Chapter 67
Chapter
Sixty-Seven
EVIE
C aught somewhere between disbelief and relief, I molded myself to his strong body, tucking my face in the crook of Zandyr’s neck.
He wasn’t cold anymore.
He was breathing, moving, living–and rescuing me again.
His sword dropped to the ground with a clang and his arms engulfed me in a warm embrace. He held on tight and burrowed his nose in my hair, inhaling like I was the very air he needed to survive.
“My little menace, protecting me.”
“You’re the one who saved me.” Twice, just in the last few days.
“I’ve been itching to deal with the boy who thought he could entice you away from me for a long time. Too bad he went down so fast, I would have loved to talk to him.” He sighed dramatically. He really was back.
I pulled myself up, needing to be impossibly close to him. Happy tears were threatening to choke me.
“Menace,” he said, voice raspy and deep. I’d never been happier to hear a single word in my life. “As much as I am absolutely loving you climbing me, give me a second. I’ve just come back from the dead.”
“Oh.” I leaned back, trying to disentangle myself from him. I didn’t want my excitement to keel him over. “Sorry.”
“No.” His hands snaked to my thighs, pulling me tighter. I wasn’t going anywhere. “I like you right here, against me.”
Those words had no business heating me up like they did, but I felt the rush coursing through my body all the same.
We stared at each other for the longest time, simply breathing each other in.
Zandyr smiled, and it lit up the room, as countless words stuck in my throat, along with the tears. I’d just gotten him back from the dead; I was afraid of shattering this moment.
But when he leaned his forehead against mine, our little gesture from lives ago, my heart couldn’t take it anymore. My eyes stung. I closed them stubbornly, to not let the tears fall.
When Zandyr’s thumb caressed my cheeks and I felt them wet, I thought I’d failed.
Then I remembered Nylen and his blood on my skin.
“I need a bath,” I muttered, not moving an inch as Zandyr held me.
“That is a grand idea,” he said in that same deep voice that rumbled through me. Alive, alive, he was alive–and moving, not letting me go from his arms. I just held on tighter, relishing in the beat of his heart. “I think we both need one. Wash the death off us.”
I let his voice and breaths lull me into a feeling of safety I thought I’d never experience again as he carried me into the washing room. I only opened my eyes when a sweet lavender scent invaded my senses.
The room was bigger than it had a right to be, walls of dark granite surrounding us. The center of it was dominated by a sunken basin which could have fit five people comfortably.
With a sigh, Zandyr lowered me to the floor. “You first. I can smell that acrid blood of his.”
So did I. I wanted to wash the remnants of Nylen away, scrub his blood from my body and his memory from my mind.
“What about you?” I asked, fingers already unbuttoning my armor. Wearing it for the past few days had chaffed in areas which needed to only be handled with care.
Zandyr stilled, watching me closely. “You want me to join you?”
I nodded, still not trusting my words.
“Very well.” He turned, giving me the privacy to undress.
I huffed a laugh. I’d been inside his mind; few things were more intimate than that.
I peeled the armor off me quickly, reveling in the feel of damp air against my dry skin. Before I could overthink the idea of Zandyr and I sharing a bath, completely naked, and trying my hardest not to peek at him undressing, I hurried into the bath. I hissed as I sunk down in the hot, fragrant water, small rainbow bubbles dancing on its surface.
As I splashed water on my face to erase the last trace of Nylen, I caught sight of Zandyr’s back and the mighty dragon tattoo spreading over it. So many of its scales had darkened with the lives he’d saved in the war–and the ones he’d taken to do it.
I lowered my gaze to the translucent water before he turned, even as curiosity nipped at my senses. I knew Zandyr was as comfortable being naked as he was wearing his ceremonial robes and armor, but still.
My heart beat faster with each barefoot step he took and turned to a gallop when he submerged himself in the water behind me.
The need to reach out through our bond, now tight and radiant, nipped at me, but I hesitated. I’d gotten so close, so painfully close to losing him.
I didn’t want to make any more mistakes.
So many words hung in the air between us. So many questions I was dying to ask.
I couldn’t shake the image of my twisted replica screaming those atrocities at him.
He stretched his legs on either side of my curled body. He was close enough that his breaths ghosted on the back of my neck, but we didn’t touch.
Zandyr had come back to life.
To me.
Did he know I’d been traipsing in his mind? Would he be angry? How could I tell him how much my feelings–
That panicking trail of thought crashed to a stop as his fingers skittered up my spine.
“So tense,” he muttered. “Your muscles are spasming.”
“A miracle they still have the energy to do that.” I leaned into his touch. At my silent invitation, his hands circled my shoulders, thumbs digging right into those sore spots.
“These past few days have been hard for you, haven’t they?” he muttered as he worked my muscles.
“That’s good,” I said instead of replying. “If this whole saving-the-Clan, winning-wars life loses its appeal, you can definitely find employment massaging people.”
He huffed a laugh, playing along. “Are you hiring? Because you’re the only one I want to touch.”
“Depends on the price.”
“First time’s free. I need to get you hooked for more.”
Joke was on him, I was already hooked. “And after that?”
He hummed, the vibration stirring the water against my back. The seconds ticked by as I waited for his answer, a familiar warmth of anticipation spreading through me.
“Does Goose still bake those fine cookies of his?” he asked at last.
I laughed, pinching his leg under the water, as his fingers did wonderful, delightful things to my back and shoulders.
“Mean woman,” Zandyr joked. “Attacking me while I’m trying to make her feel better.”
Our laughter blended together, ricocheting off the walls. Gods, it felt good to hear it. I was so tired of the crying and the yelling and the fighting of these past few months.
This felt so easy.
Normal.
The most natural thing in the world.
His hot touch on my skin, voice drumming through me, that woodsy, leathery scent that was all him.
“Or maybe.” His voice went even lower, raspy and decadent, as if inviting me to sin alongside him. “You were thinking of a different price to pay.”
I gulped. Damn him, I was.
His right palm snaked up my spine, tangling in the hair at the base of my neck. He cupped my head, kneading my scalp and releasing all that pent-up tension.
“Question is…” He leaned so that his chest almost pressed against my back. His lips were so close to my ear that if I turned, I could capture them in a kiss. “How greedy can I be in my requests?”
I gulped again. “You’re never greedy.”
“Alas, I am when it comes to you.” He tugged gently on my hair. “Lean back.”
I did as instructed, all of my previous hesitation gone. He guided me into the water, until my hair was submerged and only my face peaked above the surface, watching him. I knew I was perfectly safe, especially with him here, but the idea of being half submerged in water still sent a shot of fright into my chest.
“Are you alright?” Zandyr asked calmly from above.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He lathered a jasmine-scented hair wash and threaded his fingers through my hair once more, until I finally, miraculously relaxed.
Damn this man who could kill someone with a swipe of his sword one moment, and then turn into an attentive gentleman in the next.
My eyes fluttered closed at the sensation, sagging further into the water. I was distantly aware of the fact that we were both naked and my head was precariously close to him , but I anchored myself in the soothing sensations, arms resting on his legs.
One by one, my muscles loosened; I hadn’t even realized I’d been so wound up.
Zandyr had sensed it, though, and had done his best to chase the ghosts of my near assassination away without me realizing it. His hands gently rubbed my scalp, erasing the harsh pull of Nylen’s grip.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much.” My eyes fluttered open; he was looking down at me with such satisfaction in his eyes. “You’re really good at this.”
“You flatter me.”
“Someone needs to.”
A shadow flashed in his eyes, as if he couldn’t quite make sense of what I’d just said.
“What happened while I was gone?” he asked.
“We all thought you were dead,” I said, pushing against the lump in my throat. He’s alive, he’s here. “The Viper came to help.”
“Did she behave?”
“No.”
“Did you behave?”
A corner of my mouth ticked up. “No.”
Zandyr sighed. “Don’t know why I even bothered asking.”
“Because you like the sound of my voice.”
“I do,” he said, gaze jumping to mine and not letting go. “I’ve missed this.”
This closeness. This easiness.
The jokes, the looks, the just being together.
I’d missed it, too.
Zandyr’s fingers gently glided down my neck. The skin was still tender there, and I knew I’d face the marks on my skin in the morning.
Zandyr’s face darkened. “What was Nylen doing in our room?”
Our room. “Trying to persuade me to run with him again.”
“Really?” Zandyr growled. “Because I could try to kill him again.”
“No.” I snorted a laugh. Zandyr would probably find a way to do just that. “He was trying to kill you. Or me. Whichever one fell first.”
“Thank you for protecting me.”
“You would have done the same for me.”
I squirmed under his stare, nipping at my lips. So many questions threatened to burst out of me. But this moment was too sweet, too pure to wreck it.
“Menace.” Zandyr’s face hovered above mine. “We’re naked in a bath together and you’re still avoiding me. Why?”
I gulped. Could I? Should I?
“I’ve been in your mind,” I said. “I saw you in chains…while I was torturing you.”