CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
After Talon dismissed us with a wave of his hand, I shuffled into the stables, frowning as straw scraped at my bare feet. At least they were now healed. Most of my injuries were, courtesy of both the salve and my accelerated healing rate.
Once I’d retrieved my sack of possessions, I trudged back outside, intending to head for the bathhouses.
The sight of Talon waiting there made my mouth weakly curve.
With a flick of his chin, he indicated for me to accompany him.
He didn’t walk ahead of me, though. He matched his pace to mine, which I appreciated.
In the private barracks, he took me straight up to his room and into his garderobe. He flicked a hand from the bath to the showerhead and then arched a brow in question.
“A shath,” I decided. “I’m going to sit in the bath while I take a shower.” I didn’t have the energy to hold myself upright, but I didn’t want to sit in a vat of my own filth either.
Humor momentarily lit his eyes. He reached for my tunic, as if to help me undress, but then a knock came at his bedchamber door. His brows dipping in displeasure, he swanned out of the garderobe.
Eager to get out of my clothes, I quickly stripped. I was just stepping into the tub when I heard the chamber’s door close. It took me a few moments to realize that Talon had left. Well, he commanded the Black Tapestry. He probably had little time to himself.
I indulged in a long shath, scrubbing every inch of my body with soap. Memories of the caverns crept up on me, and questions I had no answer for tried to intrude. I cut off the train of thought each time, not wanting to ponder on it right now. I didn’t have the mental energy to unknot it all.
It took a while for me to get my hair clean and untangle the curls. My skin was all pruney by the time I turned off the shower.
In the bedroom, I dried myself off with one of Talon’s towels and then tiredly pulled on braies and a slip. Hearing a bell outside, I knew the evening meal would now be served. There was no way I could head down to the food hall. All I wanted was to sleep.
I flopped face-first onto Talon’s bed, hoping he wouldn’t mind me taking a nap in his room. I drifted off pretty much straight away, but my sleep was fitful. I woke repeatedly from nightmares that were jumbles of images and sensations from the labyrinth.
At one point, I opened my eyes to find Talon beside me flat on his back.
The room was dark, but I could make out his silhouette and hear his steady breathing.
I wasn’t quite bold enough to seek comfort from him by cuddling into him.
Instead, I edged closer on my side, until only mere inches separated us.
I eventually fell back to sleep, but another labyrinth-themed nightmare snapped me out of it. My heart racing, I rubbed at my chest and let out a shaky exhale.
Talon rolled onto his side, splayed a hand on my back, drew me to him, and then settled his chin over my head.
I shamelessly melted into him, not giving a single shit that it might make me seem weak to take what comfort he offered. Surrounded by his heat, scent, and strength, I was able to calm the rapid beating of my heart and I soon after dozed off.
It was morning when I next opened my eyes. Mr. Sleeping Beauty was nowhere to be seen, but I heard him pottering around the garderobe.
Fading remnants of my last dream yo-yoed around my head. I hadn’t been in the caverns that time. I’d been stood in the grassy spot where I’d yesterday tended to my labyrinth-induced wounds. All around me had been the corpses of the other candidates … and then I’d realized that I, too, was dead.
Weird to say the least.
The bell rang outside, wrenching a croaky groan out of me.
I rubbed at my eyes. I was exhausted—mind, body, and soul.
Part of it was due to the toll the caverns had taken on me, but another part of it came from the emotional crash of knowing that Xalbia was finally over.
The ‘will-I-won’t-I-survive-it’ tension that had rode me for forty days straight was now gone, and it left me feeling mentally boneless.
The only thing that made me feel remotely motivated to rise was that I was starving. No shocker. I’d missed yesterday’s dinner, and my tired body was no doubt desperate for sustenance.
Talon came striding out of the garderobe—his skin damp, his chest bare, a towel looped around his waist. I was too drained to feel my usual hot surge of sexual excitement, but my stomach did a fair bit of fluttering.
“Morning,” I muttered, forcing myself to sit upright.
Typically, when he woke before me, he often woke me in style. That he’d instead let me sleep as long as possible showed he knew that I needed the rest.
He offered me a soft grunt and then went about pulling clothes out of his drawers.
Watching him start to dress, I scooted forward so that I was perched on the edge of the bed. “Aren’t you going to ask if I’ve decided whether or not to join the Black Tapestry?”
He cast me an affronted look that said he already knew the answer to that.
“I’ve been determined to join from the start, yes, but Xalbia put me through the ringer. You’re not wondering if it beat me?”
Tying the laces of his breeches, he shook his head and crossed to me, still wondrously bare-chested.
Unable to not drink in all that solid muscle, I ogled the hell out of him even as I asked, “How come?”
Talon bent over and planted one fist on the mattress beside me, putting his face inches from mine.
He pointed at me, dragged the tip of his finger up the bumps of my spine, and then conjured a dagger.
As his gaze skimmed over the blade, I understood what he was trying to say: That I had a spine of steel.
A little taken aback by the compliment, I blinked. “Oh. Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “And, yes, you guessed correctly—I am going to accept a place in the Order.”
His expression all Told you so, he straightened and took a step back as he returned the dagger to wherever it came. With a flick of his hand, he urged me to stand.
I lazily did so. All business, he tugged off my slip and then went about examining every injury I’d suffered in the caverns.
My chest tightening, I bit my lip. And I allowed myself to do something stupid.
I let myself wish we were more than sex.
Let myself wish he was someone I could wholeheartedly trust. Then maybe I could share the things that I’d so far kept quiet.
I could even have told him what happened with the minotaur.
That presence in the caverns … it had to have been one of the gods. There was no other explanation. Who else would intervene? It seemed a little surreal, though, since they rarely interfered in the business of matters in this realm now—not even when it came to Sayers. Not for a long time, anyway.
My mother had always been so confident that it would be different with me, as had the other acolytes. I hadn’t been so sure, but now? Now I had to wonder if they’d been right; if the gods felt they had some use for a mortal. I just really couldn’t see what that could be.
Talon might have some ideas. He’d met the gods.
There were things he knew about them that I didn’t.
But, honestly, I probably wouldn’t have confided in him even if I had thought he’d keep my confidence.
It wouldn’t be fair of me to ask that he keep secrets from the Sovereigns.
It would place him in a difficult position.
A light tug on my earlobe yanked me out of my thoughts. I blinked up at Talon, who arched a questioning brow as he prodded my temple.
“Just woolgathering,” I fudged.
He waved his hand in an Expand gesture.
“I’m not thinking anything worth sharing.”
His eyes narrowing, he curved a hand firmly around my jaw and gave it a demanding squeeze as his expression asked, What’s wrong?
“Nothing,” I said. “I just had some flashbacks of the caverns.”
His squint called me a liar.
I sighed. He was too good at reading me. That in mind, I didn’t bother with any more denials. I simply said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Another demanding squeeze to my jaw.
“You’re super nosy. Has anyone ever told you that? They should have.”
One shoulder rose and fell in a lazy, unapologetic move.
“Why do you even care what I’m thinking about?”
His face sober, he pointed at my chest and then doodled Mine right there with his fingertip.
“We’re exclusive, sure. It doesn’t make you privy to my innermost thoughts.”
Going by the look on his face, he didn’t find that relevant.
“Don’t be so pushy,” I reprimanded with a light poke to his shoulder. “Unless you’re willing to answer my questions. That would be fair. And I have tons. Let’s start with an easy one. Where do you go on full moons?”
His eyes narrowed again. Then he bit me. Right on the chin.
I yelped and rubbed the smarting spot. “That wasn’t necessary. There are gentler ways of telling someone that you don’t appreciate them mentally outmaneuvering you.”
His expression the facial equivalent of an indifferent shrug, he turned back to the tunic he’d earlier placed on his dresser.
My eyes inadvertently fell to where his boots were neatly placed against the wall. Why? Because a pair of much smaller boots were set beside them. A pair that I hadn’t before noticed. And they were brand new.
Moving to them, I lifted one to check the size. I swallowed. They were my size. Warmth poured into my chest. That he’d gone out of his way to ensure that I wouldn’t be walking around barefoot … Ugh, this man hit me right in the feels at times.
He turned to me again, his muscles minutely tensing when he saw what I held.
“You got me new boots?” I asked, placing the boot back on the floor.
He shrugged, grumpy all of a sudden. As if it annoyed him that he’d been so bothered by the idea of me not having any.
I smiled. He glared. I felt my smile widen. He glared harder.
Smothering a chuckle, I said, “Thank you.”
He ignored that, lifted my knapsack, and tossed it at me.