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Xavier is grimacing while reading over her shoulder before pointing to a word. “There: intercourse.”
“I thought that meant combination.”
Galen chuckles. “Yeah, combining fluids.”
He seems to be the only one unbothered by them having sex, but a troubled look still crosses his face as he watches them wander toward the beach.
I shake my head before shuddering. “Nope, not thinking about them having sex on the beach at all.”
“That’s just because you wouldn’t let us have sex on the beach,” Essos teases, kissing just below my earlobe.
“When we’ve stripped Posey of her powers, then we can have sex on the beach.”
“Tomorrow night then. It’s a date.”
* * *
When he finally comes upstairs,Essos climbs into bed as quietly as he can. I open my eyes just enough to glance at the clock and see that it’s half past three in the morning. Annoyance would be my primary emotion if I wasn’t still mostly awake. I always took for granted having him sleep beside me. On nights when he comes to bed late, it’s nearly too hard to sleep without his presence. Even without that, knowing we’re facing down Posey tomorrow means sleep is impossible.
I roll over to face him with as much grace as a turtle stuck on their back. When I finally turn to see him, Essos is fighting a smile.
“Don’t you dare,” I warn, but he chuckles softly anyway. He pushes my hair from my face clumsily.
“Why are you still awake?” he asks, his brow dipping down before kissing me soundly. I lean toward him as much as I can, and he closes the distance only to be foiled by the pile of pillows that have started to surround me.
“Because I needed my safety blanket to sleep,” I admit, grabbing a pillow and tossing it aside. My fingers trail on Essos’s bare chest before sliding lower to his hips. I’m surprised to find him without boxers on.
“You need sleep for Pom.”
I finally notice the slight slur in his words when his hand starts to trace along my stomach. My T-shirt is stretched tight over my bump for once. All night, I had been fighting a losing battle, pulling it down only for it to ride up when I rolled over.
“Are you drunk?” I ask, my fingers tracing up to his face. He squirms when I skate over his ticklish sides.
“No, well, maybe a little. We had a few drinks, trying to figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow with Ellie and Posey and what comes next. Helene had a crazy idea to add something to the blade and I don’t know if it’s going to work, and I don’t want to think about it anymore.” His hand grips my waist firmly before pulling me against him.
Essos studies my face like he’s trying to commit it to memory, and I can’t blame him. I’m doing the same thing. I need to go into tomorrow with hope and optimism, but it’s hard to maintain that when I can hear the anguished cries of Finn as Posey mutilated him. There’s been no easy way to tell Essos about it. It’s not something I want to burden him with, but I need someone to understand just have terrifying Posey is now.
I watch as Essos’s face transforms from adoration to concern as that silly wrinkle appears between his brows. “What is it, my love?”
“When I was with Posey…” Essos brings his hand to my face so his thumb can stroke along my cheek, soothing me as I prepare to tell him. He waits patiently till I’m ready to continue. “She showed me what happened with Finn.” This gets his hand to stop.
“How do you mean?” he whispers.
“She showed me how she lay in wait, and how Cassius,Cassiuswas the one to pin Finn’s arms while she used the blade.”
“I am so sorry you had to witness that,” Essos’s voice cracks and he presses a kiss under each of my eyes, capturing the tears that have started.
“He never died. I saw him at her house, her base of operations. He was so cold when he did it. There was no emotion in him as he held Finn…”
“I saw it too.” There is an emptiness in Essos’s voice when he tells me this.
“You never said.”
“Of course, I didn’t. I hated that I had to push myself into his mind like that, and I wasn’t going to scar you with what happened. It didn’t do either of us any good, but I’m glad you told me. It’s a terrible burden to bear alone.”
“Then why did you? You always have to carry the weight of the worlds on your shoulders when it’s not yours to carry alone.”
Essos looks down toward my stomach before he starts to stroke it. “Because I violated my oldest friend’s privacy by doing that. He came back injured and screaming, and I had to find out what happened, so I calmed him and looked at his memory to see how he was injured. The moment I saw the God Killer, I knew that we needed a healer who could help stop any possible further damage. I had, still have, no idea if a wound made by the blade can cause infection. It’s not something I ever want to find out. I want to have both the blades and the scepter melted down for scrap metal when this is all over.”
