Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Talon rolled onto his side, splayed a hand on my back, drew me to him, and then settled his chin over my head.
I shamelessly melted into him, not giving a single shit that it might make me seem weak to take what comfort he offered. Surrounded by his heat, scent, and strength, I was able to calm the rapid beating of my heart and I soon after dozed off.
It was morning when I next opened my eyes. Mr. Sleeping Beauty was nowhere to be seen, but I heard him pottering around the garderobe.
Fading remnants of my last dream yo-yoed around my head. I hadn’t been in the caverns that time. I’d been stood in the grassy spot where I’d yesterday tended to my labyrinth-induced wounds. All around me had been the corpses of the other candidates … and then I’d realized that I, too, was dead.
Weird to say the least.
The bell rang outside, wrenching a croaky groan out of me. I rubbed at my eyes. I was exhausted—mind, body, and soul. Part of it was due to the toll the caverns had taken on me, but another part of it came from the emotional crash of knowing that Xalbia was finally over. The ‘will-I-won’t-I-survive-it’ tension that had rode me for forty days straight was now gone, and it left me feeling mentally boneless.
The only thing that made me feel remotely motivated to rise was that I was starving. No shocker. I’d missed yesterday’s dinner, and my tired body was no doubt desperate for sustenance.
Talon came striding out of the garderobe—his skin damp, his chest bare, a towel looped around his waist. I was too drained to feel my usual hot surge of sexual excitement, but my stomach did a fair bit of fluttering.
“Morning,” I muttered, forcing myself to sit upright.
Typically, when he woke before me, he often woke me in style. That he’d instead let me sleep as long as possible showed he knew that I needed the rest.
He offered me a soft grunt and then went about pulling clothes out of his drawers.
Watching him start to dress, I scooted forward so that I was perched on the edge of the bed. “Aren’t you going to ask if I’ve decided whether or not to join the Black Tapestry?”
He cast me an affronted look that said he already knew the answer to that.
“I’ve been determined to join from the start, yes, but Xalbia put me through the ringer. You’re not wondering if it beat me?”
Tying the laces of his breeches, he shook his head and crossed to me, still wondrously bare-chested.
Unable to not drink in all that solid muscle, I ogled the hell out of him even as I asked, “How come?”
Talon bent over and planted one fist on the mattress beside me, putting his face inches from mine. He pointed at me, dragged the tip of his finger up the bumps of my spine, and then conjured a dagger. As his gaze skimmed over the blade, I understood what he was trying to say: That I had a spine of steel.
A little taken aback by the compliment, I blinked. “Oh. Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “And, yes, you guessed correctly—I am going to accept a place in the Order.”
His expression all Told you so, he straightened and took a step back as he returned the dagger to wherever it came. With a flick of his hand, he urged me to stand.
I lazily did so. All business, he tugged off my slip and then went about examining every injury I’d suffered in the caverns.
My chest tightening, I bit my lip. And I allowed myself to do something stupid. I let myself wish we were more than sex. Let myself wish he was someone I could wholeheartedly trust. Then maybe I could share the things that I’d so far kept quiet. I could even have told him what happened with the minotaur.
That presence in the caverns … it had to have been one of the gods. There was no other explanation. Who else would intervene? It seemed a little surreal, though, since they rarely interfered in the business of matters in this realm now—not even when it came to Sayers. Not for a long time, anyway.
My mother had always been so confident that it would be different with me, as had the other acolytes. I hadn’t been so sure, but now? Now I had to wonder if they’d been right; if the gods felt they had some use for a mortal. I just really couldn’t see what that could be.
Talon might have some ideas. He’d met the gods. There were things he knew about them that I didn’t. But, honestly, I probably wouldn’t have confided in him even if I had thought he’d keep my confidence. It wouldn’t be fair of me to ask that he keep secrets from the Sovereigns. It would place him in a difficult position.