Chapter 35
Chapter
Thirty-Five
S leeping next to Nemeth means a lot of twitching and him taking up most of the bed for his wings, so when he adjusts the blankets and the bed creaks, I only roll over and tuck my head against the pillow. “Is it morning?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“Just wondering.” I don’t intend on getting out of bed. It’s far too pleasant and I don’t have anywhere to be. I pat the mattress without opening my eyes. “Come back and snuggle with me.”
Nemeth chuckles and I feel his weight shift on the bed. His hand grazes over my hip, and then he lifts the hem of my sleep-gown, hiking it up my thighs. “Roll onto your back for me, greedy princess.”
Ooooh. A change of heart? I’m awake now. I roll onto my back as he asks and tug my gown up the rest of the way, until it’s at my waist. “You’re not going to find a single objection to a morning wake-up such as this.”
His big hands skim over my legs, warming them. “Gods, you’re pretty.”
I wriggle with pleasure at that. My legs are plump and pale, but I like to think they look nice. I’ve never had any complaints. “I have hair between my legs,” I point out, since he did not. “It’s a normal human thing.”
“I see it,” he murmurs. “Such a sweet little tuft of floss.”
His husky words make me clench, and I’m getting wet with anticipation. He skims his hands over my thighs again, the bed creaking…and then stops.
Nothing happens.
I open my eyes but of course it’s pitch black in the chamber, without a hint of light bleeding in. “Um, Nemeth?”
“Sh,” he whispers. “Do you hear that?”
I don’t want to hear anything but the enthusiastic sounds of his mouth on my pussy. I squirm against his grip, but he’s still not doing more than holding my hips in place. “Hear what?”
“Sh,” he says again.
Then, I hear it.
A very faint chink . A pause, and then another chink .
Like someone’s tapping away at the tower.
I sit bolt upright at that. “Balon? Do you think he’s trying to come in?”
“I don’t know,” Nemeth says, and there’s a growl in his voice. “But if he is, I aim to stop him.”
Never have I heard Nemeth so…possessive. So fiercely angry. I shiver with unexpected delight. “Maybe it’s just birds,” I say, even as I swing my legs over the side of the bed. I hear Nemeth moving about in the chamber, and two taps later, one of the lights flares to life. I catch a mouthwatering glimpse of his straining morning erection in his loin-wrap, but then he turns away and picks up his kilt.
“Whoever it is, they have bloody awful timing,” I mutter. To think that Nemeth woke up aroused and ready to treat me with the same wake-up that I gave him…and then to cruelly thwart me.
He chuckles. “It is the gods reminding me that I am to savor and not to be weak and greedy.”
“I don’t mind weak and greedy.” But I get dressed, too, because I’m curious what that sound is. I throw on an ornately embroidered sitting gown and knot the seven ties across the front that act as a bodice and make it decent, and then slide my feet into my slippers. “Get the light?”
He finishes belting his kilt and picks up one of the lights while I braid my hair as I walk. I can’t help but notice that Nemeth’s hand remains firmly on the small of my back, as if he’s protecting me from Balon…if it even is Balon. I think about my knife’s ominous silence and worry anew.
At some point, I’m going to have to tell Nemeth about the knife. Perhaps after I dig it out again. Right now, I’m not certain I want to hear its answers. For now, I’m happier not knowing.
We head downstairs, to the large empty chamber. It’s been a while since I’ve done more than simply pass through this room, especially now that all of my wood is gone. It’s so strange to me that this tower has four floors but both Nemeth and I barely use the top floor and this one. Perhaps prior Offerings came with a larger amount of things? A full suite of furniture? Musical instruments? Or is it simply to provide enough room so that both the Fellian Offering and the Liosian one don’t have to run into one another?
On the main floor, now we can hear the steady clinking of rock and the sound of brick being chipped away. I draw closer to Nemeth, because I don’t know what to make of this. “Do you think it’s our supplies?”
“The solstice is not for another week,” Nemeth tells me, and I can hear the concern in his voice, too. “It’s not against the goddess’s rules for the door to be opened so long as we do not step outside.”
Right. The rules are clear that we have to stay in, and no one else can join us. “If it’s Balon, what do we do?”
“What we have to do,” Nemeth says grimly.
I glance up at him, fretting. Balon is harmless. He’s a flighty, pretty idiot. I don’t think he has a mean bone in his body, but what if I’m wrong? What if he’s decided he’s going to liberate me from the tower like I begged when I first arrived?
I’m…not sure I want to be liberated anymore. I still hate the tower. I hate it and I hate the suffocating darkness and having to wash my own clothes and all that comes with it…but I like Nemeth, and I like being alone with him. The moment we leave the tower, all of our closeness, our savoring , will be gone.
We’re supposed to be enemies. I’m supposed to have killed him and stolen his food to ensure my own survival.
I’m definitely not supposed to be kissing him.
There’s a loud clink and the sound of crumbling brick. Then, two more fast-paced thunks of pickaxes hitting the brick. “More than one person,” I whisper as the pickaxes move faster. “There’s at least two.”
Nemeth hands me the light. “Stay here.”
I clutch it tight, watching as he strides forward, his wings flicking with agitation. He moves towards the heavy, sealed wooden door and then puts his ear to it, listening. After a moment, he pulls away and looks over at me. “They are breaking down the wall.”
Well, that’s obvious. “Did they say why?”
He shakes his head and then stiffens, his wings flaring out behind him. A look of recognition crosses his face and then he glances over at me. “Liosian. They have a sled. Someone just told them to bring it forward.”
Oh. “That must be my supplies. They’ve come early? Unless we’ve messed the dates up?” We’re still marking days on the wall, but given that we have no sunrise or sunset in here, it’d be easy for things to slide off track.
Nemeth shrugs. He touches my shoulder and then sinks into the shadows, disappearing. “I can’t let them see me with you.”
“Right. Of course.” It makes sense. I don’t know why it hurts my feelings, though. He’s just being cautious. The last thing we need is for them to change their minds and not give us food. Nemeth has been judicious with his supplies and still has enough for maybe another month, but I’ve been down to scraps for weeks now. I need what they’re bringing in, and my excitement grows with every crumble of brick and the loud CHINK of the pickaxes tearing away the wall in front of the door.
The doors rattle, and then there’s a loud scrape as the bar is pulled away. I clutch the light to my chest—and then realize what I’m doing. Right. I can’t show Fellian magic to them. I quickly tap tap it off and set it aside, blinking at the darkness that surrounds me.
The doors open and the chamber floods with sunlight. I blink, stepping forward, as I see sunlight for the first time in a year. Three men stand outside in Liosian livery, wearing the leather-and-chain armor common with the court guards. They look tired and haggard, but I’m delighted to see them. “Greetings!” I call out, crossing over to them. “Are you here early? You?—”
One holds a sword up. He points it at me. “I’m sorry, princess, but you have to stay inside.”
“Oh, I wasn’t leaving,” I say, shocked. I stare at the weapon pointed at me and take a step backward. “I just wanted to breathe in the fresh air.”
“I need you to stay back,” he repeats again, not lowering the sword. “We won’t be here long.”
“Are those my supplies?” I can see a packed sled behind the men on the beach.
“They are.”
“You’re here early.”
He keeps a watchful eye on me, as if he doesn’t trust me not to dart past him and race for the shore. “We came while the weather is good.”
“Has there been bad weather, then?” It looks gorgeous outside to me. The sunlight pours in, warm and bright. I can hear the distant waves hitting the shore and the call of an albatross, and I ache with the need to step into the sun. I want to breathe in the sea air, if only for a few hours. I close my eyes and breathe deep. Gods, I want to go outside. He’s right to hold his sword on me, because that sea breeze is divine and I want to drink it in.
But I tell myself that I can’t.
They can’t come in, and I can’t go out. Even if they didn’t try to stop me, I suspect Nemeth would. There’s more riding on my staying here than just my personal wants. I can’t leave. I can’t step a foot outside.
But oh, that breeze tempts me.
One of the men steps forward and tosses a long rope in towards me. It falls at my feet, a large knot at the end. The other side is tied to the front of the sled. “Pull on your side and we’ll push.”
“Did you bring firewood?” I ask as I delicately pick up the rope. “Because I need wood. Last year there wasn’t nearly enough.”
To my surprise, the man’s face contorts and hardens with what looks like rage. “You’ll take what we give you and be grateful. Make demands and we’ll turn around and leave with your food.”
My jaw drops. I stare at him in shock. He’s…he’s threatening me? “But you have to. That’s the agreement.”
Somewhere in the darkness, Nemeth growls low in his throat.