AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But then reality returns and I’m out of the water and wrapped in a bath sheet, a bowl of stew in my lap, a cup of ale beside me. The stew is good. Everything is good right now—the warmth, the food, the company. After spending all my life priding myself on thriving in a hostile, cold world, a dark world at that, I’m finding it hard to let go of the self-control that kept me alive, but with these men and this girl…
Yeah, with them, maybe it’s okay to let go for a while, allow myself to tear down some of the walls and rest.
We eat like wolves, dress like humans in the clothes left on the bed, and sleep like the dead, two in each bed. What are we, though? It seems we can’t deny the Fae blood in us any longer, even though we pretend that nothing has changed.
Everything has changed.
I end up with Kiaran, one arm thrown over me and I find I don’t mind when I turn in the night on my side. When I gasp awake from a familiar nightmare, one that has haunted me since I was a child, all mixed up with my parents’ death that I haven’t witnessed, through in the dream I am there, unable to help, failing them… I don’t mind when he pulls me closer to him until I fall back asleep.
And there’s another snap of the thread of time, because next thing I know, I’m waking up. Correction, something has woken me up.
Outside the small window with its leather panes, I think I hear rain pattering. A rooster somewhere crows the dawn of a new day.
Something is off, though I can’t put my finger on it.
It’s probably the lack of tension in my body, the floaty feeling that persists, reeling in memories from last night, memories that make me want to grin.
So unbecoming of a priest. Even a banished, sentenced one.
Taj and Ariadne are already up, talking quietly with one another, my hearing snatching words like “long way” and “provisions” and “careful.” Not hard to guess that the topic is our journey and its dangers.
I think they’re munching on something, too, probably left-over bread from last night, and my stomach grumbles at the thought. I recall slurping stew and eating hard bread before memory faded out again, but it feels like years have passed. I start to sit up, see if they left anything for us to breakfast on, when strong arms wrap around me, keeping me down.
A rough male voice says in my ear, “Permission?”
And I elbow him in the stomach. “For fuck’s sake!” I turn a glare on Kiaran, because I know his voice, and his scent, and fuck, his touch. “You’re becoming worse than Taj.”
“Why, because I touch?” He pokes a finger at my arm. “Touch you.”
“I didn’t give you permission.” I grab his poking finger and lift it off me. “You ask for permission and wait for it before you start, get it?”
He’s quiet and still, the only sound his breathing. His hand twists in mine, clasping my fingers. “Trust, Finnen.”
Nonplussed, my own breath catching, I wait to see what he will do. In the dark, light flashes as my body prepares for something—combat or sex, either seems to stress me enough for that.
But he keeps holding my hand, saying nothing, until the lights fade.
“Morning, Finn.” Ariadne’s voice sends a pleasant shiver down my spine, and fuck, I’m getting hard. Just from that.
“Trust,” Kiaran says again and I pull my hand away, fucking confused.
“Trust you?” I ask. “Is that what you mean?”
“Trust that I stop.” His voice is serious, earnest. “If you say no.”
I nod, run my hands over my face. My heart is slowing down, my muscles still quivering.
“Relax,” Taj says, “and come eat something, the both of you.”
For the first time, I don’t send him to the hells, but nod again, instead.
Maybe he’s right, after all. Last night is a pleasant dream and I smile when I think about it. Maybe it’s okay to relax. Stay relaxed. We made it this far. Soon we will officially be on our way to the south, and there we will be safe.
Our omega will be safe.
Everything is going to be fucking all right.
The bread is stale but it calms the hunger in my stomach. Some left over ale makes my head buzz. Above all, the quiet, the simple act of sitting together under a roof and eating and drinking is fucking with my head.
