71. Clash of Stone and Steel #3
“There’s nowhere else to put you,” Samhail said.
“I’m not leaving you in the dungeon so Morland can taunt you, and there are no other holding cells within the Citadel.
I could lock you in one of the guest rooms, but I don’t trust you by yourself, so that leaves us with my room, where I can keep an eye on you. ”
Talyn started to respond, but she jumped in surprise as the door in the hall next to her opened, and a bleary-eyed Axenus stepped out.
“What’s going on out here?” the merman asked, yawning.
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes but started when he saw Talyn.
“What is she doing out of her cell?” he asked Samhail.
“Bressen’s mind control over Morland wore off. He must be too far away to keep it up,” Samhail said. “Morland spent the day torturing Talyn with the details of her sister’s torture and murder.”
Axenus’s eyes snapped to hers, seeking confirmation. She didn’t say anything, but she was sure he read the truth in her face.
“Gods above,” Axenus said. “So where are you taking her then?”
His tone suggested he already knew the answer.
“My-”
“I can stay with Axenus,” Talyn cut in before Samhail could answer.
Both men looked at her incredulously.
“You said you needed to put me somewhere you could keep an eye on me,” she said to Samhail. “I’m sure Axenus can do that.”
Samhail’s eyes narrowed menacingly, but Talyn looked at Axenus, waiting for a reply.
The merman just stared blankly at her for a moment before he chuckled. Talyn frowned at him.
“If you think I’m going to challenge him and insist you stay in my room, you’re even more insane than I first thought,” Axenus said to her as he cocked his head toward Samhail.
“Or you must think I’m more insane than I actually am.
Either way, I’m not sure who’d end up slitting my throat sooner, you or him. ”
Talyn’s frown deepened. “You aren’t really afraid of him, are you? I’d bet on you in a fight over him any day.”
Next to her, Samhail growled, but Axenus just chuckled again.
“Try to keep the moaning to a minimum,” the merman said as he turned to head back into his room. “Some of us need our rest.”
Talyn’s mouth fell open as Axenus closed the door behind him, and she turned to find Samhail smirking at her.
“Nice try,” he said. “Now let’s go.”
Talyn clamped her mouth shut again and followed Samhail as he rounded a corner into another hallway. He stopped in front of a heavy wooden door and pushed it open to let her in.
The room she stepped into was relatively sparse compared to the grandeur she’d seen at Tide’s End.
To be sure, the furniture was clearly expensive, but there wasn’t much of it besides the bed, a couch, a few chairs, and a table.
The space lacked the statues, vases, and other ornamentations that most rooms in a fortress or palace like this might boast, and she had a feeling the room’s occupant preferred it that way.
Talyn’s eyes drifted back to the bed. It was large and sturdy, easily able to fit Samhail and probably several companions for the night. It was also unslept-in at the moment, its covers still pulled neatly over it. Despite the late hour, Samhail hadn’t gone to bed yet.
She’d always assumed he woke up to come down and check on her, but the state of his bed suggested he stayed out late, then came down to the dungeon on his way home. It made her wonder where he spent his nights…or with whom.
“Get in bed,” Samhail said from behind her.
Talyn turned to see he’d already removed his shirt, but thankfully his pants were still on.
She’d almost forgotten how beautiful he was.
The swells of his chest muscles, the way she could count every one of the ripples on his stomach, and the sharp V of muscles that traced a path straight down to his groin all did things to her insides.
“I assume you’ll be sleeping on the couch,” she ventured.
“That has as much chance of happening as you sleeping in Axenus’s room,” he said.
She sighed. She’d figured as much, and she was too exhausted to argue, so she just climbed into the bed and tried to get comfortable.
Talyn felt the bed dip heavily under Samhail’s weight as he slid in behind her, and she yelped a second later as his arm snaked around her waist to pull her back against his body.
“Samhail!” she squeaked as he settled up against her.
“Just a precaution to make sure you don’t end up somewhere you’re not supposed to be,” he said. “Now go to sleep.”
His breath brushed over the side of her face, and she smelled the slight tang of alcohol on it.
Talyn stayed awake until she felt Samhail’s breathing even out and become steady.
Until recently, she hadn’t been able to sleep with someone else’s body wrapped around hers, but – as with everything else – Samhail seemed to be the exception to the rule.
Perhaps she was just so exhausted from dealing with Morland that her body no longer cared about the mass of hard muscle cocooning her in.
It was oddly comfortable being nestled up next to him, and once she stopped fighting the sleep and let her eyes flutter shut, Talyn slept sounder than she ever had before.