A Little Night Muse(17)

                His arm, looped behind her back to hold the horse’s reins,                     flexed against her shoulders. “It was nothing. I couldn’t leave you there                     alone.”

                She resisted the urge to huff in exasperation. She didn’t want                     him thinking it was nothing; she wanted him to want payback.

                To want her.

                “Still, I’m imposing on you.” She gazed up into his muddy-agate                     eyes. “As you said, people come to get away. Yet here I am, intruding on you                     with my needs.”

                A ruddy flush brightened his cheeks, highlighting a thin scar                     that arrowed up his right cheekbone to a point below his clouded eye. “Vaile                     would want me to watch out for you.”

                Vaile would kill her, and maybe Josh too, if the Hunter                     discovered her task.

                She tried to stifle the thought of the deadly phae, but the tremble in her hand wasn’t feigned when                     she reached up to lay her palm against Josh’s jaw. She let her fingertips brush                     the old scar on his cheek. “I could have died there.”

                He snorted. “It’s not that                     cold.”

                Adelyn blinked. Raze had said Vaile would take her in because                     of her helplessness. Musetta weren’t celebrated for                     their sturdiness and survival skills, after all. But this man thought she would                     have been fine. Wasn’t she obviously useless? Except for one use, of course.

                He wrapped his fingers around hers and pulled her hand down to                     rest in her lap. He patted her thigh with as much lustfulness as he patted                     Wolly’s head. Which was to say, exactly none.

                “Look.” He pointed toward the clouds. “An eagle. Headed down to                     the river to fish.”

                She blindly followed his pointing finger. Eagle? Fish? This is                     what she inspired in him, a nature show narrative?

                True, she didn’t know much about humans, but she had gleaned                     enough from gossip of other phae who played in the                     world. Humans like William who had found their way—or been tricked—into the                         phaedrealii never seemed particularly                     complicated. Josh seemed simpler yet. And yet his core eluded her.