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We shared a smile, and something warm flowed through my chest. A moment later, the smile on her lips fell as she glanced down the hall in the direction her brother had disappeared. After a long, draining sigh, she murmured, “If you’ll excuse me, I should probably track down my annoying little brother and make amends.”
“Good luck,” I encouraged as I stepped back to let her pass.
With a snort, she muttered, “Thank you. I’ll need it. It’s always a trial to get him to apologize to me.”
Chapter 11
Urban
The second morning I woke in the Iron Castle, I was hard and aching, much like the previous morning. But today, when I reached down to grip myself before I even opened my eyes, I tried to draw a picture of Vienne in my mind to heighten the pleasure, except I’d yet to get quite close enough to her to really capture definite details.
I’d finally gotten to hear her voice the day before, yet that barely scratched the surface of my curiosity. I wanted to know every mole, freckle, and scar on her skin. I wanted to count her eyelashes, trace her fingerprints with my own, cup the heel of her foot within my hand and slide my palm up the length of her leg. I wanted to smell her, every inch of her. I had to know everything there was to know about her body, and then I wanted inside her head and her heart until I’d inspected every molecule that made her her.
Why had the mark chosen this woman for me?
That was the biggest question.
Frustrated because there just wasn’t enough in my memory banks to form a complete picture of her in my head, I growled and gripped myself harder. It didn’t work. There was no satisfaction.
I had to know more, get closer. That’s all there was to it.
Giving up my task, I flung off my sheet and crawled out of bed. I washed my face with cold, bracing water and rinsed down the rest of me with the same. The chill killed my erection but inflamed my sour mood.
Knowing only one thing would ease my temperament, I started out the door, determined to get as close to Lady Vienne as was humanly possible…without anyone being the wiser—her included.
A servant loitered in the hallway, just outside my room. He stirred, jumping to attention when I flung the door open, and we both started, not expecting to see the other.
“My lord,” he gasped bowing low. “I just wanted to see if you needed anything. A shave? A break from your fast? A bath? Clean linens?”
My hand went to the scruff growing along my jaw. A shave did sound nice, but I’d always shaved myself. The same with baths.
“Not hungry,” I
told him. “But maybe bring some bath water to my room tonight? Sound okay?”
“Uh…oh! Yes, certainly. Whatever you wish, my—my lord?”
He blinked after me as I started down the hall away from him, so I waved over my shoulder. “Can’t talk now. But I’ll be looking forward to that bath tonight. And refresh the linens however you please. Thanks.”
I left the confused servant standing in the middle of the hall as I turned a corner and followed the draw from my mate. Many servants were already up and about, sweeping floors, dusting corners, lighting candles. When I passed a window, the amount of sunlight flooding in through the clear rock surprised me.
Damn. I’d never been a late sleeper before, but the day already seemed to be in full bloom. I swear, the times were different here, because I found myself staying up later at night than I usually did, as well. Guessing it must be mid-morning, I attempted to walk with confidence, as if I knew exactly where I was going and what my purpose was. People tended to bother you less when you didn’t look lost.
It didn’t take me long to realize where I was headed. She must be back in the East Salon again this morning.
I frowned because there weren’t a lot of inconspicuous hiding places outside the door to that room. Anyone who passed by in the hall would know I was eavesdropping.
Double damn.
I supposed I could simply just enter the room as if I had every right to be there, proclaiming that my sister had waxed poetic about the view and that I merely wanted to see it for myself. But the idea of actually talking to her intimidated the hell out of me. I worried I’d blurt out something too personal or reveal my bond. Plus, I had this awful fear that I’d try so hard to impress her that I’d come across as a total dolt, and she wouldn’t like me. I’d never been so self-conscious before, which annoyed the hell out of me and made me even more determined to avoid direct contact.
I just needed to learn more first, study her, discover what she liked and didn’t like, and then maybe go from there.
When I neared the open doorway to the East Salon, multiple voices had me slowing to a halt. None of them were hers, though I knew she had to be inside. I could feel her presence like a drug thrumming through my bloodstream. My body stirred with awareness, making me wish I’d pleasured myself to completion and taken care of all that already.
“…She usually naps for an hour or so when she falls asleep like this in here every morning.”
“So we have time to get these dishes down to the kitchen and back up again before she wakes, you think?”
