The hulking figures snorted and laughed. They pressed in, until a ray of light passing through the underbrush lit upon their faces. Leo’s gut clenched when he recognized the ogre standing nearest to him.
“The only place you’re going is with me, Prince Leo,” Earl said with a satisfied smile, his teeth appearing more yellow than usual in the low light. His beady black eyes darted toward Eina and grew wide. “Oh, goody. You brought a friend. This is gonna be fun.”
Chapter Twelve
Eina struggled against the beefy hand that held her upper arm like a vice. She watched Leo do the same with the two ogres marching him up ahead. They’d already failed in their mission for peace. To add insult to injury, the ogres that held them captive were snickering at their good fortune, as if they’d snagged them in their nets.
Eina’s stomach twisted into knots. She couldn’t let them hurt Leo. It was her fault they were here in the first place. He’d offered to help her win back the favor of her sisters, and selfishly, she’d taken him up on the offer without thinking through the consequences. Once again, she’d gambled with Leo’s life.
And once again, he was paying the price.
“Through here,” the ogre named Earl barked as he pulled aside a branch. Eina could tell they’d hiked up the mountain quite a bit. The air was thinner here and she struggled to breathe. “Heads down, keep marching.”
The ogres shoved them into a clearing that opened up to what resembled a small village. Eina blinked in surprise. The homes had been built into the ground with dirt mounded on top. Flowers and wild plants sprouted from the tops in an array of disorderly beauty. Large, colorful round wooden doors stood open to the evening breeze.
Thick trees surrounding the clearing shot high up into the air, keeping the village in deep shade. Ogres up and down the cobblestone path froze and turned to stare at the intruders. Several small ogre children ran toward them holding balls and wooden bats.
“Move,” Earl shouted.
Eina stumbled after Leo and tried to keep her eyes glued to the ground, but she couldn’t help sneaking a peek every once in a while. This wasn’t at all what she’d pictured an ogre village to be. So clean, so orderly, so beautiful. The children followed them with big smiles stretching across their bulbous green heads.
“In here,” Earl said with a grunt. He pointed to a building at the end of the row. It was the only one that didn’t look like a cheery home. It had a foreboding black square door and had been buried deep into the ground. “You’ll stay in there until we figure out what to do with you.”
He and his buddies snickered again and shoved Eina and Leo through the door, closing them in. Eina stumbled in the darkness. Her eyes had been specially adapted to darkness deep below the water’s surface, but not in a cave. She tripped over a divot in the floor and cried out when hands shot out to steady her.
“Eina, it’s me. I’ve got you,” Leo’s comforting voice sounded next to her ear.
She inhaled sharply and turned to pull him closer. Her arms wrapped around his torso and her hands splayed across his muscular back.
“Leo, I’m so sorry.” She sniffed as tears clogged her throat. “I never should’ve brought you here.”
“Hey, I brought you here, remember?” He put a finger under her chin and raised her head until she gazed blindly up into the dark at what she guessed was his face. “This is my fault. I never should’ve been so foolish to think we could do this alone.”
A bitter laugh escaped her throat. She closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d still be safe at the castle. I wish we’d never met in that ballroom.”
Leo gave a low growl and cupped her cheek. He wrapped his other arm behind her and pulled her in tight. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she felt him lean in toward her, his breath hot on her ear.
“Even now, even here, I don’t wish that,” he whispered. “Eina, I can’t lose you.”
His lips met hers with a hungry urgency. Delicious heat exploded throughout her body and across her skin. She’d never been kissed before, but that didn’t stop her from rising to her tiptoes and meeting him with equal desperation.
He tasted like sweet wine and dark chocolate mixed together in a sensual combination. She bit at his lower lip and he growled again, pressing her against the nearest wall and running his hands down her sides until they planted on the subtle curves of her hips.
“Leo...” She gasped when his lips left hers and traveled down her neck in tantalizing hot kisses. “I...”
She felt the words on the tip of her tongue—the emotion she’d been fighting for days now. It was an overwhelming feeling that had consumed her thoughts and buried itself deep inside her bones. She’d had a name for it shortly after finding him huddled in the wreckage of the storm. Love. She loved him, with every ounce of her being.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” he said in a hoarse whisper against her throat. “I promise. You’re going to change the world, Eina. I knew it the moment I met you.”
She shivered at his words. As much as she wanted them to be true, she knew in that moment it would feel like nothing if she didn’t have Leo there by her side. They both had to make it out of this ogre village. There was no alternative.
A blinding light pierced the darkness and Leo whipped around to face the door that had been opened wide. Earl’s hulking silhouette stood in the gap. From what Eina could see of his face, he looked like he’d sucked on a sour sea star.
“Follow me,” he grunted, motioning with his giant fist. “Our leader wants to see you.”
Eina swallowed hard and reached for Leo’s hand. He held it and squeezed her fingers as they followe
d the ogre into the sunlight. After the hospitality they’d received so far, she didn’t expect much better of Earl’s boss.