Free The Ritual by H. Anthe Davis, Erica Dakin Page A

her more closely, and I saw the sweetness in her eyes. Shani had always been a romantic, though only the Gods knew how she managed that with a life like ours, but this time it seemed more than just quick infatuation, and it made me afraid.
    “You want him to touch you then?” I asked quietly.
    “Oh, Gods, yes,” she breathed, then added, “but you don’t think I should, do you?”
    “I…” I stopped, choosing my words carefully. “Shani, I don’t think you can trust him. I know I don’t trust Zashter as far as I can throw him.”
    “But you want him as much as I want Mior.”
    I stiffened and blushed, and with an irritated motion I bent over my ale, trying to hide my emotions behind a curtain of hair.
    Shani sniffed. “Fine, be like that, but you can’t hide it from me, Rin.”
    “He’s attractive,” I grudgingly admitted, “but I still don’t trust him.”
    She sighed. “Do you want to drop out? We don’t have to stay with them. We’ve managed well enough with just the two of us.”
    Leave him. The thought cut like a knife, and that alone told me that it was exactly what I should be doing. In the confused jumble of feelings that Zashter caused in me there was only one thing abundantly clear to me – I did want him. I wanted him naked on top of me, or underneath me, or next to me. I wanted his hands on my skin, his tongue in my mouth and his cock deep inside me, and the longer I spent with him, the more I wanted it. And how long would it take before want turned to need? I wanted him, but I didn’t want to need a man, even if he wasn’t as obnoxious as he had first seemed.
    Still, I couldn’t make my mouth say the words. Yes, we should leave, I thought, but what I said was, “No. I’ve learned more in the past week than in all my time with Naerev, and unless I’m much mistaken it’s the same for you with Mior. That alone is worth a chance. We just have to stay on our guard, and not let a pretty face cloud our judgment.”
    Shani let her breath escape, and it sounded like a sigh of relief. “I can do that,” she said, but although she sounded confident, doubt gnawed at my gut, especially when she turned her head and I saw her eyes start to sparkle. I didn’t even need to look to know that Mior had walked in, and it gave me the sinking feeling that I was already too late with my warning.
    And then Zashter sat down opposite me, and I realised that it was likely too late for me as well. I met his eyes and drowned in them, and they were so knowing that for a moment I panicked, thinking that he knew how he affected me, that he would take advantage of it somehow.
    “No luck eavesdropping then?” he asked, and my hammering heart slowed down again, relieved that it wasn’t my infatuation with him that he looked so knowing about.
    “Can’t blame a girl for trying,” I said, doing my best to sound casual.
    His grin was genuine, and surprised me. “No, I suppose I can’t.”
    “Profitable meeting then?”
    “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he chuckled.
    “Won’t deny it.”
    “Well, I guess you’re in luck then.”
    It took a heartbeat to register, then I stared at him. “Excuse me?”
    “We’ve had a chat, Mior and I, and we’ve decided that we should tell you what we’re up to.”
    His gaze was open and honest, and I was instantly suspicious. “What brought on this sudden trust?”
    He pursed his lips, causing my heart to stutter, then pushed himself upright again. “Come on upstairs, we’ll discuss it there.”
    Dazed, I followed, drawing Shani with me. Zashter did the same with Mior, and I noticed that Shani had been right – he did look at her as if he wanted her. Maybe it ought to have comforted me that he looked as smitten as my sister, but instead it worried me. If he wanted her, then why didn’t he act on it? It was yet another thing to puzzle me, like why Zashter seemed to have suddenly decided to do exactly the opposite of what I had been lamenting to Shani about.
    We