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Soren’s lips twisted as he said, “You’re riding with me.”
She scowled.
“If you want to help Leora, this is how that happens.”
Wayland scratched his head. “Leora?”
Huffing, Thessa turned her gaze to Wayland and snapped, “Treat my horse well or you’ll have me to deal with.”
Wayland scrunched his brows. “Please.”
Thessa lifted her nose at Soren. “He’s putting your arrogance to shame.”
Back at the horses, Francis helped his two sons mount, before swinging himself over the other carriage horse. He gave Soren a nod, and the family of three took off.
Wayland mounted Hades, who flipped her ears back at the onslaught of his weight, while Thessa stepped into Soren’s interlaced fingers and hauled herself atop Ares.
Soren grunted, “Move as close to the pommel as you can,” before hoisting himself onto the saddle after her.
The thud of his body against hers, and the arm he threw around her waist, sent heat flooding through her. Before she could make an emergency dismount, the horses were flying north. Between his fingers gripping her, tighter than they needed to, and the rumbling hoofbeats beneath her seat, she wasn’t cooling off.
She needed to think of something … and anything but the way Soren’s jaw flexed when he was angry, or the part of his waist that tapered down like a dagger.
When a soft moan escaped her lips, she knew whatever was happening between her legs shouldn’t be.
Not among so much death, and certainly not with him.
Thessa bit her lower lip all the way back to Mabelton.
Cloppingon cobblestones indicated their arrival.
With varied strides, they’d made good timing. Pulling off-road, under an elm tree and next to one of the many streams coursing through Mabelton, they offered the horses a break.
Thessa’s legs wobbled upon dismounting. Her thighs weren’t accustomed to an entire day of riding, orwhateverthat was. She was so incredibly tense, every bone in her lower body ached.
Meanwhile, Soren’s thighs were all muscle. Her curious eye marked every outline on display in his riding leathers—every single outline.
She wanted water, now.
Each step toward the steady stream was a dreadful reminder of how unconditioned she was. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she knelt down and drank. It was ice-cold and exactly what she needed.
Soren crept up behind her. “Should we check the townhouses first?”
Thessa startled. “Hades, you’re quiet.” She gulped some more water. “No.”
“Then where do you suppose we start?”
Thessa stood, spinning to face him. Ignoring the sting in her thighs, and the warmth that brewed between them, she said, “It’s Tuesday.”
Those muscles in his jaw started twitching, as if waiting for her to elaborate.
“There’s only one place she’ll be.”
30
LECTURE NOTES FROM THEOLOGY, OUR GODS AND GODDESSES I:
Each face of Hekate points in a different direction; one for the Maiden, one for the Mother, and one for the Crone. She’s the symbol for life’s crossroads, helping those who seek guidance.The triple-nature is what leads so many to her for worship.