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I looked at him, letting myself smile as an idea struck me. “I’m going to need your Bloodhounds, and some paint.”
“Thatwentwell,”Hellionsaid, letting down their hair.
Cian shrugged, gathering his papers. “Better than I expected.”
I crossed my arms and stayed where I was next to the war table. “You should have told me what I was walking into. I felt stupid.”
Hellion turned around, eyes narrowed. “You did well. I could have ripped his throat out for the way he treated you. How certain are you that no one else can lead the skaags, Cian?”
He sighed. “Unfortunately, very. I’m sorry to have put you on the spot like that. I didn’t think Morlash would be such an ass. I should have known better.”
“Morlash isn’t the only one who doesn’t want me here. Nisang thinks I should go back to Ezulari.”
Cian rolled his eyes. “Nisang is a mother hen and a renowned pessimist,” he said, passing by me. “Of course he would say that.”
He went to the wall behind where I stood, untying another series of knots and throwing back the canvas flaps to reveal the bedroom I’d woken up in earlier. It wasn’t as nice as his bedroom in the palace, but it was a luxury compared to sleeping on the ground like I’d been doing the last few nights. Red swaths of linen lined the walls, blocking out most of the light. A thicker woven rug of crimson and silver dampened the sound. He had a bed—an actual bed—with a wooden headboard and four posters, each wrapped in sheer white silk. Pillows of all shapes and sizes covered most of the bed, more than anyone could ever use.
I looked at the bed and immediately wanted to fall into it, and not just because I was exhausted.
I hovered against the supporting beam, forming the barrier between the two halves of his tent. “He thinks I’ll distract you from the war.”
Cian snorted as if the very idea were absurd. “He should know by now that I can keep my personal life and my professional duty untangled.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Really? Because tonight’s show at the war table was a prime example of that.”
Hellion sat on the edge of the bed. “Someone thinks mighty highly of himself. As if we’d be in the middle of a battle and suddenly distracted by remembering that sweet little squeak you make when you come.”
I flushed hot. “I don’tsqueak, and I’m being serious. People are going to talk. We aren’t exactly keeping this quiet, whateverthisis.”
The bed groaned under Cian’s weight as he sat down on it, pulling off his boots. “What do you want it to be?”
I shrugged without uncrossing my arms. “That’s a good question. A better one is whether we should be anything at all.”
He started to say something, but stopped when Hellion put a hand on his arm.
“Okay.” He dropped his boots to the floor with a small thud. “I’m listening.”
I took a deep breath and absently combed fingers through my messy hair. “You are the Lord of Nightmares. You have a duty to your people. Not just to win this war and rule, but to rule well. I’m mortal. I’m going to age and die, a fact that I must accept. I don’t know this land, your people… Some of them will always look at me and see weakness. They will test you, push me to do it. What future is there for me here other than to be some temporary object of your affection, here and gone in a few years?”
“Nevahn…” He shook his head slowly. “You are not an object to me.”
“And you,” I said, turning my attention to Hellion. “What happens when all this is over? Will you go back to Jaida?”
They were silent.
I studied them both, searching their faces for the answers I desperately wanted. “I know the political climate you live in is…complicated. I’m not educated. I’m nobody. Nothing. I’m not even anyone important back in the human world.” I gripped my arm and lowered my head. “I guess what I’m trying to say is…Where does this go? What do you want from me?”
Cian frowned. “I wantyou. I don’t give a damn about where you come from, Nevahn.”
Hellion rose and came over, lifting my face by the chin. “You are not weak.” They bent down and brushed their lips against mine, just enough to steal the breath out of my lungs.
I shuddered, remembering the last time they’d uttered those words to me.
“Anyone who looks at you and sees weakness is a fool,” they continued. “As for where this goes… I can only speak for myself and what I want. Right now, what I want is to take you to bed and find out what kind of sounds you make when Cian fucks you with my cock in your throat. After that, I want to watch your ballistas punch so many holes in Brenna’s dragon that there isn’t enough to bury. Then, I want to slit her throat and piss in the stump and send her back to her father in pieces. Whatever comes after, I’ll decide when I get there.” They nodded to me. “What doyouwant, Nevahn?”
The answer was plain, as apparent and burning as the first flame of a forge fire. I glanced past them to where Cian was staring at me with lust simmering in his eyes. “Right now, I want both of you to stop staring at me and fuck me already.”
Cian chuckled and pulled me to him, giving me another teasing light kiss. His lips were still pressed to mine as he drawled, “Is thatallyou want?”
