Chapter 14
The grating sound of clanging metal had me bolting awake with a thundering heart and a sharp gasp. Mounir. I blinked away my fragment of a nightmare and reoriented myself back to reality. No, not Mounir. I’m in a carriage in the middle of the desert.
I threw open the carriage door, only to find myself blinking some more.
This morning, my view consisted of half a dozen shirtless male warriors fighting each other. Weapons clashed and clinked.
My eyes effortlessly found Aegir, his golden-brown skin contrasting in comparison to his snow-pale males.
He knelt into a crouch, feet planted, and slid backwards across the gritty terrain—both axes hammering into the ground to slow his skid into a halt—then leapt forward onto Joel and Darius.
Both males were armed with a shield and sword, yet they struggled to bring Aegir down.
The Ice Prince grinned at them, easily countering their moves.
The frustration building on Joel’s face told me that Aegir had managed to get under his skin.
Darius, on the other hand, seemed like he was enjoying the playful-but-deadly game.
Torvin and Theodor were throwing spears, very, very far away—the farthest one would win.
Georgious and his brother, Alarik—the only one still wearing his shirt—were lost in a dagger duel.
I thought Alarik had been beaten the moment his weapon was sent flying from his grasp, but then white mist erupted from his arm like trailing wisps of white shadows and returned his dagger to his palm.
He also used his shadow friends to distract his brother, causing the game to end with Alarik holding a dagger to Georgious’s throat.
Whoa. The boys surely loved their weapons.
Although, they hadn’t used their weapons on those human thieves two nights ago.
It was as if they were training and preparing for something else, something bigger.
Their strength and agility seemed out of this world.
Aegir’s, though—he was on a whole other level.
Utterly formidable—terrifyingly beautiful.
I forced my gaze not to linger for too long, yet I swore that my brain had already managed to memorise every inch of his sculpted body. Mostly, the prominent V-lines that extended from his sides and trailed down.
Stop staring, and stop drooling!
I pushed myself off the carriage and sauntered towards the tents—or rather towards the colourful pile of fruit.
I took my time choosing the perfect green apple.
The moment I twisted myself around, I slammed face-first into Georgious’s chest. He toppled over me and I ended up beneath him, his dagger plunged in the grainy floor mere inches from my head.
The apple flew out of my hand in synchrony with my yelp, and I remained stunned, staring wide-eyed at his sky blue irises.
“Shit. Sorry, I—” Georgious was yanked off me from the back of his neck, and I seated myself. Aegir let go of his neck with a jerk, forcing him to turn his way.
“That was too fucking close! I told you to be careful!” Aegir growled, white mist trailing from his mouth and reaching Georgious’s face.
“I was…I mean—well, it’s not my fault she doesn’t have a—”
I don’t have a what? A bell tied around my neck?
“Do not disobey my orders!” Aegir commanded.
I had the feeling Georgious was about to do just that, but Alarik put himself in between Aegir and his brother and lifted a wall of white mist. I swore the sudden burst of it meant, “Stop!” Alarik pointed somewhere behind Georgious.
White shadows extended from his palm, forming a misty trail that quickly dissipated.
That meant, “Let’s take a walk.” And so they did.
“Are you all right?” Aegir asked, offering me his palm. I pushed myself up.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I replied, brushing off the grains of sand that got stuck to my dress.
“You sure?” Aegir untied his shirt from his waist and put it on, only to take it back off with a scowl directed at its torn sleeve.
Erm. That was…stop staring!
“I believe this is yours, lady,” Darius said, handing me an apple.
“What? Yes—yes. Thank you.” I dusted sand off the apple before taking a small bite and looking elsewhere.
I sat in the corner of the rocking carriage as we continued our journey east. I crumpled Aegir’s shirt into a ball and lifted it towards my face. I took the deepest inhale, like the creep I felt I was. Salty.
Creep.
As soon as I passed the needle through the fabric, I made the connection as to why all of his clothes were torn when he first arrived at the Sand Castle.
This was what he didn’t want to explain to me.
We’re huge, muscled males that turn into children when given sharp weapons, and we tear at each other’s clothes.
We reached Dunehaven early Sunday morning.
The famous city was basically a long strip of buildings, houses, and shops, with a vast market at its very end. We moved along the strip, and from the little window, I could see many people walking up and down the lively street.
Then we slowed to a halt. “There—there’s the Sunrise Inn,” Torvin said.
“Let’s go settle in. We can go to the market on foot,” Aegir told his men as he opened the carriage door.
The inn was surprisingly spacious. The heavy stench of ale and smoke instantly hit my senses, and it wasn’t just tobacco that the men at the bar were smoking. But otherwise, it appeared rather well-kept and clean.
“Water and whatever you have for breakfast for all of us,” Torvin’s raspy voice called.
“Oh, and ale!” Joel added.
The breakfast was massive. Eggs, bread, cheese, meat, fruit, vegetables. I didn’t know where to start, so I decided to settle on one of each.
Aegir took the remaining empty seat beside mine.
I went to reach for the jar of water but ended up hitting Aegir’s palm as he, too, reached for it.
I retracted my arm. Aegir didn’t. Then he poured me a tall glass.
I drank carefully, one eye on the glass, the other, secretly, on Aegir.
I was cautious to note any temperature fluctuations, ready to put the glass down if it turned ice-cold.
I wasn’t yet ready to accept it. And it wasn’t about anger or holding a grudge.
I just…didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
Later, we stood at the bar waiting for the grey-haired, short man to return behind the counter.
“How can I help you, sirs? Oh, and lady,” he added, when he noticed me.
“Rooms for the eight of us,” Aegir replied.
“The single rooms are all taken—it’s a Sunday, sir—but I can offer you four double rooms. All of them have large beds and a private bathing chamber with two separate baths. I can open the water valve to your rooms for the right price. I can assure you that you’ll all be very comfortable, sir.”
“All right, we’ll take them.”
“You’re staying with me,” Joel said, hitting Darius in his chest. “Torvin snores like a pig.”
“Guess I’ll be sharing a bed with you, my fellow snorer,” Theodor said, receiving an unbothered shrug from Torvin.
Georgious and Alarik were already halfway up the stairs.
I swallowed hard.
The rooms we were shown to were on the first floor.
Aegir’s and mine was at the far end, closest to the shared restroom.
The barman was not lying; the rooms were indeed spacious.
A large poster bed, big enough for four—well, three, if one of them was Aegir—stood on the left side of the room beneath a rectangular window.
A double-door wardrobe occupied the opposite wall, and to my right was a curtain that separated the bedroom from the bathing chamber. I lifted the side of the curtain, revealing two copper baths and an elaborate dresser.
“I would like to use the bath,” I told him.
He nodded.
I placed my bag on the dresser and took out my brown dress, then grabbed one of the many oil bottles—lavender.
I sat in the bath, adjusting myself comfortably in the fragrant water.
Through the thin curtain, I could see his shadow.
I could tell that he was lying on the bed, and I couldn’t help but wonder how much of me he could see with that Fae sight of his.
The thought somehow made me feel even more naked.
I submerged myself, washing away sand and three days’ worth of muck from my skin and hair. Then I scrubbed myself from scalp to toes. Twice.
Before rising to my feet, I reached for the towel and immediately covered myself. I put on my dress and only then dared to remove the towel. I wasn’t going to waste any water, so I placed the filthy grey dress into the bath and let it soak there while I braided my hair.
While Aegir used the bathing chamber, I took the liberty of sitting comfortably on the bed, my back resting against the headboard.
I bit on my thumbnail, attentively watching his silhouetted movements from behind the curtain.
Even as a shadow, one could tell that he was more than well-built—blood of a Fae and Strongman.
I made a small attempt to look away but I couldn’t.
I just stared at his naked shadow. My brow creased in slight confusion as I watched him lower himself into the bath—not the one he had just filled, but the one I had bathed in.
Then he rose to his feet and made his way to the other bath, submerging himself in that one, too.
I was almost startled when I noticed that he was returning to the bedroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. I turned my head elsewhere.
I had to remove myself from the room, so I went back behind the curtain and washed his clothes, including the newly mended shirt.
I didn’t move back into the room until I was certain that he was fully clothed.
When I hung his clothes next to mine, he said, “You didn’t have to do that.”
It took me additional seconds to process his words. I was too distracted looking at his movements, his fingers running through his damp dark curls, the front parts of it falling just above his pointed ears.
“As your servant, I did. Why else would I be here?” I replied, my voice low.
He stared at me for a while, then said, “Come on, let’s go meet the others.”
The males were already at the bar waiting for us, a few empty pint glasses close to their propped elbows.