CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Calista
Steady pounding in my head woke me. My tongue felt like sandpaper dipped in acidic vomit. I tried to wet my lips, but my mouth was as dry as a desert and my tongue was dead weight, and so were my eyelids. I struggled to open them even though I just wanted to go back to sleep with the hopes that, when I woke again, my entire body wouldn’t hurt.
I snuggled deeper into the warmth of the bed and slowed my breaths to ease the nausea swirling in my stomach. An arm tightened around my chest as fingers wove with mine and rested under my chin. I sighed. The warm cocoon of their body made me feel a bit better.
My eyes popped open. How drunk did I get last night that I let someone stay the night? I blinked a few times until the room came into focus. Candles burned in sconces alongthe stone walls, chasing the shadows farther into the room. I couldn’t make out much in the darkness, but I quickly began to remember that I wasn’t home.
The Bluebell, I thought to myself as the day’s events came back to me piece by piece. I looked down at the hand I held in mine. Long, ashen fingers curled into a loose fist beneath my palm. Turning my head slowly, I confirmed what I already knew.
Astaroth.
Lips slightly parted, face relaxed, his lashes fluttered lightly as he slept on his side against my back, atop the cover. In his sleep, his sharp features appeared angelic and sweet, completely unlike the harshness of them when he was awake. I tensed and stared at the ceiling when his head slid closer on the pillow and touched mine. He pressed his nose beneath my ear and sighed. The warmth of his breath on my neck felt too intimate, and my brain instantly came up with scenarios for what it would be like when he finally cashed in on our bargain. I turned my head back as it pounded harder, trying to figure out how I would get out of this without waking him. My stomach had other plans.
I lurched for the side of the bed and hung over it. Wave after gruesome wave of dry heaves wracked my body. I could feel Astaroth move behind me before a wet cloth draped over my neck. He knelt at the edge of the bed and trailed his fingers down and back up my spine. That, coupled with the sweat cooling my feverish skin, made me shiver. Scared to move in case it brought on another round, I tilted my head and used the corner of the damp cloth to wipe my mouth.
“Oh god,” I mumbled and buried my face in the blanket, stating the obvious, “I puked on your floor.”
Astaroth’s hand paused at the base of my spine. The weight felt heavier than it should with the unspoken expectations and intentions that lingered between us. I rolled onto my back and covered my eyes with the bend of my arm.
“The sickness is easing. You should feel better on the morrow.”
“It’s easing? I feel like I drank a gallon of booze.” I peeked at his puzzled expression from under my elbow and reiterated. “Liquor? Alcohol?”
He chuckled. “Others have described it as such. And, yes, it’s easing. You’ve been sick for days.”
“What?” I sat up, the movement making the room spin.
Astaroth hurried up the bed and knelt at my side. He gently cupped my shoulder to prevent me from falling off the bed. “You need to rest.”
I rubbed my temples. “Apparently I’ve rested for days.” My hands landed in my lap as I turned to him. The lacing of his shirt was untied and loose in the eyelets revealing more gray tinged skin. Stains covered the cream material untucked from his breeches. “How many exactly?”
“Counting the day you passed out,” he said, moving to the other side of the bed and reaching for a cup on the nightstand. “Five.”
My gaze jerked up. His long, tangled hair framed his tired face. Even his eyes looked blacker than normal, the specks within almost nonexistent. He poured water into the cup and crawled across the bed, handing it to me.
“Oh, thank you.” I snatched the cup, happier than I’d ever been for a drink of water. “Sorry. Shit.” I squeezed my eyes closed recalling the three commandments Jessandra recited to me. When he didn’t respond, I cracked an eye open to find a sad smile on his face.
“I will never hold those over your head, Calista. That is part of who you are.”
He didn’t have to. The bajillion favors I already owed him were more than enough to last my lifetime. I sipped the water and winced from the dull ache in my parched throat, swallowing my resentment down with it for the time being.
“However, please be mindful with the others. They will not be as giving as I am.”
His graciousness rubbed me the wrong way. I cleared my throat and returned to the subject at hand. “Have I been here the entire time?”
“Yes.” He waited for me to ask the next question as I surveyed what I could of the room.
“Is this….” I looked down at the over-sized bed made for a seven-foot king. “Am I in your bed?”
“You are. I wanted you in the safest place as I nursed you back to health.”
“The safest place is your bed?” I asked incredulously.
Astaroth’s lips formed a tight line. “The safest place is and will always be by my side. The room is also warded to protect me when I cannot protect myself.”
I nodded, wondering what that meant exactly. “If someone gets past the ward?”
