Chapter 27 #2
“You’ve never been as obnoxious as Elvin. Did you know he’s a bounty hunter with the Syndicate like me?”
“I knew. Sometimes it almost felt like a competition—Roderick was raising me and my mother was raising Elvin, and they were trying to see who did things better.”
“You win,” I told him. “There’s no competition. You’re the winner. None of the other bounty hunters like Elvin, except the man who assigns new missions.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “That’s good to know. I really don’t want to wish him any ill, but being in the middle of my parents’ feud gets wearisome.” His shoulders relaxed. “I like being with you, where I can just be myself and I don’t have to put on an act.”
Another rumble of thunder vibrated the windows.
“I used to resent my mother a lot when I was younger,” Lochlan went on.
“She was always strict on rules and Roderick felt like more fun. When it came time to choose who I wanted to live with, it felt like an easy choice, but I think things would have turned out very differently if I’d gone with my mother.
” He stifled a yawn. It had to be getting close to dawn, though I wouldn’t be able to tell when sunrise would be with the storm like this.
“Can we look at the papers now?” I asked. “We’re dry, so we won’t damage them.”
Lochlan rubbed his eyes again and stifled another yawn. “I don’t know if I can get it all out and unlocked right now.”
“Please.”
Lochlan wearily dragged himself over to the wall and began knocking on the panels, squinting in the darkness, and I went with him, watching for the magical time when the papers with information about my sister would emerge.
I’d never seen Lochlan look so tired. His eyes were bloodshot and his eyelids kept drooping, and his entire body seemed limp. He was doing so much for me, and the papers wouldn’t evaporate overnight. Even if we did get the trunk out, the lighting was so poor that we wouldn’t be able to read them.
“Let’s wait till morning,” I finally decided. “I can take the first watch. You get some rest.”
“There’s no need for a watch,” Lochlan protested. “I already locked the door again so we’re safe, and you need sleep too.”
“There’s only one bed.”
“It’s a big bed,” Lochlan said, a hint of amusement in his voice. I shot him a look through slitted eyes and he held up his hands. “I’m not suggesting anything other than that we’re both very tired and we won’t be able to do much searching until we have some daylight.”
I heaved a sigh. Lochlan was right. The lantern had been extinguished, so our only light was from the fire and the occasional flash of lightning.
“I can sleep on the floor,” I suggested. “I did before.”
Lochlan shook his head. “If anyone is sleeping on the floor, it’ll be me. I’d never make you sleep on the ground.”
I grinned. “You did when I first arrived. I remember several nights on the floorboards without so much as a pillow.”
Lochlan screwed up his face. “That’s different. I have no problem with a young boy taking the floor to build character, but forcing a woman to sleep in those same circumstances would be inconceivable. You remember that once I found out, I always gave you my bed.”
“That’s true, you did,” I conceded. “You’ve been very chivalrous.
” I threw a longing look at the bed. “Fine. We can share. I won’t make you sleep on the floor either.
” I stood, and Lochlan scrambled to his feet as well and drew a deep breath.
“Before we go to sleep, may I kiss you goodnight? Then I won’t touch you for the rest of the night. ”
A wave of giddiness swept through me and I nodded, slightly shy again. This time, I felt more prepared as Lochlan leaned down, and I managed to coax my hands up to run my fingers through his hair as he kissed me.
The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Lochlan pulled away. “See, I’m keeping my promise,” he said, then went over to the bed. He swatted the mattress, and so many puffs of dust billowed off of it that we both began sneezing.
“I think we should flip it,” I suggested between sneezes. “Are there any blankets?”
There weren’t, nor were there any pillows, but the lumpy mattress would still be better than the floor. The ropes holding up the mattress creaked in protest as Lochlan and I lay down on the bed, and true to his word, Lochlan didn’t touch me.
I stared at the cozy fire still burning away in the hearth and let the sound of the rolling thunder lull me into a half-sleep.
“Jillian?” Lochlan asked through the darkness.
“Hmm?” I murmured sleepily.
“Would you ever leave the Syndicate?”
“Once I find my family, I plan to,” I began, but then paused. Since the Syndicate had been raided and they had logs of all my account’s earnings, would those be seized by the Nightsworn as well? Or would I be able to recover it? “What about you? Will you leave Roderick?”
There was a pause. “Yes, I’m planning on it. I just haven’t told him yet.”
This side of the mattress wasn’t nearly so dusty, and I adjusted my position. “You could come with me,” I suggested. “If you need a place to stay.”
“Do you have one?”
I let out a breath of laughter. “No, but we could find a place. I like having you around.”
“Same,” Lochlan said. “I could even take you to meet my mother. She isn’t always friendly at first, but once you get to know her, she’s very loyal.”
“I won’t stay anywhere that Elvin is. I know Elvin stays at the Serenade Inn most of the time; do your mother and her husband stay with him?”
Lochlan turned over and stared up at the cobwebbed ceiling. “No. They work at the castle.”
I peered at him through the darkness, only about a foot away, and shivered slightly.
Even with the dry clothes, the air still felt cool, and the feeble fire was already dying.
I could almost feel the waves of body heat coming from Lochlan.
If we closed the space between us, we’d both be warmer, but I didn’t think I’d be able to ask for such a thing.
For all my normal boldness, Lochlan made me shy.
“Are you cold?” I asked him.
“A little, but not too bad,” he replied. “You?”
“No.”
He studied my face. “That one was a lie.”
I shivered again. “Okay, I’m a little cold.”
“We could suspend the no-touching rule if you need to be held,” he suggested.
Did I want him to hold me? I had barely handled being kissed, and that had only lasted a few seconds. I didn’t like people touching me…but I was willing to make an exception for Lochlan.
“Just until we’re warm,” I said calmly, despite the fact that my nerves were screaming inside me.
He shifted closer and pulled me into his arms. “That sounds like an excellent plan.”
I melted against him and the delicious heat from his body. That was one thing I’d always been envious of—men put off so much more natural heat than women, and I greedily soaked it in.
Lochlan likes me, I repeated to myself, over and over. The sentence felt more magical each time I thought it.
“Sorry, this is probably the least romantic bed in the world,” Lochlan mumbled.
“I disagree,” I said, snuggling in closer to rest on Lochlan’s shoulder. He wrapped his other arm around me and I closed my eyes. “I think this bed is just right.”