Soul Bound

Chapter 29

He was just grabbing his helmet and adjusting the straps inside when he realised I hadn't moved to do the same. I found I couldn't move. It was uncanny how much he looked like Prince Darius with that armour on. How could I have not seen the resemblance? I had to have been blind. The eyes, the hair, they even had the same jawline. He looked every bit a prince of Estrus as his brother.

He saw the fear in my eyes, and any signs of anger he possessed earlier vanished in the wind. The look he wore was the opposite, one of concern and sorrow. Moistening his lips, he took my hands in his; they held me gently with every thought of my comfort in mind, nothing like how Darius touched me.

"I just need a minute," I told him thickly.

He's not Darius.

But damn, it sucked that he looked like him.

Taking deep breaths, I started picking the armor off the dead soldier. Just like he said, the armour was super adjustable and I managed to make it work. "Okay, how do I look?"

Grayson took me in slowly, slower than I was sure he'd look at any other soldier. I felt hot under his gaze--or was it the armour? It wasn't the most breathable, not like I was used to. He stepped for me, and the crazy, hormonal part of me thought he was going to kiss me when his hands went behind my head--but then he tied my hair back gently.

"Your hair will be a dead give away. Sylus likes his men's hair short--less stuff to grab in a fight." He touched my cheek with a stiff smile, as if he was forcing himself not to enjoy touching me as much as he wanted to. "You're definitely the cutest soldier in this armour I've seen."

I snorted, to distract myself from the urge to kiss him again. He had a bad habit of making me want to do that. "Yeah, he definitely doesn't hire these people for their looks."

And then, out of nowhere, he kissed me. His fingers knotted in my hair and he pressed me into the tree. It was far beyond anything I could have fantasized about; it was rough and hot, but he held me so delicately, as if I would break under the pressure of his body against mine.

"Hey!" someone in the distance called.

Grayson broke away instantly to shove my helmet into my hands and quickly put his on. "Follow my lead," he ordered groughly.

There was no time to think about what had happened only a second ago, I merely put my helmet on and did everything he did, from the salute to the head shake when the soldiers asked us if we'd seen anything so far. How they hadn't seen us kissing against the tree was beyond me, but I was very glad for it. The leader, Jabe, told us to head back to the fort while he and Whiskers continued the patrol.

Heart pounding in my ears, I walked alongside Grayson in the opposite direction from the soldiers. He released an audible breath when we were out of range. "That was close," he murmured behind the masked helmet. "How are you doing, Eva?"

"This armour stinks," I grumbled. "Why do men never think they have to take a bath?"
I needed to complain about something--because there was nothing to complain about with that kiss. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. I had to keep my head clear if I was going to keep it on my shoulders by the end of the day.

He laughed; it was dangerously loud. And endearing.

Focus, Eva, I reminded myself sternly.

We came up to the fort. I tried to stop, to take in what used to be my home, but Grayson pulled me along. The perimeter of what used to be Brar was now lined with a twenty foot high wall of vertical logs with serrated edges. We walked underneath the gate, soldiers eyeing us from the watch tower as we entered. The stables ran along the right side of the wall, filled with horses, magical or not. On the opposite side, weapons hung on shelving, ready to be taken at a moment's notice.