The light grows brighter, and a cliff about thirty feet above the water appears. A stranger stands at its edge, soaking wet from head to foot in a short linen swim dress. The brightness allows me to see Genevieve’s face, and her eyes study me for a reaction. I scan the cliff again, just as the female from before leaps off the cliff into the dark water below. I abruptly stop.

“No,” I say involuntarily and pull my hand from Genevieve’s.

“Yes,” she says with a smirk, grabbing my hand and tugging me forward. I follow, despite my blood beating a fast rhythm in my veins. We reach the cliffside, where a dozen fae swim in the water below. Another rope ladder hangs from the cliff, and several people climb it, presumably to jump again.

“No, I can’t—I don’t like—we have to jump?” I ask, body deflating.

“It’s either this or climb back down the rope from earlier. It’s really fun, I promise. You’ll be safe.” I swallow, then search the ground for grass, a shrub, a small flower—anything I can grow to ease me down the cliffside. But Velmara isn’t known for its smooth, rocky cliffs without reason.

Genevieve pulls her dress over her head, and my mouth goes dry at the nearly sheer shift she wears underneath, her small frame on full display. Then she turns back to me with a question in her eyes before pulling my tunic over my head. Lust heats her gaze when she exposes the bandeau I wear underneath. I’ve never been shy about my body or my sexuality, but now I shiver under her heated gaze.

“Do you want to stay in your leggings? Or take them off?” she asks quietly with a deep swallow. Her delicate throat moves with the motion, drawing my attention down to it and then farther down to the small, pert nipples that peek under her chemise.

“I’ll take them off,” I say with a husky voice, not recognizing myself. She nods, then helps me pull the fighting leathers off my body, fingers lingering over my skin as she pulls them down. I stand there in only my undergarments, unaware of our surroundings, attention focused solely on Genevieve. She scans my body, and I grin, confident in the line of my feminine figure toned with muscle. “Like what you see?” The words come out of me unbidden, and I tense. We’ve definitely flirted, but never this openly, especially not in public. I scan our surroundings. Thankfully, we’re still alone up here. I’m about to apologize, or murmur some excuse, when her lips part and she exhales with a breathy sigh that almost sounds like a moan.