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The bed was neatly made. There was no sign of him anywhere. Fear clenched my throat in its iron fist.
Was he gone already?
Was he goneforever? The thought was too terrible to contemplate.
I tossed the coins from the archmages across the room. They missed the bed, which was my target, and spilled on the carpet. Gold glinted temptingly in the shadows. The sick shame of failure burned in my throat.
I locked the door and stripped down to my skin. I needed a shower to scrub away the events of the past twenty-four hours. When the steaming hot water poured over me, it unlocked all the tension in my body.
Tears spilled from my eyes. Crying in the shower wasn’t something I did often, and it had the feel of an indulgent luxury.
God, I missed Wendel.
His absence hurt with every heartbeat. I hoped he was still alive. I hoped he would return to me eventually.
I turned off the water and dried myself. Damn, these were the most luxurious towels I had ever touched before. I laughed despite myself, a broken kind of laugh.
With a shuddering sigh, I fell onto the bed.
My head sank into the pillow, and I began to feel better. Sleep would do me good.
Sunlight slanted across the wall, then faded into the cool light of dusk. My eyelids closed and I surrendered to sleep.
I woke to the click of the door opening. Startled, I hugged the sheets to myself. I had fallen asleep completely naked after my shower. Moonlight streamed through the open window. My heartbeat began to pound.
A man stood silhouetted in the doorway.
His honey-gravel voice invoked a shiver down my spine: “You came back.”
20
“Wendel.” I whispered his name, as if any louder might wake me from a dream.
He glanced at the carpet. “Why are there coins scattered everywhere? Was there an attempt at a robbery?”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. My hands twisted in the sheets. “No.”
“What happened?”
“I was angry.” I swallowed hard. “I failed my mission.”
He tilted his head. “Are you naked in bed?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
He closed the door behind him and locked it. He kicked off his boots and tossed his coat onto the back of the couch.
When he stepped into the moonlight, his eyes looked intense. “I didn’t know if I would ever see you again.”
“Neither did I.”
His throat worked as he swallowed hard. “The Order of the Asphodel hasn’t sent any more assassins to Vienna yet, thoughit’s inevitable that they will. They won’t stop until they have captured me and dragged me back to Constantinople.”
“Then we have no time to waste.”
“What are you proposing?”
I let the sheet fall away from my naked body. “Come to bed with me.”
