Chapter 18 #3
He slides the hand off my cheek and presses it into my lower back, keeping distance between us. “Ah, but you were. I can hear your mind coming up with evil ideas. And if you can’t behave, you don’t get to move.”
“You have a vivid imagination.” I test his grip on my wrists. “And based on what I just felt, you are the one with evil ideas.”
“What you felt is irrelevant,” he says, though he doesn’t deny it. “I don’t sleep with staff. Ever.”
His mouth is close enough for me to feel his breath on my hair. Tingles spread from the spot.
Heat grows between my legs, making me wriggle without planning to.
I was teasing him, but all the lazy warmth he built in me is turning into something else.
And even if I don’t know exactly what could happen next, I am certain Alaris does.
He knows what to do about this fire. With just as much care and attention. And those fingers…
I curve my back against his restraining hand. I peek at him over my shoulder. “Then why are you holding me against a tree?”
He inhales and tenses.
Then suddenly he is gone. I grab the tree as I fall to flat feet. I was certain he was about to touch me, but he’s already on the road beside his horse. His hands are on the reins, his expression cool and composed.
A different type of heat burns through me then—annoyance. I want to put him on the back foot for once. I want to make it so he’s the one who’s flushed and struggling to find the words to say.
Still, the languid relief he gave my muscles hasn’t faded. I glare at him as best I can through hooded eyes, my bones rubbery.
His gaze flits over me, once. “If your muscles continue like that, pain could become a chronic problem. Return to your rooms now, and take a hot bath.”
My face burns. He returned to practical matters so quickly. “I’m not done with my duties for the day. The hawks—”
“I’ll manage the hawks for tonight. Just go back to your rooms and soak. No less than an hour. That is an order.”
He’s astride the midnight steed before I can object and gallops off toward the gates.
I take a few shaky breaths against the tree, caught between drowsiness, lust, and annoyance.
There’s embarrassment too, but I force that down.
He’s the one who brought our bodies so close in the first place.
He’s the one who became aroused while I swayed against him innocently.
And it was innocent…in the beginning, anyway.
I collect my cloak and my bag and trudge back to the castle. The short distance between the tree and the gate feels too far to bear. It’s a good thing he’s seeing to the hawks. I don’t think I could make it to the aviary, and if I did, I’d sleep on the bench.
I might sink down and rest right here in the dirt. Only the promise of a warm bath and cozy bed keeps my feet shuffling forward.
I open the door to my room, and my eyes fly wide. A figure is kneeling beside my bed. A maid. She peers up, curly hair bouncing.
Drina.
She springs upright. “You’re back!” She runs a hand over the edge of my bedspread, smoothing it. “Just checking if the linens need changing.”
Adrenaline chases every trace of relaxation out of my body. Drina has never cleaned my room before. And if she’s checking the linens, where is her basket of fresh ones? Why doesn’t she have a cart outside?
It looks like she was searching beneath my mattress. I usually keep my knife there, but thankfully, I brought it with me outside the wall.
I do my best to keep my face still, although I can feel the tension creeping back into my shoulders. “I came back early to rest.”
“Then I’ll get out of your way.” She curtsies and heads for the door, all smiles.
I can’t even fake one back. I’m frozen as she walks past. She pauses in the doorway, close enough that a chill crawls up my spine. She reaches out toward me, and I flinch as she tugs on a lock of my hair.
“Something in your hair,” she says with another smile. “Have a good rest, Lyra. See you later.”
Uncomfortable prickles roll over me. I wait until her footsteps fade.
Then I close the door, turn the lock, and attach the chain.
I rush to the bed and stand on the mattress.
I fish for the leather sack hidden in the canopy and feel the weight of my gold jewelry.
It’s still here. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t find it.
I slump onto the bed, each of the spots Alaris loosened reknotting as my breathing picks up. Maybe Drina is just a jealous maid, curious about why I seem to be favored with a larger room. Maybe she’s looking for something to steal.
Or maybe, she doesn’t believe I am who I say I am.
Regardless, if she found my jewels, she would know I’m not. No hawk keeper or governess would have that much gold.
If she’s suspicious, and word spreads, it might reach the palace. I’m sure they are listening for whispers of where I’ve gone. And if they catch me, they’ll drag me home, to the one place I’m certain the masked man will come for me right away.
I need to find the voidstone, now.
Which means I have to search the room it’s most likely to be hidden. The one room I’ve been avoiding: Alaris’s bedroom.