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Fine, so maybe he wasn’t as honorable as he wanted to think, but the look on her face was priceless. He made his escape before she could throw a glare at him—or literal daggers—finishing his sweep and returning to the front. The bald man was nowhere in sight, but he spotted Malifeskos and Oscar strolling down the clouds and talking about…clouds. When he turned a corner, all his pondering over the two men vanished as he came face-to-face with Daria.
Her hand was on the doorknob of what he deduced was her room, but the hesitation in her body language was evident. She paused upon sensing his presence, then relaxed. Slightly.
“Hey,” she greeted.
“Hey.”
She bit her lip. He tried not to look.
“Would you like to sleep with me?”
His brain short-circuited, but the reddening on her face had him understanding that she blurted it out without thought.
“Do you mean sleep in the same room as you?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
Nerves buzzed in her voice. He grew heady with it, a yearning building that those nerves were for him—that she was nervous because there was some longing in there, too. Knowing better, he shook his head. She needed comfort and often turned to him for that, but it was with an astonishing insight that he realized he couldn’t provide it to her now. But maybe he could provide a version of it.
“I will take first watch and sleep outside after.”
“Outside? Why?”
Because if I get in that room now, or even later, comfort will be the last thing you will get.
“Just a precaution. Plus, you need uninterrupted sleep for tomorrow.”
Except neither of them knew what tomorrow meant.
He nudged her shoulder encouragingly, then stepped away before they could proceed to hug. The vulnerability she radiated sent an ache unfurling down his loins, his body screaming at him not to resist. So, he stepped back and resisted.
“I can take shifts too,” she announced, a hint of defiance in her tone.
“How about you take one after you meet with the healer tomorrow? If we are still here.”
That had her brightening. She nodded, smiled, and reluctantly entered her room, where he knew she would be restlessly overthinking before falling asleep. He stayed true to his words, checking and rechecking the temple corners, then dragging a futon outside her room. He expected to toss and turn all night but was zonked out quickly, the hours infused with writhing vines, fuzzy balls, and puffy blankets.
And if her lips, her moans, and her soft, soft skin slithered into his dreams, too, could he blame himself for not fighting it?
Chapter 10
“Come and stand before me, child.”
Child felt like an insult in her mind, but Daria supposed all-powerful, mighty beings like the guy before her could get a pass for calling whatever they deemed fit of their subjects. The bald man said it nicely enough, but with an authoritative touch that solidified one point: it was she who needed something from him, not the other way around.
When she did stand in front of him, that silver gaze took its time studying her. At some point, she felt so bare that she wanted to hide in extra layers of clothes, but she stiffened her spine and locked her knees.
You can do this. You went through worse. There’s no need to be nervous.
It almost felt like someone was saying it to her, too. An imaginary voice nudged in her head: deep, steady, husky when he was whispering. She bit her tongue, willed her body not to heat up, and felt some of her tension leave her. It allowed her to keep gazing at the bald man, who tilted his head.
“You are the oddest among the rare ones who came here.”
“Oddest?”
“Your energy,” was his cryptic reply. She wished she could ask the others what it meant, but all five of her companions—who had insisted on being in the same room as her—were close to the hall’s doorway and asked to stay there. She could feel impatience simmering from half of them. “It’s different from the ones who sought my help before.”
“When was the last?”
