Chapter 50
JO
I awake to the sound of the bedchamber door shutting. Messer stretches out besides me on the bed, feline eyes reflecting green in the small amount of light from the oil lamp on the table.
Acker unbuckles the strap of daggers from his chest and lays it on the end of the bed. His eyes laze one glances at me, noticing I’m awake. “Go back to sleep,” he says, working the buttons of his shirt through the holes.
It’s then I notice the blood splattered across his waist and legs, and I jerk up. “Acker–—”
“It’s not mine,” he hurries to assure me. “I’m just going to clean up.”
He strips the shirt off his shoulders, balling the material in his hands and stalking into the bathroom. Messer looks at me, and I’ve learned all his expressions, even in animal form, so that I know he’s asking if I want him to stay.
I shake my head. “You need to go check on Fredrich,” I tell him.
He leaps from the bed gracefully before shifting back into himself. “I’ll return first thing in the morning,” he says, opening the terrace balcony door, looking over his shoulder at me.
He waits for my nod, assuring him I’m fine.
Then he shifts again, this time into an owl, and launches himself through the opening.
I adjust my leash of twisted filigree and slip out of bed, walking to shut the door behind him.
It was barely open for a minute, but the draft of winter air has dropped the temperature in the room.
I hear water running from the bathroom, and I make my way toward the door, but my leash stops me short.
I look at the metal around my wrist, following the length of it to the bed.
I’ve had plenty of slack all day, but as I tug on it again, it doesn’t give, and I realize Acker’s preventing me from going into the bathroom on purpose.
Worry has me frozen in place as I Iisten to him wash the blood from his body, the water splashing vigorously. He said it wasn’t his, but then whose was it? My heart sinks as I hear him spit into the basin.
I crawl back into bed, and it feels like forever before he finally emerges.
We don’t speak as he sinks beneath the covers.
His skin is chill to the touch, and he’s dressed in only his underwear, but I don’t complain as he pulls me in close.
I let him wrap his arms around my middle, tucking his face into my neck.
He breathes me in. A deep inhale that he releases slowly.
I don’t need to see inside his mind to feel the somberness of his mood.
Whatever transpired tonight has shaken him, and that’s what scares me the most.
I drift in and out of sleep, and every time I wake, I can sense Acker still has yet to drift off to sleep.
It’s not until morning that I broach the subject of what transpired the night before and he recounts how his father killed Vad, and all that came after.
He said it was a long time coming, but it was more difficult than he expected, given the circumstances.
There was no dignity in it, he says. And as he explains how Vad pushed into his mind, then about the blood his father made him drink, my stomach becomes queasy.
Palm flat against his chest, I find comfort in the steady beat of his heart beneath his warm skin. “Do you think you can steal the stone?” I ask.
His fingers run through the length of my hair, hand skimming down my back. “Possibly.”
We stay like that for a long while and I don’t ask him if he can read my mind.
I don’t think I want to know.
He kisses me slowly before he gets dressed and leaves, and that’s the pattern for how the next series of days flow.
Me, stuck in Acker’s bedchamber, spending my time reading through one of the many books he’s accumulated, while Messer keeps me company.
Sometimes as a cat, other times as a mouse, or a tiny finch.
I think it depends on what kind of head scratches he wants that day, but always small enough to scamper underneath the covers or behind a pillow when a maidservant enters.
It’s very reminiscent of our time in Alaha together.
Hallis brings me food, but any time I try to get information out of him, he becomes mute and makes any excuse to leave.
I have so much time to think about nothing and everything all at the same time.
Maidservants pop in, spying for the king and making sure I’m in my rightful place and chained to the bed.
I worry and I pace, and I wait for his Acker’s return.
Sometimes it’s early, before dinner even, but mostly it’s not until after I’ve already fallen asleep that he sneaks into bed.
Acker holds me close, arms like a vice around me.
It makes the desire flooding through the Bond nearly unbearable.
But aside from the chaste kisses he places along my shoulder and neck, he doesn’t touch me.
Not in any way I secretly wish for. My resolve is weakening with each passing night, fear making me question if I’m wasting what little time we might have left.
The weight of his father’s ever-evolving power is heavy.
Every day he leaves this room, I worry about what he may face in the walls of the palace.
One night I awake to muffled voices coming from out on the terrace balcony, Messer and Acker’s shadows silhouettes visible through the glass. When I get out of bed to inquire what’s going on, Acker blocks my view of the courtyard below, shortening the leash so I can’t move closer.
“They’re moving prisoners to the mines,” he says, shutting the doors behind him.
“Don’t worry. Go back to sleep.” So I do.
A lot of sleeping, that is. It’s as if my mind and body are catching up to the years I’ve spent running from my dreams, finally offering me peaceful rest in my Match’s presence.
It’s two days later when I awake to find him sitting in one of the armchairs across from the bed that I know something has changed.
He’s usually gone the moment the sun is up and it’s evident he’s been watching me for a while.
Likely since he woke. His eyes are soft; an elbow balanced on the arm of the chair.
It reminds me of the time I found him waiting beside my bed in the healer’s house, after my awakening.
When he knew we were a Match and I didn’t.
It’s then that I notice Messer leaning against the closed door to the terrace.
“What is it?” I ask, sitting up and adjusting the stretch of twisted metal still tying me to the damn bed.
“Messer has found a weak spot in the west wall of the city,” he says, running his knuckles absently on the edge of his jaw. “Fredrich and you are going to cross the wall for you to reach the valley where your men are waiting.”
“That sounds distinctly like an order.” My humor vanishes quickly. “You don’t want me to stay and fight with you,” I say.
He shakes his head. “No,” he says, sitting forward. “I need you to lead the charge from the west.”
I’m surprised. “When?”
“My father has requested all of the heads of the alliance be present for a dinner tomorrow night. That’s when we’ll make our move.”
“Because the last dinner when Jovie was in the palace went so well,” Messer smarts. “One would think he’d have learned his lesson the first time.”
Acker and I both glare at him, and he shrugs as if to say, What?
“Was Kai able to move his men into position?” I ask.
Messer slumps into one of the chairs in front of the hearth. “Wren is making it difficult, but he’s been able to sneak a handful into the city each night.”
I nod my acceptance. “Okay, but I’m not taking Fredrich,” I say, laying my down my one condition.
Acker levels me with a look that any of his battle-hardened men would be scared to be on the receiving end of, but I refuse to back down. “Yes, you are.”
I shrug, nonchalant. “Then I won’t go.”
“I’ll have to wear the mangi stones at court, Jovie. I won’t be able to feel if you need me.”
“You can check in with me when you can,” I argue. “You’ve done it for years.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “Why do you have to make everything so difficult?”
“I don’t know. Why do you have to be such an asshole?”
Messer dares to intervene. “I agree with her.” He raises his hands in mock surrender in the face of Acker’s cutting glare. “All I’m saying is you don’t always think logically where B is concerned.”
“You know, like when you drugged and kidnapped me?” I add, raising a brow at Acker when he turns his glare on me.
Judging by his expression, he doesn’t find my comment humorous or necessary. Messer stills, mouth spreading into a massive grin as he observes our mirroring postures of defensiveness.
After a long beat, Acker releases a breath through his nose, and I already know I’ve won. “Messer, are you able to lead her across the city to the west gate?” he asks.
My friend drops any joking pretense when he meets Acker’s gaze. “Not a problem. I can take her just before the scheduled dinner and circle back.”
Acker nods, albeit a tad reluctantly. “Inform Fredrich of the change of plans.”
Messer unfolds from his seat. “Not a problem.”
Then, as if a thought occurs, Acker stands, stopping Messer from stripping out of his pants with a hand on his shoulder. “Wells likely has a stash of his own hearthstone weapons hidden. Tell Fredrich to look under the floorboards.”
After we watch Messer leave, I do find myself wanting to make one last-ditch effort to convince Acker to let me stay and fight with him, but he’s already shaking his head as he strides toward me, cradling my face in his hands.
“The best thing you can do is give me the peace of knowing you’re not inside the walls of this palace when the time comes.”
I hold on to his wrists. “I’ll feel better knowing Fredrich is with you.”
I can see the waver in his gaze a moment before he gives in, kissing me on the forehead. “Okay,” he says, meeting my eyes.
Relief floods through me. “Thank you,” I tell him.
His response is to place his mouth on mine, letting me know he has no intention of arguing with me anymore in the hours we have left, but instead means to enjoy me as much as he can, as he lays me down on the bed. I savor his body over mine and reassure myself this won’t be the last time.
There’s no hurry in his movements as he strips me bare.
Every time I push for more, he refuses, slowing to the point of being nearly maddening.
And I learn to give in to the languid pace of his kisses and his touch, and to the steady thrust of his hips.
By the time he does allow me to tip over the edge, the pleasure stretches on for so long that I’m left exhausted once it’s over.
After, we lay in bed for a long while. Not speaking as we ponder what the next set of days will be like for us. Apart, but working together toward a goal. The plan is decent. Good enough to work if all goes right.
But if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that nothing ever goes according to plan.