Rite (Deridia #9)

Emmaryn was to wed that day. To choose a man selected specifically for her, the arrangement a blessing to all of her kind. She had only wanted a moment in the Grove, to remember her parents and settle her anxious heart. She was not supposed to leave the safety of the Spiral on her own. And yet… she did. Someone was waiting. With intentions contrary to all of their ways.

Elrik had tired of being alone. He’d forsaken his people, scarred and betrayed, with all their talk of sacrifice. He wanted something for himself. Someone . And he would have her. It would be the worst thing he had ever done. And he would spend the rest of his life more than willing to atone.

-x-

“Your ceremony,” the warder repeated back, the words slow. Careful. “For your selection.”

She shifted again, ducking her head slightly. “Yes,” she confirmed quietly. “Although... I should not talk about such things with you,” she continued, trying to add a hint of apology to her tone. It would be painful, wouldn’t it? To speak of such matters when he would never have been eligible to witness a woman’s selection?

Her cheeks were cold. She hadn’t noticed before, not when she’d been too consumed with her own thoughts, but she could not deny it now. Not when her skin was prickling with awareness of just how he was looking at her, and she was suddenly filled with a dreadful trepidation. Another step back. He was blocking the path that twined through the Grove, but she would manage. Surely she was wrong. Warders were men of great honour. She was simply overwrought, that was all. Misinterpreting his intentions.

“And why is that?” he asked, as calmly as ever.

She rubbed her hands down her cloak, feeling the slight rasp of fine wool against her palms and it comforted her. “It’s rude, isn’t it? When... when you’re... a warder,” she finished lamely, trying to glance up at him with a look of apology. She did not know how to talk to one of his kind, had never been given cause to practise, and she thought she was doing a poor job of it indeed.

“Am I?” Rated '4/5 - Explicit open door' for steam/spice/heat level.