Paladin's Prize (Age of Heroes, Book 1) by Gaelen Foley Page B

her. He leaned down, and stilled her hands with his own much larger ones, gently cupping them with a warm touch.
    “Let me do it,” he murmured by her ear. Then he took the flint and the fire steel and set the wood ablaze.
    He did not look at her, nor she at him. Acute awareness charged the air between them, but they both stared at the growing bonfire.
    “Thank you,” she said after a moment, stealing a wary sidelong glance at him.
    He met her gaze and nodded, looking just a little too long into her eyes. He cleared his throat and rose. “What shall I do next?” Hands on hips, he awaited her command.
    Heady thought. Wrynne chased off wayward imaginings. “Oh, nothing. Make yourself comfortable, please. I’ll let you know when supper’s ready.”
    “Are you sure?”
    She nodded. “It’ll only be about half an hour.”
    “If you’re sure you don’t need me, I should clean up my armor a bit before it rusts.”
    She sent him a poignant smile at this reminder that he had no squire now to carry out such tasks for him. Thaydor went back into the pavilion and gathered up as much of his armor as he could carry in one armload. Clanking away, he carried it down the stone steps to wash off the caked-on blood and grime in the brook below the waterfall pool.
    She shuddered at the memory of how wet and red and sticky it had been on the night she had found him. Then she shook her head, wondering how long it would be before he ended up like that again. How could the man refuse the help she was offering?
    At least now she knew why. Of course, he was worried she’d end up dead, like his series of past squires, but there was more to it than that. He desired her, and it disturbed him.
    She blushed and thrilled to the thought at the same time. His admission only made her want to go with him all the more. How could she bear to stay here, left behind, knowing he was out there, in danger?
    What he felt—what they both felt—was natural enough. The attraction was no excuse for refusing her help when his life was at stake. With unknown enemies out for his blood, who else could he trust the way he could trust her? They shared the same beliefs, the same values…
    She blew on the fire and poked at it in frustration, sending Silvertwig a morose look as her familiar flew over to her. Having witnessed their whole exchange, the fairy shook her head and folded her arms across her chest as she hovered in midair.
    “Have you ever seen anyone so stubborn?” Wynne whispered, glancing around to make sure her guest was still down by the lower stream. “He thinks he can do everything himself. What does he think, that I’m incompetent? Just a helpless damsel?”
    She huffed and rolled her eyes, while Silvertwig lifted her eyebrows as if about to say that Wrynne, actually, was often that stubborn.
    Wrynne didn’t give her the chance. “Maybe I ought to remind the great paladin that I had the same basic fighters’ training at the Bastion as every other cleric and layperson. I even have some light armor,” she whispered, “ and a weapon. Not that I’ve ever had to use it on a living thing. Target practice mostly,” she admitted. “But the point is, I can ! I was trained for the armies of Light just like him, and I’m willing!”
    She shot to her feet and set her hands on her waist, staring at Silvertwig in indignation. “Does he think me a child?”
    The fairy shrugged.
    “Or does he fear that if he lets me come along, I might try to seduce him? Dent his precious honor? Because that would be absurd.” She scoffed, blushing. “Yes, it’s true that Sons of Might and Daughters of the Rose are often encouraged to, um, marry. But what woman in her right mind would ever marry a knight and worry every day for the rest of her life? Besides, I’m bound by the same standards of behavior as he is. So what if he…fancies me…”
    It was almost too wildly flattering a thought for her to wrap her mind around.
    “It doesn’t mean we have to act