Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Antony
As quickly as I can, I reach for my smallest tunic, needing to move, to shake off the impact of Thyra’s words, the warmth that, even if I allowed it in…
Won’t survive the poison in my heart.
I pass her the tunic without turning toward her, pushing the clothing into her hand before she slips away from me.
“At dawn, we’ll return to the Starlit Court.
” I clear my throat, trying to rid my voice of its gruffness.
“I’ll take you to my sister first. She’ll prepare you to face my mother.
Once that’s over, we can visit my family’s ancestral library.
You can study everything we have on the Dragonstone Blade and the False Queen.
Maybe you’ll notice something we’ve missed.
You might have some knowledge about Oracles that makes all the difference. ”
It’s a lot to say to her when she’s standing naked behind me, the tunic still swaying at the corner of my view where she’s holding it and hasn’t pulled it on.
Her response is quiet. “Okay.”
Then, finally, comes the sounds of her dressing, and I give her another few seconds before I turn to find her covered once more.
Even my smallest tunic reaches her knees, but that’s just as well. I’m trying to ignore the fact that she’s naked under it.
“I need to put my armor back on, and then you will get some more sleep.” I scowl at her. “I’m going to carry you through the room and take you outside. That’s where my armor is.”
I haven’t forgotten the way she admonished me when I returned, her whisper-scream when she told me not to leave her sight again.
The more I speak, the harsher my voice grows. “You’re going to press your face to my neck, and you’re not going to fucking look at the room or anything in it as we pass through it. Do you understand?”
A stern command.
She gives me a smile and steps into my arms.
I scoop her up to my chest, pulling her legs around me, trying fervently to ignore the renewed shot of heat into my cock when the damn tunic rides all the way up past her ass, pushed up there by her legs, and my right hand closes around her naked backside.
She tucks her head into my neck, turning her face fully against me, and I mentally shout at myself to move fast before I lose my senses.
I hurry through the bathing room door, stepping quickly across the main room, taking a brief glance at the body and the discarded chain still wrapped around the man’s neck.
I’ll be back to assess him and clean up as soon as I’ve carried Thyra clear of the blood-splattered space and caged myself in armor again.
I need the boundaries the steel gives me. I need to know that the next time I touch her, it won’t be skin on skin, or I’ll lose my mind.
After adjusting her in my arms so I can pull the door closed and shut off the room, I urge her to slide back to her feet on the porch, but I hold her close for another moment, a heartbeat longer than I should, my arms suddenly refusing to open.
She tips her head back to see me.
There’s too much trust in her eyes right now.
What the fuck have I done?
I’m certain she’ll return to distrusting me soon enough.
“Stay there,” I command her, forcing myself to let her go before I hurry to the discarded pieces of my armor strewn across the porch, the steps, and the grass.
With every plate I place around my body, the weight settles around me and my blood calms, forming a cage I willingly accept.
After fixing the final piece to my body, I scoop up my axe and slip it back into its built-in holder at my back. Then, finally, I slide my helmet over my face.
Once again concealed, I take a deep breath and then expel it, attempting to exhale the scent of roses that clings to me like a forbidden promise.
Just like quelling my arousal, it doesn’t happen quickly.
Thyra leans against the wall beside the door, her arms wrapped around herself.
She’s shivering. It isn’t all that cold in the Iron Kingdom, but it’s cooler at night than I imagine the coast must be.
Now I face a new problem.
She can’t sleep in the bloodied room. I don’t have a spare blanket to wrap around her. Even if I hadn’t crawled up onto the bed, one side of the bedding was already splattered with her attacker’s blood. Worse, with my armor on, I can’t keep her as warm as she needs to be.
Maybe I could cut off the blanket’s sodden parts and wrap her up in what’s clean so she could sleep out here on the porch…
Just as I grimace at that less-than-ideal solution, a rush of wind at my back puts me on my guard, my hand shooting to my axe.
I relax as my eagle soars toward us, circles above the cabin, before he descends to the clearing directly in front of me.
Judging by the contented way he settles down onto the grass, his belly is full, and he’s ready to stay until we need to fly again.
I stop for a moment to consider the way he ruffles his feathers and tucks his wings to his sides.
There’s an idea.
“Thyra, come here,” I call, half-turning back to her. “You’re going to sleep under my bird’s wing.”
She pads toward me, her bare feet silent on the steps and then the grass. She pauses beside me for a small moment before she asks, “Are you sure that’s okay?”
I huff. “Yes, I’m—”
Oh. It’s suddenly clear her question wasn’t for me.
My eagle lifts his wing, adjusting his position so she can nestle closely beside him, tucking the tunic around her backside and behind her bent knees.
He closes his wing over her again, and she’s out of my sight. It unsettles me. I tell myself it shouldn’t. After all, I left her chained to my bed.
But that was before an assassin found us.
I cross the short distance to my eagle, squat beside him, and tug his wing up just a little, reassuring myself that Thyra’s still there.
Her eyes are already closed, and her breathing is calm, but the bruises around her neck are darkening.
Tomorrow, I’ll ask Cassia to find a way to cover them.
My mother can’t be allowed to believe that Thyra is vulnerable or wounded in any way.
When I lower my eagle’s wing, I find him glaring at me.
“Keep her warm,” I snap, unnerved by how quickly and willingly he provided for her needs. “And keep her safe.”
He bounces his head at me, giving a low, indignant squawk. As if he wouldn’t keep her safe.
Shaking myself, I head back to the cabin.
It’s time to examine her attacker and hope my fears aren’t confirmed.