by Lily Thomas
Mathar leaned away from her as he snorted. “I’m an ice giant. The past is the past. Nothing can be done about it now. I’m sorry to hear of your loss, but at least you now know your sister is alive.”
She snatched another piece of dried meat out of the bag he’d given her and then handed it back to him.
In the flickering firelight, he noticed how raw her wrists still looked from the rope he’d used to tie her hands behind her back. Reaching a hand out in the blink of an eye, he latched onto her arm and rubbed a finger lightly over the raw flesh.
Adorra sucked in a harsh breath and attempted to draw back her hand. He tightened his grip but didn’t touch the raw flesh again. Dryden and Jasmine would have him flayed for this. He wasn’t supposed to harm his queen’s sister.
They really should’ve sent someone else to do this. Mathar wasn’t used to being anything other than a skilled killer. His father had seen to that before his death. Handling a lady was out of his skill set.
“I hadn’t realized the ropes had hurt you so much.” He did his best to sound neutral, but he couldn’t help but feel like a brute. She may be nothing more than a human, but he’d never been one for violence against women. Everything his mother had endured still haunted him, and he only wished he’d been strong enough to do something about it before it’d been too late.
“It’s nothing.” Adorra brushed it off.
“It isn’t nothing. The ropes rubbed your skin off.” Mathar glanced up at her. “You never said anything.”
“Truly, it’s nothing. Don’t fret over it.” She tried to brush him off looking uncomfortable with the direction of their conversation.
“You should have told me,” Mathar growled. If she’d spoken up, it could’ve prevented him from causing her harm. Now he might have to face Dryden’s wrath. Not only that, but a slow build of guilt ate at him. He may not be fond of humans, but it didn’t mean he was used to harming women. It wasn’t major, and it would fix itself in a matter of days if not sooner, but it was still something he should have thought of when he’d bound her wrists. She was a lady of the court, and her skin wouldn’t be used to such rough fibers. “Next time something hurts you, you tell me.”
Adorra bobbed her head up and down, wagging the loose bun behind her head. “I will.”
He released her hand and took back the bag of dried meat.
They sat in silence staring at the fire as it joyfully ate away at the massive logs Mathar had placed in the pit. He was enjoying the silence… and it wasn’t too bad with her by his side. He was sure there were worse women out there. Adorra was quiet and sure of herself, which was a nice change from some of the women he knew and their wagging tongues.
Mathar remembered all the chaos Jasmine had caused when she’d plummeted into the river of freezing water and continuously tried to get back to her sister. He shook his head as he glanced over at Adorra. Thank goodness Jasmine’s sister wasn’t taking a nose dive into any rivers. Unlike Dryden, he didn’t take pity on stupidity. If Adorra ever dunked herself into a river, he’d probably let her flail around until she succumbed to the freezing water.
Chapter 9
Adorra leaned back as she straightened her spine, stretching out the muscles in her shoulders. They were still sore from when her hands had been tied behind her back. It felt so nice to have free range of her arms again, and she prayed he wouldn’t tie her up again.
Mathar picked out another piece of dried meat and then handed her the bag. “Do you want some more to eat?”
“Yes.” She reached out a hand and took the leather bag from him. Digging a hand into the bag, she drew out an especially large strip of dried meat. Using her front teeth, she yanked off a piece. It was good for a piece of dried meat. There were even a few spices on there which made it taste a lot better then it would’ve had it just been dried and salted.
Within seconds, she’d devoured her piece.
“It’s pretty good.” Adorra tried to start up some more conversation. If she was going to be traveling with him for the foreseeable future, she needed to get to know him. She didn’t just want to sit in awkward silence.
“I’m sure you’re used to better.”
She chuckled lightly. “I am. Still, it’s better to have something rather than nothing.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“It is!” Adorra knew he couldn’t believe a lady like herself could be so level-headed and reasonable.
“Do you want more?” Mathar held out the bag.
She took it back and selected a few more pieces. Silence fell over them again.
“What about your family?” Adorra wasn’t sure he would open up to her, but there was nothing else for her to do other than get the conversation going again.
“They’ll be of no interest to you.”
He’d shut that down faster than she could get it started, and it caused her to wonder what his family life was like. Once she finished her last piece of dried meat, she let her hands fall into her lap as she watched the fire crackle happily in front of her.
“You say my sister is well?” Adorra wanted to know more about her sister if he wasn’t going to be kind enough to make small talk.
“Yes. She is doing very well. I know she’s looking forward to seeing you again.” Mathar relaxed by placing his hands behind him and kicking his legs out towards the fire. “She hasn’t stopped thinking about you since she joined us.”
Adorra snorted. “I would think so after being a captive of the ice giants. The thought of seeing me again must be the only hope in her life.”
“She isn’t a captive.” He ground out, growing irritated with her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” His dark eyes flashed over at her.
“All I know is that my sister disappeared and now here you are,” she waved a hand at him, “telling me that she is with the ice giants. What would you think in my shoes?”
“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. Your sister has been treated well and is about to get married.”
“Which is ridiculous.” Adorra shook her head as she rolled her eyes. “Jasmine would never want to marry an ice giant.”
“Then you don’t appear to know your sister as well as you thought you did.”
Adorra snorted. “We will see when we get to the ice giant castle.”
“I’ll make sure I’m there when you first talk to your sister to watch the surprise that will surely spread through you when you find out she is more than just happy with us,” Mathar promised her.
She opened her mouth, but he held up a hand before she could utter a single word.
“Don’t argue with me, Adorra. As much fun as this banter is, I’m not in the mood to listen to you tell me how that simply can’t be possible. Just because you find us giants abhorrent doesn’t mean your sister feels the same.” Mathar paused. “She’s surprisingly open-minded. I don’t remember her once minding the fact that she was with us.”
Adorra clamped her mouth shut tight. She wanted nothing more than to continue to argue the point, but what was the purpose? Did she really think she could convince him of something? He had his view, and she had hers. It was as simple as that.
They fell into silence once more, and all she could do was either stare at the fire or stare at him, so she chose the moment to study him from the corner of her eyes.
The firelight played over his face accenting all the angles of his face to absolute perfection. If she forgot herself for a moment, she could imagine reaching out and stroking a hand across his face, and running her hands over that stubble. She was sure it would prickle against the soft skin of her fingers and send thrills shooting all the way to her toes.
Then her eyes flickered over the strands of his silver hair. It wasn’t white like an old man’s and almost had a reflective quality to it. The firelight glinted off the strands, causing his hair to look like the flickering flames of the fire.
No, he definitely wasn’t ugly by any standards. She wondered what the fire giant women thought
of him. If she weren’t a human or he wasn’t a giant, she would definitely be interested in pursuing him.
Though maybe that shouldn’t deter her.
Adorra knew several women at court, like Matilda and Beatrice, who wouldn’t care that he was an ice giant. They would still invite him to their chamber for a night of fun and be done with him the very next day. Even Isabel was known to entertain other men than her husband.
A lot of women at court got desperate for some fun since a lot of them were married to older men who had a bit of difficulty getting it up. But a giant… she wasn’t sure it would be the same as simply taking a human man as a lover. He didn’t look much different so far. She felt her eyes drift a little lower, toward the front of his pants, before she ripped her gaze off of him.
As the fire died down to hot coals, the cold crept back, and she wrapped the fur a little more tightly around her frame.
Mathar glanced over at her. “Are you ready to sleep? We will have an early start to the morning. The less time we waste out here, the better.”
“I agree with you on that.” She didn’t want to be traveling with him any longer then she had to be. He didn’t disturb her and had so far been pleasant, but she was eager to see Jasmine and plot their escape.
Pushing herself up, she rose, stretching out her long limbs. Then Mathar stood, and she eyed him. She wasn’t considered a short woman by any means, but Mathar was still taller than her, and it felt nice to be near a man who she didn’t have to worry about dwarfing. She could wear the fancy heeled shoes that were coming into fashion without feeling like a giant herself.
Adorra shook herself mentally. She wasn’t about to stay here with Mathar, so it didn’t matter how tall he was and what shoes she could wear around him. She was letting his strangely good looks get to her lonely mind. She needed to put up a barrier and quick.
He strode over to the tent, and then turned and motioned her forward. “Come on then.” He held open the tent flap with a hand.
Adorra had a moment of panic streak through her. Her heart thundered in her ears as she eyed him and the tent. Sucking in a breath, she then let it out slowly. She was a strong woman who’d face more hardship than a lot of people her age. She could do this. Her sister was at the end of all of this, and she had to see Jasmine again.
Steeling her spine, she strode forward, her head held high and marched right inside the tent.
Then Mathar followed her in close on her heels, and she felt some of her resolve die a bit.
Adorra backed away from him, although the small tent didn’t allow her to put much room between them. “We can’t sleep in the same tent.”
He smirked at her in the dark. “Yes, we can.” He strode further into the tent, not fazed at all that they’d be sleeping in the same tent. “I only brought one tent and one fur as a cover from the chilly night air.”
Then she caught his gaze flickering down to her chest in the darkness. Her cheeks heated. He was clearly admiring what she had going on under her dress. Damn the current fashions at court, and damn her for keeping up with the fashions. Her dress might cover most of her, but it still had a low cut over the bodice.
She threw her arms up, folding them in front of her chest. She didn’t want him ogling her breasts, even if they were covered by a couple of layers of fabric and the darkness of the night.
“You will be sleeping next to me.” She could hear the grin in his voice like it pleased him to no end that he was bothering her delicate sensibilities.
Adorra found herself speechless. Her mind raced away as it tried to think of what to do about this new situation. “Can’t you sleep elsewhere?” She waved to the tent around them. “It would be indecent for us to sleep this close. We might even touch.” She hissed the last part.
“Because I’m an ice giant. You’re afraid I’ll taint you.” He filled in.
“No, it’s because you’re a man.” She corrected him, her eyes narrowing. It didn’t matter if he was an ice giant, he was still a man, and she was still an unmarried woman who was trying to keep some sort of decency.
“Afraid I’ll bite?” Mathar snapped his teeth shut with a click.
Adorra snorted. “I’m not afraid of you biting. I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands to yourself.”
He chuckled. “You might be beautiful,” her cheeks heated at his compliment, “but you aren’t the type of woman I’d be interested in.”
The heat disappeared from her cheeks just as quickly. He’d just given her a backhanded compliment. She frowned at him in the dark.
“I thought that would please you.” Mathar shrugged as he read her expression in the inky dark tent, “But it doesn’t matter. I am sleeping in here with you. I feel the need to keep my eyes on you in case you get any ideas.” When he saw she was still standing rock still he continued, “The nights up here get a lot colder than you’re used to down where you live. You’ll be thankful for me being close. I’m made from nothing but hot flesh.”
Her cheeks burned brighter at the mention of hot flesh. An image of him naked in front of her flashed through her mind. It was shocking for her to realize that just imagining him naked had her longing for the dream to come true.
She gulped. Something was wrong with her. There had to be something wrong with her. She was fantasizing about a naked ice giant.
“Fine. But I want to make sure you keep your distance.”
“I have no interest in you. How many times must I tell you?” Mathar sounded exasperated with her constant nagging. Then she watched as he bent over and stripped off his boots. Then he straightened and began to work on the belt on his pants.
A blush deepened on her cheeks. She flung her hands out. “Wait!”
He froze as his head snapped up to look at her.
“Can’t you stay dressed?” Adorra tried to make her voice sound strong, but there was a bit of a quake in there that she was unable to hold back.
Mathar stared at her in silence for a few seconds but then relented with a nod. His hands undid his belt, and he whipped it off, but he stopped there.
She breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he was going to take mercy on her delicate senses. She felt another blush adorn her cheeks. She still hadn’t slept with a man, and now she was getting a lot closer with an ice giant then she’d ever been with any human man, even Edmund.
Adorra had kissed a few men of course, but she’d made sure it never went any further. Even Edmund was forced to wait until their wedding night. She stopped herself. She didn’t want to relive that night any more than she had to because it always brought her nightmares.
She was just glad Mathar was keeping most of his clothing on.
“I won’t bite.” He promised.
Adorra glanced over at him. He’d settled himself under a fur covering while she’d been stuck in her thoughts.
She tossed him a confident smile as she walked over to him. With a deep breath, she laid down on the ground and pulled the fur cover over herself. She made sure she scooted as far away from him as she could get in the cramped tent. She wasn’t too concerned about how cold it would get. With a tent this small, they’d have no trouble keeping it nice and toasty. Mathar was radiating heat from where he was laying.
Placing her head on the ground, she closed her eyes and let her dreams pull her into the blissful retreat of sleep.
A songbird tweeting its delight at the start of another day woke Adorra from her restless sleep. Although she was wide awake, she kept her eyelids closed, enjoying the feel of being in bed, and then everything from the previous day rushed back to her, and she felt herself tense.
She wished she was back at the manor in her bed with the comfort of her soft blankets and familiar scents. But here she was on an adventure to find her sister. Jasmine was going to owe her after this. There were a lot of people in this world who would never come after their loved one when they needed help, but Adorra was the elder sister, so she felt responsible for Jasmine. They didn’t have parents t
o look after them, so it was their job to look after each other.
She wasn’t even sure what she’d be able to do for Jasmine, or if she should believe what Mathar was telling her. But there was nothing she could do about it right now. She’d made a decision not to flee, and she still thought it was for the best. There was no one in her kingdom who’d be able to help her with the rock giants attacking them, so this was all up to her.
Adorra’s back felt toasty warm, while her front was a bit chilled. She scooted a little closer to the warmth. Her body was eager to absorb all the heat it could from the source radiating behind her. She wanted nothing more than to turn over and snuggle closer to the warmth that was calling her name.
That is until that warmth rolled over and draped a heavy arm over her chest and cupped a breast in one of his warm hands.
She shot awake in a split second, but it wasn’t soon enough. She felt something hard prod against her backside. He was awake as well and way too happy to be awake!
Adorra did the only thing she could think of when she had such little time to process. She let out a high pitched scream, as she yanked herself away from him, taking the fur cover with her as she rolled over, away from him.
“For fuck sake woman!” Mathar hollered as he put his hands to his ears at the rude awakening. “Stop your infernal screaming!”
Adorra snapped her mouth shut. Her screaming had done as she’d desired. She’d wanted him to remove his hand and wake him up like he’d rudely awaken her. Mission accomplished.
“You were groping me!” She pointed an accusing finger over at him.
Mathar watched her eyes and saw the fear that glistened there in her hazel depths. There was also a spark of vexation at his wandering hand. A hand that hadn’t been awake enough to know it was doing anything wrong.
He wasn’t too sure what to say to her. Her breast had felt good being cupped in his hand, firm and filling, which bothered him because it shouldn’t have felt that pleasurable to have her body pressed up against him, but it had. His cock was in full agreement with him. It was hard and begging to be released from its confines in his pants.