Bending Steele Read Free Page A

never forget the soft sympathy
in his eyes the night he’d found her wandering on the anniversary
of her mother’s death. Those green-gold eyes genuine, sympathetic.
They almost seemed to understand, even when he couldn’t have
known.
    Staring up into those eyes again now, Steele
braced herself against the surge of emotion. Grief, loneliness,
longing. Hexe leaned in and Steele started to shake her head, when
he gave her a soft smile. “No worries. I won’t kiss you. Yet.”
    Hexe lurched off of her. All that heat and
muscle was suddenly gone and he was standing a few feet away, her
knife wrapped in one hand. Steele forced herself to smile, to feign
smugness, but inside, her heart pounded, wild and out of
control.
    “If I didn’t know any better, my King, I’d
say you were scared of me.” Only decades of practice kept her voice
from shaking. With one look, this man had always been able to see
deeper into her soul than anyone else.
    And looking at him now, she knew he could
still see what no one else had. One corner of his lips lifted
slightly before the smile slipped away. “No. Only cautious. I know
better than to underestimate you.”
    His attention flicked to the tribe, who still
lingered, watching them, and Hexe lifted an eyebrow. “You’re all
still here?”
    There was a sharp chiding to his tone, a
rebuttal, and Steele listened to the scrape of boots, suddenly
nervous as they hurried to busy themselves. Oh, he’d known they
were there as surely as she had, but he managed to dismiss them all
without making it a command.
    Hexe turned back to her and she watched as he
palmed her knife, holding it up so he could see the tribal
characters etched into the hilt. His brows lifted as his gaze
slammed against hers. “’Til death do us part?”
    The words opened a raging hole of grief,
anger. Steele lurched to her feet, hands shaking. “It was my
mother’s.” Given to her by the bastard that had been her father.
“Don’t lose it.”
    Understanding dawned as he jerked his head in
a slight nod. “I won’t.”
    Damn. But she hated him for that. She’d just
given him another insight into her soul and he’d pick it apart and
use it against her. “It’s nothing. Lose it. I’ll find another.”
    “It means something to you.”
    “No. It doesn’t.” She bit the words out as
she took a threatening step towards him.
    Hexe held up a hand. “All right. It means
nothing to you.”
    He unzipped his parka halfway, revealing a
navy shirt, crisscrossed with leather straps. The knife disappeared
inside and he tugged the zipper up against the cold, but his words
danced around in her head. It means nothing to you . But it
did. And they both knew it. Having him say it didn’t make him
believe it any more than she did.
    Damn him. How did he do it? He took a step
closer and she couldn’t help but stiffen. “It means nothing to
you,” Hexe said softly. “But I’ll still keep it safe.”
    And those words were like a sucker-punch to
the gut, leaving her vulnerable.
    She’d never liked being vulnerable.
    “Just because you have my knife doesn’t mean
I’m unarmed.”
    “I wouldn’t be so stupid.” Hexe closed the
gap between them, slow and confident. There was a swagger in the
sway of his hips. She thought of lashing out, but then he was
there, pressing close, his coat whispering against hers. He curled
his hands around her upper arms and Steele lifted her chin to look
him in the eye.
    He’d won one fight. According to tribal laws,
that meant she had to spend the two weeks of Wintersong in the
mountains with him. Live with him, share meals with him…and for
many of their females, much more than that. As much as Steele
braced herself against the idea, it wasn’t sex that made her
nervous. It was spending time with him.
    Something about Hexe made her feel safe. He
always had. He made her want to talk. Made her almost want a
friend. None of which she could afford, but she didn’t have a
choice. He’d won the