Chapter 3 #2
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, her voice turning stubborn. “Not until I’ve had a few words with you.”
My eyes fluttered again, and this time I managed to keep them open as Cyra’s beautiful face came into focus. I was about to order her to leave again when I realized how quiet it was.
“Where…?” I started to ask.
“You’re home. You’re safe,” Cyra said, then added, “From everyone but me.”
I couldn’t help it. I smiled at the threat as I met her silvery eyes.
Cyra put a hand on the side of my cheek. “Are you alright?”
That was a good question. I took stock of how I felt and was hesitantly optimistic when I didn’t feel any pain. I reached up to feel my cheek where Ajax had shattered the bone, but everything felt normal, and I realized I could see out of both eyes again.
“I had to call one of the healers from the city to fix that,” Cyra said. “I didn’t dare attempt to heal it myself.”
She glanced to the side, and I followed her gaze to see Ajax looking contrite.
“Sorry about that,” the warrior said. “I was trying to knock you out before you got hurt too much, and…well, you moved.”
It took me a moment to recall what had happened. Ajax had tried to punch me, but I’d pulled back, and instead of connecting with the side of my head, his fist had struck my cheek.
I looked around. I was in our room at Tide’s End.
“How did I get back?” I asked.
“Ajax sent me a message leaf to tell me what happened,” Cyra said. “I opened a portal, and we brought you home.”
I nodded before something occurred to me. “Wait, does that mean…”
“Xerxes tried to bring you into the back to have his own healer fix you, but I didn’t trust him with an injury that bad,” Ajax said. “I told Xerxes I was taking you somewhere else to be healed. He tried to stop me…so I had to tell him who you were.”
I exhaled deeply. Well, I wouldn’t be going there again apparently.
Of course, now that Cyra knew what I’d done, I wouldn’t be allowed to go back anyway.
“How did Xerxes take that news?” I asked.
“You mean the news that a Lord of the Triumvirate was lying bleeding and unconscious in his underground fighting pit?” Ajax asked, amused.
“When I explained who you were, he couldn’t get you out of there fast enough.
I doubt the place will still be there by daylight.
What did he call you?” He thought a moment.
“The Nemesis Incarnate? You apparently have quite a reputation.”
I huffed a laugh. “You have no idea.”
Cyra growled, bringing my attention back to her. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to get a message leaf telling me my husband is in Gendris at a fighting pit and needs a healer?” she asked.
I deflated. I’d hoped she would never learn about my little side adventure, but now that she had, I realized just how much danger I’d put myself in, and I didn’t blame her for being angry at me.
“That man – Xerxes was it? – begged me not to let you kill him when you woke up,” Cyra said.
“And I told him he should be more worried about what Cyra might do to him,” Ajax said. Then he added, “Like I am.”
“You redeemed yourself by contacting me,” Cyra told him. “If you’d let that other healer try to help him, it might’ve been a different story.”
I reached over and took Cyra’s hand in mine. “I’m sorry,” I said. “It was a stupid thing to do.”
“What in the three hells were you doing there anyway?” she asked. She seemed more hurt than angry, and my heart broke at the pain in her expression. Gods, I was an ass.
“It’s a place I used to go to blow off steam, long before I met you,” I said. “It’s been a frustrating day, and I needed an outlet, but I should’ve known better.”
Cyra gave me a meaningful look. “You have an outlet here at home.”
I shook my head. “I was too angry. I didn’t want to risk it.”
She cocked her head in question. “Why were you so angry?” She paused a second. “You met with Aidan this afternoon. What happened?”
I gave her a brief recap of my conversation with Aidan, and the furrow in her brow deepened with each word.
“Why?” was all she asked when I was done.
I shook my head. “No idea. Aidan hasn’t seemed himself lately, and I have this feeling something else must’ve happened at the temple we don’t know about, something serious that’s knocked him off-balance.”
Cyra nodded. “And you’re still upset with Samhail.”
“Samhail?” Ajax asked. “What’s wrong with Samhail?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “The short version is that I sent him after a dangerous prisoner who escaped our holding cell. Based on my last message from him, it sounds as though he found her, but rather than bring her back here to be dealt with, he’s decided to enact some kind of plan on his own that he won’t tell me about. ”
Ajax raised a brow. “Her?”
“Yes. We had an assassin, a masque, living under our roof for weeks.”
Ajax looked alarmed. “And she didn’t kill anyone?”
I waved a dismissive hand. “That’s a long story as well.”
“Do you need help finding Samhail and this assassin?” Ajax asked.
“I have two other gargoyles on it already,” I said. “We’ll need to ask a different favor from you in the near future.”
“You want help in this war,” he said knowingly.
“Would you be willing to fight?” I asked.
He looked at Cyra. “My life belongs to you, my lady. If you wish me to fight, you need only ask. My service is yours.”
Cyra looked taken aback at the declaration, but she schooled herself.
“For the first time in four hundred years, your life is your own,” she said to him. “I will ask you to fight with us when the time comes, but I’ll be grateful if you choose to do so.”
“Consider it done,” Ajax said. Then he smiled. “I assume that means you’ll let me leave in one piece now?”
Cyra smiled back. “Of course. Where can I send you?”
“A portal back to Gendris would be appreciated,” he said. “You can let me out near the city square. My boarding house isn’t far from there.”
“You never told me,” I said to Ajax as I sat up in bed. “Why were you fighting in Xerxes’s pit?”
He shrugged. “A few hundred years ago, everyone knew who I was and what I could do. I had enough work that I could turn away any job I didn’t want.
Now, almost no one knows me, and the few older perimortals who do remember me have no use for my services.
Xerxes is well-connected, and his fights give me a chance to show off my skills to a potential new set of clientele. ”
“I’m happy to serve as a reference if anyone needs proof of how hard you hit,” I said.
He chuckled. “And remember to tell them I keep my promises. I did promise not to kill you, after all.”
“Indeed,” I said.
Cyra looked between us before her eyes landed on me. “I assume you’ll explain all that later?” she asked, and I nodded.
She turned and drew a portal in the air, then widened it enough for the big gargoyle to step through.
“Thank you for getting my husband back safely,” Cyra said to Ajax as she stepped aside for him to pass.
Ajax gave her a small bow. “My lady,” he said, then stepped through the portal. Cyra closed it after him and turned to me.
“How much trouble am I in?” I asked.
“A lot,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Are you going to punish me?” I asked huskily. “Maybe you should tie me to the bed and do unspeakable things to me.”
“Ha!” she laughed. “We both know our ‘punishments’ are more like rewards, and I don’t intend to reward this kind of behavior. I should make you sleep on the couch out in the sitting room tonight.”
She was serious, but I was an expert in breaking down her barriers. I slid off the bed carefully, just in case there was something the healer hadn’t fully fixed.
Cyra eyed me as I moved slowly toward her. “If you think you’re going to seduce me, think again,” she said.
“No, it would be silly of me to try,” I said silkily.
She uncrossed her arms and started to back away. I followed, slowly stalking her. She put a hand on my chest to hold me back when I reached her, but I kept moving, and she kept retreating until her back hit the wall. I pressed myself into her, letting her feel my desire.
“You won’t leave me in pain like this, will you?” I said, moving my erection against her. “Don’t you think I’ve had enough for one night?”
She looked up at me with determination. “If I give in now, you’ll never learn your lesson.”
“Hmmm. And what lesson would that be?” I asked as I bent my head to kiss a trail down her throat.
Cyra let out a soft moan, and my fingers threaded through her hair to pull her head to the side so I had better access to her neck. I deepened the intensity of my kisses and began to suck and nip at her neck as well.
When I put my other hand on her breast and began to knead, though, she pushed me back.
“No!” she said.
I didn’t go far, but there were a few inches between us, and I let out a long exhale at the loss of friction.
“You went to fight in a secret combat ring without telling me,” she said. “What if we didn’t know Ajax and he’d killed you? What if he hadn’t been able to get you back so we could find a competent healer?”
I closed my eyes against the hurt in her voice. “You’re right,” I said, opening them again. “It was stupid and risky for me to do what I did, and I promise it will never happen again.”
I tried to lean back in, but she pushed on my chest again, stopping me. “And why was that black-haired woman with the scar staring daggers at me when I came to get you?”
Fuck. “I…”
“Is she…Did you…?”
I sighed. “It was years before I met you, and only once, but I’m sure she wanted more. She was angry at me tonight because I hadn’t seen her since. I forgot she’d be there.”
Cyra considered all this. It was several seconds before she nodded.
“I won’t make you sleep on the couch tonight,” she said, “but you don’t get to touch me. I’m too angry at you right now.”
“Cyra, I swear, I only had sex with her onc-”
She waved a hand to stop me. “I don’t care about that,” she said. “We both have former lovers.” She paused. “You have a lot more than me, but I understand that. What I’m mad about is how you almost got yourself killed tonight.”
“I promised not to do that again,” I offered.