Chapter 16 #3
Vero’s expression immediately shifts to one of irritation as he looks at me from the bed he’s already claimed. “I will not share a bed with you.”
“Then you can sleep on the floor.”
“Why don’t you sleep with the horseman? Aren’t you worried that someone might slay him in his weakened state?” he taunts.
“All the more reason to sleep next to the one who is determined to hurt him,” I growl.
Vero is all bristles as I step closer. “Don’t you dare lie down in this bed.”
“Watch me,” I snarl, flipping back the covers and staring him right in the eyes while I climb in. He jerks my pillow from me so that my head smashes against the bed when I lie down.
“Give me the pillow back,” I warn.
“I would rather burn it.”
I grab his pillow and try to yank it out from under him, but he presses his head down so hard there are veins popping on his neck.
“This is my pillow as well,” he says.
“Why the fuck do you need two pillows?”
“I’ve slept on the floor of a cell for over six months. I want these two pillows, so I will take these two pillows.”
“I will haunt you in your sleep,” I threaten while I lay my head on my pillowless side, glad this ceiling doesn’t have an atrocity hanging from it ready to suck my blood. Then Vero turns with a growl and rips the blanket right off me.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I hiss as I grab the tiny edge I still have left and tug it back.
He kicks me hard and rips the blanket out of my hands.
Anger tears through me and I leap onto the man and try my hand at strangling him before I remember that Riley wouldn’t like that very much, so I just use the momentary distraction to grab my edge of the blanket and yank it back while I roll off him.
“Will it hurt you to fucking share?” I demand.
“It hurts me to even look at your disgusting face.”
We both jerk the blanket at the same time, and I hear a distinct tearing sound when the blanket rips. Of course it doesn’t rip down the middle but leaves him with three-quarters of it and me with a tiny sliver.
“This will be tolerable,” Vero says as he closes his eyes, obviously gloating about the fact that he now has two pillows and three-quarters of a blanket.
I hold up the sliver of a blanket and slowly, ever so slowly, wrap it around his neck.
His hand shoots out and he grabs me by the throat while I tighten the blanket on his neck.
We smack each other’s hands away as we glare at each other. “You dared lay a hand on my precious Riley.”
“You know what I’m going to do? I’m not going to kill him yet. I’m going to seduce him and fuck him first and let you realize that this bullshit he’s promised you is all fake. I will lure him in and make you watch.”
I smirk at him. “You have fun trying.”
“He’s using your simple-minded ass to do as he pleases,” he snarls before smacking me again. I lunge forward and shove his head right off my pillow before grabbing it.
In a huff, we both lie facing away from each other before he fucking back kicks me, so I kick him in return and then we’re just kicking the shit out of each other. He shoves me and grabs my pillow, and I jerk it back a second before the pillow explodes in a shower of feathers.
“You asshole,” I shout, grabbing his pillow and tearing it in half before throwing the feathers in his face just as one leg of the bed snaps beneath our assault, throwing Vero into me. The door slams open and I look over at Riley who is standing in the doorway.
Vero and I are coated in downy feathers, I have my sliver of a blanket draped over one shoulder, and he’s got his leg up, aimed to kick me right off the bed.
“What. The. Absolute fuck. Are you two doing?” Riley asks, pausing quite often for an impressive amount of emphasis. It’s extremely sexy, but he’s not done just yet. “What kind of gods are you two? And how old are you? Torin, you’re nearly a thousand years old. Vero, how old are you?”
Vero lies there stoically, trying out his hand at being a statue again.
“I know your ears work!”
Vero whispers something even I can’t hear.
“What was that?” Riley asks.
“Eight hundred and seventy-two,” he mutters.
“Our guests have kindly let us stay and you two godly beings have taken it upon yourselves to destroy the bed, their pillows, and their blanket. Why?”
“He wouldn’t share,” I say.
“Do you hear yourselves? Fucking hell, I’m going back to bed, and if this isn’t all cleaned up and fixed by morning, I’m kicking both of your asses,” he threatens before storming off.
I lick my lips, which just causes me to get a feather in my mouth that I spit out.
“How embarrassing for you,” Vero says.
“For me? You look like a fucking duck over there,” I retort since he’s wearing most of the feathers.
And then I start laughing as I look at him.
Of course Vero doesn’t find it funny, but instead of punching me, he gets up and eyes the broken bed leg.
He lifts the bed with me on it and crams the leg back under.
“Good as new. Tell your feisty horseman he can stop his sassy routine.”
Wondering if I should be embarrassed instead of laughing, I get up and we grudgingly work together to clean everything up. Then we both lie down on the bed, pillowless with our scraps of blanket.
“I still hate you,” Vero declares.
“Feeling is mutual,” I say as I choke down another laugh before rolling on my side and closing my eyes.
Oh fuck, it feels nice to be surrounded by people after hundreds of years alone… even ones I want to kick.