A musetta had to get to the core.
“You love this place,” she said slowly.
He angled his face to track the dark spread of feathers across the bright sky. “Why else would I be here?”
Why else? Oh, because he’d been forced there and had no other choice. Because he was too afraid to be elsewhere. She was just hypothesizing, of course. “Why do you love it?”
He smiled, and a dimple appeared below the scar on his cheek. “Look around. Who wouldn’t be inspired?”
She narrowed her eyes. Was he teasing her? But he couldn’t know she was musetta.
He gazed across the valley. The sun glinted on the hint of gold stubble on his jaw. “Anyone who doesn’t love it here should just get the hell out.” Though the words held the ring of a warning, his tone was pensive.
He was obviously not speaking to her, but to a memory. Still, she took the words at face value. It wasn’t as if she wanted to be here. As soon as she knew the Hunter and sylfana were within her grasp, she could contact the vizier, and then she would leave Wolly and Bunco in the dust with the speed of her departure.
Until then...
“It is magical,” she murmured. She kept her face turned upward toward Josh.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, his gaze drifted down to her.
So close, snuggled into his chest, she saw his eyes weren’t truly muddy, just...complicated. The sparkle of light off the melting snow seemed to pick out each stroke of color, even the cloudy moonstone gleam that marred his right eye lens. Under her fierce regard, the ruddy flush returned to his cheeks. He shifted, and she felt the prod of his erection against her hip.
Despite his commentary on the terrain and the hint of memories that troubled him, he was not at all unaware of her.
She took advantage of his restless adjustment to nestle closer. “It is a cold magic though. Too cold for me.”
He opened his coat and tucked her in. Pressed tight against him, something harder dug into her hip. She wedged her hand between them to feel the curved top. He sucked in his breath, whether at her icy fingers or sudden familiarity, she wasn’t sure.