Chapter 72 Durvla
Durvla
I wake to the weight of Kilkenny’s arm around my waist, my back pressed against his front.
I don’t even remember falling asleep, let alone still having him in my bed.
As I shift, he presses his hand against the outside of my thigh, halting my movement.
“You don’t want to do that,” he says into my head.
Even his mental voice is laden with sleep.
“What?”
“You shifting against me is making it very difficult for things to remain … chaste.”
It takes me a moment to figure out what he’s talking about, but then it hits me.
“Oh!” I shift once more, but this time it’s to put some distance between our bodies.
The ache in my head has died down to a dull throb.
My stomach is a little more settled, and while my vision is still a little blurry, the room isn’t spinning.
My face is still puffy, and exhaustion has a hold on me, but I am far better than before.
I sit up slowly, Kilkenny following suit. “What time do you think it is?” I ask.
“Well, no one has come in to get us, so I’d say it can’t be that late.” He smiles and runs his fingers through his hair, mussing it up.
I smile at him. “How do you manage to make messy hair look so good?”
His fingers pause in his hair, and he raises his brows at me.
Heat immediately floods my face. I clear my throat. “Thank you for … earlier,” I say. I can imagine it couldn’t have been easy, given that he can literally feel what others feel.
“Any time,” he says. His arm reaches around my back as he pulls me closer against his side.
It completely takes me by surprise, but I rest my head against his shoulder and breathe him in.
The scent of his marjoram soap still clings to his skin and mingles with my lavender soap.
I commit the combined scents to my memory, knowing that soon we’ll all be sweaty again as we commence our journey.
My heart drops. I sit upright so I can glimpse his face again, and his hand falls away. “Kilkenny?”
“Yes?” He loosens the tie from his hair, only to smooth the strands back and retie it.
“Do you really think that I won’t become corrupt like other Basduunai?”
“I have no doubt,” he signs with sincerity.
“What makes you so certain?”
“I’ve been in your head, remember?” A smile slowly spreads across his face.
It’s sunshine and flowers and meadows. His eyes twinkle like moonlight reflecting off the dark ocean, and my pulse leaps eagerly.
He’s so humble, so gallant, so selfless.
He’s everything a knight should be, but he’s so much more.
I’m almost afraid to breathe too deeply as that hypnotic pull reemerges between us. His lips draw closer to mine, and I find myself unsure what to do with my hands. Or my head, for that matter.
“You think too loudly,” his voice says into my mind, and I can’t help but laugh.
His lips claim mine, swallowing my laughter as my stomach lurches pleasantly and my breath hitches.
His arm wraps around my back, one hand cradling my head, and I melt into his embrace as delight dances along my spine.
My arms snake around him, pulling him even closer, until my back is against the soft sheets beneath us and Kilkenny’s weight presses into me.
I’m not even sure when or how exactly we got here, but our tongues meet, and my thoughts try to intercede.
I shove logic aside, dampening the noise of my mind and making room for instinct to take over.
Desire ignites, consuming me, quelling any residual angst. I wrap my legs around his waist, and with our hips flush against each other, everything south of my naval clenches. The world falls away.
A multitude of sensations war within me, lust rising above reason and surfacing as victor.
Kilkenny pulls away, leaving me bereft and flustered.
His chest heaves as he gently disentangles my legs from around his waist. “Gods, Durvla,” he says.
Two simple words, but there’s so much longing in his eyes that I ache for more.
But then he moves to sit beside me, trying to gather his composure, and I find myself staring at him, marveling that his lips and body were just on mine.
So that’s what it’s like.
Attraction. Yearning. Something greater that I don’t want to confront right now.
“Are you alright?” he asks, and I can’t help but grin.
“Yes, of course. Are you?” He’s the one that stopped.
He smiles unevenly and takes my hand in his.
His lips brush against my fingers and my heart flutters.
He swears and shakes his head, the smile still on his face.
“What are you doing to me, woman?” He scrubs his free hand down his face, then draws in a breath to say something, but suddenly his focus shifts toward the door.
He reaches for his waist, but he’s not armed with any weapons. “Who is it?” he calls out. Then he sighs and signs Chiyo’s name for me. He gets out of bed, and I settle back against the headboard, my mind still reeling from the taste of his lips.
Kilkenny opens the door to Chiyo tapping her foot, her arms crossed, her face pinched. Her attention drifts over his shoulder, pausing when she spots me. Her focus shifts from him to me, then to him again. She grins and pumps her fist in the air. “Finally!”
Kilkenny steers her back out the door and closes it before turning to face me.
The realization hits. “Does she think that we … ?” I can’t even finish the sentence without my face heating.
Kilkenny laughs and shrugs his broad shoulders.
I ease myself off the bed, and he saunters toward me with a smile that has me almost melting into a puddle. “I’m not sure if she thinks that. But if that happens, I’d prefer that it’s not in some place called Dead Man’s Inn.”
My mouth goes dry, the flush in my cheeks unrelated to shyness or embarrassment. My breathless laughter is delayed and Kilkenny grins as he closes the gap between us again.
He pulls me close once more and kisses me until I’m weak in the knees. He releases a breath, then steps back and clasps his hands together, the picture of self-control. “Let’s get dressed and get out of here before we prove Chiyo right.”
I grin despite the heat flooding my cheeks.
With the space between Kilkenny and I, reality hits me in the face.
I lock my knees to keep from staggering back.
We’ll be getting on the road again soon, and I don’t even know what’s become of Osheen.
I clench my fists. As much as part of me wants to walk away and never look back, I ask, “Where’s Osheen? ”
The desire completely disappears, and Kilkenny’s face hardens with anger. “He’s here, somewhere.”
“Here?” I point to the floor.
“Yes. Alys and Chiyo didn’t want to just leave him exposed out there—I was more than happy to do so.
He’s gotten a job helping the innkeeper.
It’ll give him a roof over his head and food.
A new start for him—far more than he deserves.
In the end, though, it’s up to you whether he continues traveling with us or not. ”
I freeze. “It’s up to me?”
He nods.
I clasp my hands together and exhale slowly, expelling the tension that worms its way back into my muscles.
Osheen has been my best friend, the most trusted person in my life after my parents died.
He looked after Taig, and then he knowingly came along on this journey with us after Iywan informed him that Taig was …
Pain sears my heart again, and I step back, plopping onto the bed as I try to catch my breath. Kilkenny sits beside me, turning to face me slightly. He seems conflicted, like he’s unsure of what to say.
Osheen willingly carried a magical relic that enabled Iywan and whoever that woman was to track us. He’s the reason the Forayers found us in Dubh Carrig, the reason we could still be very much in danger even though the wristlet was destroyed.
Turning my tearful face to Kilkenny, I take a deep breath. “I can’t trust him anymore,” I motion.
Kilkenny nods, his shoulders relaxing slightly. “Alright,” he says. “Then we go on without him.”