“Tonight we’re camping.”
“Here?” I waved at our surroundings. Things happened in forests like these. Altars grew out of the ground. People disappeared. Mythical creatures made appearances.
“Here,” he confirmed. Andre was already hauling the tent makings apart.
“But … but what about the sun?” I was officially drawing at straws—although this was a legitimate concern.
“I’m not that delicate, soulmate.”
“And werewolves?”
The edges of Andre’s lips curled. “I don’t smell dog. I think we’re safe.”
I warily eyed the tree next to me, earning me a laugh from my soulmate.
“Believe it or not,” Andre continued. “I’ve done this before. For the moment, we’re safe.”
I guess that was that.
I went over to try to help him put our makeshift home together, but he shooed me away. “Soulmate, let me be your champion for a while.”
“Champion?”
Andre sighed as he slid poles through the material. “Your knight, your defender. No one remembers these things anymore.”
“Oh,” I said, then furrowed my brows. “So you’re defending me from what, pitching a tent? Give me a little more credit than that.”
He snapped a pole into place. “Women taking men’s words the wrong way,” he muttered, “now that’s one thing that’s remained constant over centuries.”
I swatted him on the arm, causing him to grin.
“I know that you’re more than capable of doing this,” Andre said. “Doesn’t mean I want you to.”
He removed the holstered sword slung across his back then shrugged off his coat, giving me ample opportunity to gawk at his arm muscles. My skin began to glow. As he went back to putting together the tent, his nostrils flared and his lips twitched.
If I kept this up, I wouldn’t be able to fit inside it between him and his ego.
I swiveled away, peering at the peculiar canvas of the tent. The material had a strange iridescent sheen. I crept closer to it and ran my fingers over the material. “What is this?”
“Refractive silk,” Andre said, sliding another pole in. “It bends light and gives the illusion that we’re invisible.”
“Whoa.” That was … epically cool.
I sat on a nearby boulder and watched Andre’s progress. But now that I finally had a moment to process the last several hours, my thoughts strayed back to our getaway.
I cocked my head. “You’re a bad dude, aren’t you?” Andre hadn’t hesitated once during that escape, and he’d seemed more than equipped to handle both fleeing and fighting. Almost like he’d gone through the motions before.
He smirked as he slid another pole through the material, though something sad and serious lingered at the back of his eyes. “Quite.”
I nodded to myself.
“I am still sorry that you got matched with me.” Andre looked up from his work.
I met his gaze. “I’m not. I think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
His nostrils flared—probably testing the air to see whether I was lying or telling the truth. But if he was looking for deceit, he’d be sorely disappointed.
I stood up just as the tent went up. My jaw slackened when I saw just how well the thing blended in with its surroundings, especially impressive considering just how large the thing was.
“Wow.”
Andre held open the flap. “Come inside, soulmate. I’ll join you in a minute with our things.”
Death and fighting were forgotten for a moment. I walked over to him and peered inside. Andre watched me closely, a smile dancing on his face and his eyes shining brightly.
Inside, the material was a velvety midnight blue, and a repeated pattern of fleurs-de-lis and roses had been woven into the material. I could see all this because the walls of the tent glowed dimly, as if by the light of several phantom candles. Even empty as it was, the place had a richness to it, reminding me that my soulmate was an immortal king. Sometimes I forgot.
I walked up to one of the walls and touched it. The velvet looked … old. Not in a moth-eaten, decayed way, but in a way that spoke of long hours toiling over dyes and looms. For all I knew, Andre had owned this tent for centuries, and the magic woven into it had prevented it from aging. It seemed like something one would invest large amounts of money in once upon a time.
“What are you thinking about, soulmate?” Andre asked from behind me. I hadn’t heard him enter.
I turned to see him scrutinizing me with no little amount of desire in his eyes.
“You,” I said.
“Oh?” The air thickened with Andre’s spicy scent. His pheromones.
I took a step back as they hit me. It reminded me that he was a predator, used to hunting down fleeing things.
We stared at each other across the expanse of the tent, neither sure what the other’s next move might be.
With an effort Andre tore his gaze away. He sealed up the tent’s flaps then headed to the back of the room.
Andre shrugged off the enchanted bag, letting it drop to the floor. Metal slid against leather as he then removed his sword from his shoulder and the knives strapped to his sides. He knelt and set the weapons next to the bag.
Next, he opened the sack and began pulling out furs and blankets—
Furs? My eyes darted to the fluffy white fleece.
Mary had a little lamb … then Andre got ahold of it.
“Soulmate.”
“Hmmm?” I ripped my gaze from the fur. Andre pulled out a blood bag from his belongings and tossed it to me.
I caught it. “Mmm, dinner.” I tried not to think about how blood had become more appealing than human food in the last day. I stuck the straw in my mouth and guzzled it down, watching Andre as he set up the bed.
He placed two pillows down, side by side.
A bed for us.
This wouldn’t be the first time I slept alongside him, but something about the way those furs were piled in the corner of this richly decorated tent made me feel like a barbarian queen with barbarian needs.