Chapter 28
Inej tried to turn over, but something weighed her down. She opened her eyes and found Manu on his stomach, using her chest as a pillow. He had one leg thrown over hers, and both arms wrapped around her middle.
She dropped her head back onto the mound of pillows behind her with a vague recollection of Manu throwing them onto the bed.
She’d lost count of the number of times they’d had sex.
There was the kitchen, twice in the tub, the hallway getting to the bedroom…
but once they were on the bed, she’d lost count.
How had they gotten into this position? She didn’t remember much after the last orgasm he’d wrung from her. This was why she didn’t linger with her partners. She wasn’t sure what to do now. She had to admit she was comfortable. In fact, she rather liked him against her.
She tentatively slid her fingers into his hair.
Her other hand softly glided up to his shoulder from where it had rested on his arm.
No one had to know she was touching him—or enjoying this quiet moment.
She shouldn’t want it—not with the kind of elf he was.
But her traitorous body couldn’t refuse him.
Lying in bed with Manu was what a lover would do. It’s what she should do as an undercover agent. Why then did she feel so guilty?
She thought back to dinner and how she had nearly blown her cover by asking about Shaldorn.
His entire demeanor had changed the moment she spoke the word.
He’d become guarded, cautious. The way his eyes had hardened had sent a foreboding chill down her spine.
She had recovered quickly, but she couldn’t afford to make that kind of mistake again.
Yet that wasn’t what bothered her. She couldn’t stop thinking about his story about Shaldorn. He’d sounded so believable. The way his voice had trembled with anger when he spoke about Shaldorn’s purpose had been genuine.
Who did she believe? Gita, whom she barely knew? Or Manu, who she also barely knew? How could she untangle the truth?
The one thing she knew for certain was that everyone lied. Uncovering who was being dishonest this time wouldn’t be simple or easy. Manu had sounded heartfelt while telling his story. But it was more than that. It was the way he’d described what went on at the stronghold that troubled her the most.
Had she been too hasty in trusting Gita? Possibly. She had been drowning in the guilt and shame of how she’d treated Krata, and Gita had given her the answers she needed and a way to get revenge. Even if Inej knew it had been a fool’s errand from the very beginning.
As if a human could stand against an elf. Especially one like Manu.
Where did that leave her, then? She couldn’t come clean to Manu, in case he was the one responsible for the abductions.
Did she remain and keep up the pretense?
This was the first time she’d had money, and she was doing something she loved.
Not to mention, if Manu was the one controlling the abductions, she was safe in his city.
On the other hand, she could leave. Manu had offered to take her back to the lowlands.
What then? It wasn’t as if she wanted to return to her cleaning job.
Nor could she go to Gita, in case she had lied.
There was Rannora, or one of the other smaller settlements in the rainwood, but she would have to live hand to mouth again.
She had gotten herself into a problematic situation with no clear path to truth or freedom.
Her gaze lowered to Manu. At the moment, she had nothing to gripe about, however.
If only she knew the facts. When she was with him, it was easy to believe him, to accept everything around her.
She could even forget things for a little while.
Inevitably, something would make her think of Krata or the poison, though, and she would remember all over again why she was in Navara—and why Manu was in her bed.
She nestled into the pillows and closed her eyes.
The next time she woke, she was alone. The place beside her was cold to the touch, which told her that Manu had been gone for some time.
A sound from the kitchen drew her attention.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood.
She spotted Manu’s tunic on the way to the door and slipped it over her head.
It hung to the tops of her thighs, and the sleeves were so long they fell past her hands, making her need to shove them up to her elbows.
She cautiously made her way to the kitchen and peeked around the corner to find him at the stove in nothing but his trousers. Inej silently admired him and the play of muscles as he moved.
He looked up then, a smile pulling at his lips. His dark eyes held a warmth that made her breath catch. “Morning,” he said.
Her lips moved of their own accord, effortlessly returning the grin. Warning bells went off in her head, telling her that she was letting her guard down. “Good morning.”
“You weren’t supposed to wake up.”
“Were you trying to slip out?” she teased. She turned her face away to hide her grimace. She didn’t tease. What was wrong with her?
He chuckled as he walked to her. “On the contrary. I intended to bring you breakfast before you went into the shop.”
“You were…?” Her brain seized, making words impossible. No one had ever done that for her.
He looked down at her and slid his hand around the back of her neck, his thumb moving softly back and forth along her jaw. “Aye. But seeing you in my tunic has my mind turning to other things.”
The monster she’d come to the mountains believing him to be wasn’t meshing with who she was getting to know. People had secrets and often showed the world what they thought others wanted to see. Is that what he was doing?
“I shouldn’t have kept you up so late,” Manu said.
“I played a significant part in that, too.”
His crooked smile made her heart skip a beat. “So you did.”
She curled her hands into fists when he turned away so the food wouldn’t burn. Inej couldn’t take her eyes off him as he finished cooking and plated their meal. Images of their night kept replaying in her head, making it even more difficult to extract the truth.
He moved behind her, his fingers trailing over her arse.
They exchanged a smile and, plates in hand, turned toward the dining room.
They didn’t get two steps before the side door opened, and Chanda walked in with a beautiful elf.
Both Chanda and her friend looked from Manu to Inej, and then down at the tunic she wore.
She fought the urge to move behind him so they would stop staring.
“Oh,” Chanda said, casting a distressed look at the other elf.
Manu didn’t seem fazed by their arrival. “Chanda. Tahmine.” Manu then put his hand on Inej’s back and gave her a slight push as he said, “Your food is getting cold.”
There was no mistaking the hurt look on Tahmine’s face. Inej turned the corner to the dining area and took her seat.
“I’m sorry about that,” Manu said.
“Is she yo—?”
“Nay,” he said before she could finish. “Never. It was casual.”
Inej glanced at the doorway, thinking of the elf.
“I made it very clear on my part that there was nothing serious between us. She agreed to it,” he added.
Tahmine had likely acquiesced, hoping he might change his mind. Inej didn’t tell Manu that. She could tell by his darkening expression that he had already figured it out.
“Tahmine wasn’t supposed to be here. Chanda shouldn’t have brought her.”
Inej reached across the table and put her hand on his. She waited until his gaze met hers. “You need to talk to Tahmine.”
“I know,” he said with a sigh. “This isn’t how I wanted your day to start.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
He tilted his head to the side, considering her with his dark eyes. “You aren’t angry?”
“At what? Someone walking into a house that isn’t mine? We aren’t a couple.”
“I suppose not,” he said carefully.
She was talking like Inej and not an agent. If she wanted the truth, that meant she had to get it any way she could. She wanted the kidnappings to stop, but she didn’t want to take an innocent man’s life. She swallowed and tried again. “I’m a human, and you’re an elf.”
“That matters because…?” He arched a thick brow.
“As your tribe’s leader, your people expect you to take an elf as your wife.”
He set down his fork. “What if I’ve found someone else I want?”
Inej panicked at his words. Her heart began to race as she fought for a response. “You don’t know me.”
“I have a pretty good idea of who you are after last night.”
Inej swallowed and sat back, letting her hand slide from his. “You don’t know me,” she repeated.
“I know your body. I know the place on the back of your neck that makes you shiver. I know that your nipples are incredibly sensitive. I know just how much pressure to use on your clit to make you cum.” He rose and walked around the table to kneel beside her.
He turned her chair so she faced him. “Tell me you don’t feel the same draw to me. ”
Her lips parted, but the words wouldn’t come.
“Inej, I wa—”
Some loud banging on the door drowned out his words. Manu’s brows snapped together as he jumped up and strode out of the room. She didn’t follow. She wasn’t sure her legs would hold her. Not after his declaration. She heard voices, and a moment later, Manu was in the doorway, pulling on his boots.
“I have to go,” he told her.
She got to her feet and held onto the table to stay upright. “What is it?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He was breathless as he rushed to her and pressed a kiss to her lips.
“Wait,” she called as he turned to leave. “You need your shirt.”
He flashed her a smile. “I’ll get another.”
Then he was gone. Leaving her alone in the house with Chanda and Tahmine.
Inej looked at the food, but she couldn’t eat it after their conversation and his quick departure.
She should take the plates to the kitchen, but she wasn’t in the mood for an exchange with the two elves.
Inej made her way to the bathing room and cleaned Manu’s smell from her body before dressing.
Back in her room, she folded his tunic and left it on a chair.
Then, she slipped out of the house, braiding her hair as she made her way to work.
She was early again, but she would rather wait there than at Jalall’s. As soon as Daas arrived and let her in, she went to the back and gave herself up to the baking, whipping up one kind of pastry after another.
Work kept her hands and mind busy. The only time she thought about Manu was when she was idle.
She knew she should probably consider how to respond to him when they next saw each other and picked up their conversation.
He didn’t seem the type to let things go without clearing the air.
It felt as if she had been dropped into a game she had only been given partial rules to, and she was expected to figure it out as she went.
The problem with that was that she was doing a bad job of it.
Inej reached for her bowl, only to find it gone. She turned in a circle, looking for it, only to see Shruti had washed it, and it was drying with the others. Which meant there was no more baking to be done. How had the day passed so quickly?
Inej glanced through the beaded curtain to the front, hoping to spot Manu, but there was no sign of him.
She remembered the sight of the blood on him the last time he had returned.
He’d said a group had tried to take him, but she realized now that they had attempted to kill him.
Just as the Mountain Elf with the dagger had.
Just as she was meant to do with the poison.
She placed her hands on her stomach and doubled over. Gita wanted him dead. The Masters wanted him dead. How many more attempts could be made on his life before someone succeeded in killing Manu?
Inej was numb, her mind overloaded with bits of information she was trying to decipher and form into some semblance of truth as she helped close up the shop.
Daas and Shruti kept asking if she was okay.
It wasn’t as if she could tell them the truth.
She thought about it for a moment. Someone had to know something that might help her figure out if Gita was right about Manu. But in the end, Inej didn’t chance it.
When she reached Jalall’s, she hesitated for only a moment before entering. She quickened her steps when she heard sounds coming from deeper in the home, thinking it was Manu. She swallowed her disappointment when she found Chanda putting away some clothes.
They looked at each other before Inej pivoted and went to her chamber.
She stood in the middle of the room, looking at the bed where she and Manu had shared endless hours of pleasure the night before.
She sank onto the corner of the mattress and listened to Chanda moving about the house.
Inej remained in the room until she heard the side door open and close, signaling that Chanda was gone.
She left her room and walked through the house, looking into every room for a person who wasn’t there.