handled one, and began cutting narrow branches with gusto. As they fell one by one to the ground, Annika gathered them in her arms. They moved from tree to tree, collecting the fine wood in silence. It wasn’t long before they had two very large bundles, which they tied up and attached to the saddle on Ghassan’s back.

  Talvi lifted her up into the seat and hopped up behind her. The animal tossed his head and set off at a slow gait, letting their bodies sway gently in rhythm with his massive, muscular body. As they made their way between the poplar, birch and aspen trees, Annika relaxed and sank against Talvi’s chest, but he didn’t so much as caress her bare arms. Every time he exhaled, her skin broke out in a new batch of goose bumps, but their lips didn’t meet again on the ride back.

  “Tell me something Talvi,” she asked, still dazed by their brief embrace. “What did I see when I kissed you?”

  The words he spoke were so soft that she almost didn’t hear them at all.

  “Definitely not what I saw,” was his reply.