Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
He gives another bored shrug. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Do we need to go back so you can check?”
Kalos scowls, his brows low over his eyes. “You make me crazed, you know that?”
“That’s not a no.” I pause walking and gesture back at the town just over the horizon. “I’m not going to leave a trail of dead in our wake, Kalos, just because you can’t remember to turn your powers off. Do we need to go back?”
He sighs heavily and turns around, heading back towards the village we just left, and that’s my answer.
After we walk through the village again, Kalos does something with his powers. I don’t know what it is, but I sneeze and sneeze until we leave again, and he puts his cloak over my shoulders as I shiver with another fever. Every time he uses his powers, it makes me sick. I could ask him to heal me, but I worry if he uses his power too much, he’ll get on the radar, and we’ll both fail at our job. So I just endure it as part of the whole ‘anchor’ thing.
We travel late into the night, until the moons go down and it gets too dark to see the road, even in the moonlight. We find a large tree with overhanging branches and Kalos takes my hand and leads me to it. “We’ll rest here until morning.”
“I can keep going,” I say, my nose completely stuffed up. “S’fine.”
He ignores my protest. “The road will be there tomorrow.”
We stumble through the dark until my free hand touches the broad trunk of the tree. I hear a rustle of fabric, and Kalos touches my shoulder. “Sit on my cloak. You need to rest.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I know you hate resting.”
“I hate it less with every day that passes, actually.” He sounds bemused, and when I’m comfortably seated, he joins me. To my surprise, he pulls me against him. “You can use me as a pillow.”
“Oh, it’s not necessary—”
“I know it is not. But these times end up being some of my favorite parts of the day. Humor me.”
My face gets hot in the darkness. Is he flirting with me? Or am I just misreading his dry sense of humor? It’s so hard to tell sometimes. It feels like flirting…but he hasn’t tried to kiss me again. Then again, I haven’t brushed my teeth in a few days. I’m not sure I’d want to kiss me either. I run the tip of my tongue over my teeth and relax against his chest. “Thank you.”
“This isn’t for you. I’m selfish enough to admit that I’m fascinated with touching you, and I can’t seem to stop now that I’ve started. This allows me to pet you to my heart’s content while you sleep. It gives me enough that I can make it through the next day without grabbing you.” His fingers trail down my sleeve, light and teasing.
Is it bad that I wouldn’t mind if he grabbed me a little?
I settle in against his chest and a moment later, his fingers brush along the line of my jaw, a gentle exploration that leaves me breathless. Are we going somewhere with this, I wonder. Or is he just toying with me? I think about the kiss he gave me back in Seth’s stronghold. It didn’t feel like toying, yet we’ve gone nowhere since. Is he waiting for me to make the first move?
How does one put the moves on a god anyhow?
I lick my lips, pondering. “Kalos?”
“Sleep, Elsie. That’s all I want from you in this moment. Sleep and we’ll talk about whatever you like in the morning.” His finger traces my earlobe.
Oh sure, like I can sleep when I’m getting new kinds of shivers in my body. The pleasant kind of shivers that zing between my thighs. “If you want me to sleep, then why are you touching me?”
“I told you. It’s because I’m selfish. Do you want me to stop?”
“…no.”
“Then sleep.” Cool fingertips skim down my neck, and he brushes my hair back from my face. “This is not me indicating I want sex. When I want it, you’ll know.”
I can’t decide if I’m miffed over that or not. Does he like me? Find me irresistible? Because I’m feeling rather resistible currently. Maybe he’s just fascinated by my mortal-ness. Maybe to him, this is like petting Dingle. He’s just stroking a beloved pet.
With that depressing thought, I shift my weight and press my cheek against his chest. Life was so much easier before we started kissing. I have no idea what we are now. Are we friends? Are we more? Or are we just going to ignore that we kissed for the rest of our lives?
Well, the rest of my life. That realization puts a damper on things.