12. Clash of Stone and Steel
Clash of Stone and Steel
Talyn
Talyn knew he was there. She hadn’t heard him enter, but she suddenly had the feeling of being watched before the whiff of leather told her exactly who it was. She waited almost a full minute to see if he’d say something before she spoke.
“How long do you plan to stand there staring at me before you say whatever it is you came down here to say?” she asked.
She’d been lying on the cot in the holding cell with her eyes closed, but she opened them and swung her legs off the side.
It had been a couple hours at least since she’d been brought down here, and she hadn’t expected any visitors, but Samhail’s huge body now filled most of the doorway outside the bars of the cell.
Talyn looked him up and down. She remembered running her hand over that broad chest a few days ago. Gods above, he was so big, and so…
It was too bad he now wanted to choke the life out of her.
Talyn got off the cot and walked to the door of the cell. She made sure to stay well out of Samhail’s long reach.
“Have you come to interrogate me?” she asked. “I imagine you have some questions of your own you want to ask before your lord takes another crack at me.” She smiled sweetly at him, and his eyes darkened.
He reached through the bars, and Talyn took a quick step back. He smiled harshly at her jumpiness and tossed a pile of clothes on the floor at her feet. Keeping her eyes on him, Talyn reached down and picked up the pile. There was a pair of pants, a sweater, and some boots.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Cyra was afraid you’d be cold down here in that dress,” Samhail said. “She thought you might be more comfortable in those.”
His tone said he found the lady’s concern misplaced.
Talyn sighed. She’d learned over the last couple weeks Cyra had a kind heart, but she hadn’t expected anything like this given the circumstances. Then again, she hadn’t expected her injuries to be healed either, but she’d woken with no pain and everything seemingly mended.
“You drew the short straw to bring them to me?” she asked.
“I volunteered.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“If I didn’t, Cyra would’ve come, and I don’t want her near you.”
“No, we couldn’t have that,” Talyn said silkily. “We don’t want her finding out what happened the other day, do we.”
“She knows everything.”
Talyn frowned. She’d underestimated these people at every turn, and it was starting to annoy her.
“There’s something between you and the lady,” she challenged.
Samhail huffed a laugh.
“You’ve clearly shared her bed,” Talyn pressed, ignoring his huff.
“Cyra is a friend and the wife of my lord,” he said. “That’s all that’s between us.”
It was Talyn’s turn to laugh.
“You don’t seriously expect me to believe that,” she said. “You all but admitted to me the other day you’ve fucked her. Remember?”
Samhail didn’t answer, but his expression deepened into a scowl.
“What did you say when I suggested you’d done more than kiss her?” Talyn asked, pretending to try and recall. She put a hand on her chin and tapped her cheek in mock thought. “I believe you said something about Lord Bressen being there and you had his permission to touch her?”
Talyn watched his expression closely, but it didn’t change.
She shrugged and went over to her cot to toss the pants, sweater, and boots on top of it.
She turned half toward the wall and pulled the dress she was wearing slowly over her head so she was naked.
She’d had to discard the undergarment she was wearing earlier because it was too loose and kept slipping down.
When she had her powers, her clothing adjusted with her body – a benefit of the magic – but this cell was lined with caronium.
Talyn listened for a reaction from Samhail as she stood there naked, but she didn’t hear anything.
There didn’t seem to be an undergarment, so she just took her time as she stepped into the pants and pulled them leisurely up her legs, being sure to shimmy her hips and ass as she did so.
The pants were a little tight and short, but there was enough stretch to the fabric that they were comfortable.
She didn’t think they could belong to Cyra.
Talyn’s legs were longer and her hips wider than the lady’s, so Cyra’s pants wouldn’t have fit her this well.
Next, she pulled the sweater over her head, making sure to arch her back and thrust her breasts out before she turned back to the door. She half-expected to see Samhail had left since she hadn’t heard anything while she was changing, but he was still there watching her.
“The only ways I can interpret what you said,” Talyn went on as she sat on the cot to pull the boots on, “is that the lord either likes to watch you fuck his wife, or both of you fucked her together. So which was it?”
Talyn again watched Samhail closely as she spoke. She thought she saw the barest tick in his jaw, but she couldn’t be sure. He’d learned to control his reactions better than the last time she’d seen him.
“You delivered your package,” she said, annoyed. “Why are you still here if you have nothing to say?” She stood again and took a few steps toward the cell door.
“I wanted to see ‘The Raptor,’” he said, emphasizing the moniker with disdain. “I’m told you have quite a reputation, but I’m having trouble understanding why.”
She raised a brow and crossed her arms. “Oh?” she said, her ire rising.
“Would you have been more impressed if I’d actually managed to escape a syphon, a mind wraith, a merman, and three gargoyles with a few broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and limited access to my powers?
Sorry to disappoint you, but even I have my limits.
If anything, you should all be ashamed it took the six of you so long to subdue me. ”
He was glaring at her now. Good. She hoped she struck a nerve.
“Am I supposed to be impressed, knowing you were here to kill my friends?” he asked.
She noted he didn’t correct her about the bodyguards being gargoyles.
“Not really,” she said, “but while we’re at it, I’m not so sure you lived up to your reputation either.”
Samhail’s brows flicked up. “You’ve heard of me?”
“Your name occasionally makes the rounds in certain circles,” she said. “I have to say, I expected more. The wings are a neat trick, but your fighting skills leave something to be desired. I assume the lady healed your arm?” She made a show of looking at the spot where she’d stabbed him.
His expression became shadowed, and she noticed now the bruise on his jaw and the cuts on his face were gone.
“It was barely a scratch,” he said.
“Your scream suggested otherwise.”
Samhail crossed his arms. “That wasn’t a scream. If you want to know what a scream sounds like, Bressen can come refresh your memory.”
Talyn blanched at his words. She would’ve given anything not to react, not to show him how much Bressen’s incursion had affected her, but the memory of the Lord of Hiraeth clawing into her mind was still too raw.
Just the thought of it made her stomach roil, and she took an involuntary step back.
To her surprise, Samhail’s expression softened.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That was a low blow.”
If his concern surprised her, his apology outright shocked her, but she waved a hand to dismiss it. “It was nothing I can’t handle,” she said, but her voice had gone a bit hoarse.
“I know what it feels like to have Bressen break into your mind,” he said. “It’s not pleasant.”
‘Not pleasant’ was easily the understatement of the century, but that’s not the part that caught her attention
“Why would he break into your mind?” she asked.
Samhail shrugged. “It’s part of our training. He tries to break into my mind while we fight, and I try to keep him out. It helps me strengthen my mind shield, and it helps him work on breaking past my shield while he’s also trying to keep me from breaking his jaw or his ribs.”
Talyn’s mouth fell open. “You let him try to break in on purpose?” she asked incredulously, and Samhail nodded.
“You’re insane,” she said.
He shrugged again. “So I’ve been told on occasion.”
Talyn’s mind shield had been tested once or twice over the years during her work, but she’d never thought to have a mind wraith purposely try to break through it for practice.
Most mind wraiths she’d encountered only had the rudimentary ability to read someone’s mind.
A few had the power to compel, but none had the level of power Lord Bressen did.
He’d been about to will her to die when Cyra had stopped him.
Talyn was sure of it, and she shuddered at how close she’d come to death.
“How long was I unconscious?” Talyn asked.
She’d woken up about an hour ago, and her internal clock was telling her it was still the same night, but she wanted to check.
“We moved you down here about three hours ago,” he said.
“So it’s around ten o’clock?” she asked.
He nodded, then frowned. “Why?”
“Just curious,” she said. “What does the lord plan to do with me?”
“You’ll likely go to Revenmyer after we question you tomorrow.”
Talyn couldn’t hide the jolt that jumped through her at his words.
As if their ‘questioning’ wasn’t bad enough, the thought of Revenmyer sent something crawling up her spine.
Sandrian had spent twenty-five years in the prison, and even after being out for months, he still had a hollow look about his face.
She didn’t know what he’d experienced, but she didn’t want to imagine whatever it was that made him look like that.
“On what charge?” she asked. “I wasn’t aware changing my appearance was a crime.”
“But assassination is,” Samhail said, his face hardening again.
“And who have I supposedly assassinated?” she asked. “The lord and lady both seem alive and well to me.”
“You intended to kill them,” he said.
“Intentions aren’t crimes,” she said. “And trust me when I tell you that if I’d wanted to kill them, they’d be dead.”
It was true enough. There were other times she could’ve killed them, just not as easily. Why she hadn’t tried again, she didn’t know.
“So why aren’t they dead?” he asked, and she could almost feel the rage simmering below his calm exterior.
Talyn paused to consider that. “Maybe I just don’t think Cyra deserves to die,” she said finally. “The lady’s grown on me.”
He raised a brow. “And Bressen?”
“If arrogance were a crime, he’d be dead already,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I really want to stab him, but until tonight, I didn’t have a good reason to kill him. I try not to kill people unless they deserve it.”
“An assassin with a conscience?” Samhail scoffed.
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?” she said. “Surely you realize I could’ve slit your throat the other day while you were busy fantasizing about your lord’s wife.” Her tone was harsher than she’d meant, but she didn’t let herself consider why.
“I wasn’t fantasizing,” he growled. “I was reacting to an aggressive seduction. That you looked like Cyra at the time was incidental.”
Talyn’s laugh echoed off the walls in the cell. “I can’t tell if you actually believe that load of bullshit, or if you just expect me to believe it.”
“I don’t care what you believe.”
“You wanted the lady,” Talyn purred. “Just admit it.”
His lips curled into a brutal smile. “And you wanted me. Just admit it.”
Talyn’s mouth fell open. She tried to deny his accusation, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
“You like to remind me of what I did that day,” Samhail growled, “but as I recall, you pulled my cock out and were ready to swallow it before I stopped you. Did Sandrian pay you to do that as well, or would you have expected me to?” His eyes gleamed wickedly at her.
Talyn snapped her mouth shut and glared at him. “Sometimes you have to do unappealing things for the job,” she spat back finally.
“Unappealing?” he scoffed. “You certainly looked like you were enjoying yourself. You were playing with fire, though. You don’t realize how close I came to bending you over that table and shoving my cock inside you.
What would you have done then? Would you have revealed yourself or stayed in Cyra’s form and let me fuck you? ”
His dark eyes flashed, and Talyn swallowed hard, trying to ignore the tightening between her legs. He was right. If there really was something between him and Cyra, she’d been playing with fire by teasing him.
She pushed out a long breath and came right up to the bars. If he wanted to grab her throat, let him try.
“Think what you want about why I did it,” Talyn said, “but I learned some valuable information that day.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re not as tough as you think you are.”
“I’m not the only one.”
“I guess we’ll never know,” she sneered. “You’re too comfortable out there on the other side of these bars. Let’s take your powers away and see what’s left. I bet all that muscle just slows you down.”
Her eyes locked with his. This close, she could see his pupils were midnight blue, not black as she’d first thought. Somehow she hadn’t noticed that the other day.
Samhail turned and stalked off, and Talyn let out a long breath. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the cool metal bars.
“Coward,” she said softly to his retreating form before she pushed off the door and went to lay back down.
She’d just closed her eyes when the sound of the key turning in the lock made her shoot off the cot again. When she turned to face the door, it was open, and Samhail’s form filled the entrance.