So much pain.
Blood on my hands. My face. My back.
And yet I know I’m safe, surrounded by Senan’s warmth and scent. When I open my eyes, darkness remains from Senan’s wing draped over me, cocooning us from the world like a shield of black feathers.
My prince’s even breaths sing to me in the silence, our hands locked tight. Even in sleep, we cling to one another. If only daylight would be replaced by eternal night, so the two of us could remain together.
But a new day has dawned, and it’s only a matter of time before someone comes in and finds me in his bed. I need to get up and return to the caverns, but the thought of going back down those stairs fills me with such dread, it feels like an entire tower has been built upon my chest, crushing me.
So instead of rising, I lay here, watching the dawn peek through those inky feathers, playing like mischievous sprites on my love’s golden-brown skin. His impossibly long lashes rest above the sharp rise of his cheekbones. Faint lines bracket thecorners of his eyes. From laughter, I hope. Our time apart has been hard on us both, but the thought of the world being deprived of his laughter makes me impossibly sad.
I settle deeper into the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. It’s like being enveloped in a cloud.
Did he spend the whole night like this? Sleeping with one’s wings out is dreadfully uncomfortable. It’s a wonder he is resting at all.
Eventually, I try to slip my fingers from his. Senan’s hold tightens, and one silver eye pops open, followed by a second.
His deep voice is a silken caress. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
His wings vanish, and the cooler air outside our sanctuary rushes straight in. He props himself on his elbow while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I wasn’t asleep.”
“Then whose snores did I hear?”
“Probably your own.”
“Excuse me. I do not snore.”
He starts making loud, obnoxious noises like a bloody pig, but when I go to shove his arm, I’m too stiff to move.
“You’re still hurting,” he says with a wince, as if he can feel each and every ache and pain in my body. “I’ll bring you straight to the royal physician.”
“You will do no such thing. I must go to work.”
“You’re not going back down there. I never should’ve let you return to the caverns in the first place.”
“You didn’t ‘let’ me do anything. I chose to return to work.” I chose to leave Braith’s room in the middle of the night. I chose to engage in conversation with that blackguard instead of screaming for help the moment he cornered me.
“Allette, please.”
He can say “please” all he wants; on this, I cannot sway. “I need a way to support myself, Senan.” I cannot go back to living in inns and working for a pittance down at the factory.
“I will give you whatever you need. Just say the word, and it will be yours.”
“For how long? You are to be married in thirteen days. What then? I highly doubt your wife will be quite as accommodating.”
His eyes harden as he brushes my hair back from my face. “Let’s not worry about that today. For now, your job is to rest and heal,” he says in that voice that allows for no argument.
Too bad I’m in the mood to argue. I’m about to give him a piece of my mind when someone pounds on the door.
“Senan!” a young voice calls. “We have training today, remember?”
“I’ll meet you there, Kyff!” Senan shouts back. “Bollocks.” He kicks the duvet aside and climbs out of the bed. “Of all the fucking days…” His trousers have slipped low, revealing the deep cut of his hips leading down to a very obvious bulge. “My eyes are up here, minx.” Senan taps the corner of his smiling eyes before adjusting himself.
It’s not my fault he is so irresistible when he is all bed-rumpled and grumpy. How important is training? If he needs a workout, I’d be more than happy to give him one this morning.
“Braith should arrive shortly with breakfast,” he says. “Eat, have a long, hot soak in my tub, and relax.”