AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She turned back to me, glared, and announced loudly, “I’m sleeping over here.”
Her feet slipped under the blankets, and both esu joined us on the bed.
Just as I turned toward my female, Bright stepped between us and plopped down on her belly in Death’s usual spot. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at me, but she said nothing. Esu could only broadcast their thoughts directly to their bonded fae or to everyone nearby, which meant she and I couldn’t have a private conversation then and there.
Something told me that if we could, she would’ve threatened me.
“Get her name if you can,”I told Death quietly.
“Mmhm.”His eyes remained open and fixed on Bright as he settled on the other side of me and dropped his head on my abdomen so he could watch Bright.
My human’s eyes shut. She snuggled up against her bonded esu, and her breathing leveled out almost immediately.
As I watched her chest rise and fall evenly, I was forced to admit the truth.
Ididwant my human to be my mate… even if I couldn’t act on it without getting us both killed.
Chapter9
Nissa
Iexpected Kierden to be gone when I woke up, but he wasn’t.
When I silently studied him from between my cracked eyelids, I was surprised to find him awakeandstill there.
He was sitting up in bed with his back to the wall and a book open in his hands. The quick way his eyes moved over the paper told me he must’ve been enjoying whatever he was reading.
I assumed that meant he was reading fiction, and some part of me softened.
Something about the possibility that he liked fictional stories too made him seem more like a real person to me and less like a mystical fae warrior-king.
His dark hair was messy, and his eyes were a bit sleepy. Something about the complete and utter relaxation in his posture made me feel strangely comfortable waking up in bed with him. I could still hear both of the esu snoring softly, so we may as well have been completely alone.
Minus the large, warm, furry bodies in bed with us, of course.
Kierden’s eyes flicked to me and lingered. He lifted a hand off his book and pressed a finger to his lips in the universal sign to be quiet.
“Did their snoring keep you up?”he asked me.
Feeling his words in my mind was soft, comfortable, and intimate.
I wasn’t entirely sure I liked that.
Then again, some other part of me was absolutely certain I loved it.
“No.”
“Yesterday was a long day, so I’m not surprised. At least we’re not traveling today.”
I felt like I’d woken up in an alternate universe, with an alternate man. Had a good night’s sleep in his own bed really been all he needed to remember how to be kind? If so, we should’ve moved faster on our way back to his kingdom.
My stomach rumbled softly, and the esu didn’t budge. They were the ones who had been running while we traveled, so I wasn’t surprised that they were exhausted. I’d need weeks to recover if I did what they had.
I stretched quietly, then eased myself out of the bed and padded to the bathroom, using the facilities and then changing.
When I emerged, I stared for a long moment at the bed. It held a gorgeous, mostly-naked fae king who was reading quietly while snuggling with both of our bonded esu.
Nope, I couldnotget back in there without developing some kind of positive feelings about our situation.
