"The breeches stay on."
She shot him a pointed glare, lips pursing. "I'm sorry, Mr. Aziel Haze. Need I remind you that, despite this ring you slipped onto my finger, I amnotyour wife. You don't get to tell me what to do."
"What if youweremy wife?" He was suddenly right in front of her, his lean body towering over hers. She could feel the warm heat radiating from his body, the scent of his death replaced with that same smell of cherry blossoms that made her head spin. "What if you were my wife and I told you that I wanted you to keep as many layers of clothing on your body in a place like this because I couldn'tstandthe way all of those men downstairs were looking at you?"
This was not good.
Her body was reacting to him, her mind replaying the path his hands made on her body when she was dreaming. Her cheeks were red. She knew they were. It was one thing she hated most about herself. If she was embarrassed or aroused or…flusteredin any type of way, her face and neck would surely give her away. She had to stop this.
"Well, when you put it like that," She sighed, hands bunching at the waistband once again. "I'd tell you that you can fuck right off." And with that, she shoved the breeches down her legs and kicked them off the rest of the way. Aziel glowered at her, the muscles in his jaw jumping when she smiled up at him. "Marriage doesn't mean a woman has to change who she is and a good husband would respect it." She could feel his eyes on her as she brushed past him, but she merely scooped the article of clothing off of the floor and walked to the bed. She plopped down onto it with a grunt, absolutely paying him no mind as she crawled under the blankets. "A good husband also would not take his wife to stay in a place where one of his past lovers was currently employed." Nymiria smarted.
She wanted to keep going because she had a list of things he did that a husband wouldn't do. At this point, she was taking it easy on him.
"A good wife wouldn't intentionally do things to piss off her husband."
She let out a dramatic laugh. "Ha! It's a good thing we aren't really married, then, isn't it?"
He was grumbling to himself now. Even with her eyes closed, she could already see the expression on his face. She'd be lying if she said that it didn't please her to some degree. It was a nice distraction from everything that was happening, from all that she'd experienced in the last several days. Her mind was a war zone at the moment and getting under his skin was the closest thing to entertainment that she had.
Nymiria was nearly dozing off when the other side of the bed dipped down and the blankets were tossed back just enough to allow room for the body sliding in beside her. Her eyes snapped open when her heart gave a loud thud. "What are you doing?" She nearly shrieked.
The way the moon reflected off the color of his eyes made it seem as if they were glowing. Nymiria swallowed, her body going stock still when his gaze dipped to her lips. "I'm getting ready to go to bed." He said blandly.
"I didn't agree to this."
Aziel's gaze sharpened. "You think that I want to sleep in this bed with you? I'd rather sleep out back with the pigs."
She shot up onto her elbows at the exact time that he did. "What's stopping you?" She hummed.
There was a disappointing beat of silence as Aziel's eyes shifted to the door of their room. The loud thumping of boots made her brow furrow. "Someone is coming." He whispered.
There was only one person in that tavern that would have known who she was, if only by her eyes, alone. That thought made it harder for her to breathe—made her body feel as if it was being slowly consumed by ice. She swallowed. "Aziel—"
Nymiria went still when his hand fell over her mouth and upon realizing, he immediately pulled away and held a finger up to his own lips before slipping out of the bed. She was right behind him, both of them moving to the door and pressing their ears against it to get a better idea of what was happening outside.
"I'm telling you. It'sher. I saw her eyes and I would never fucking forget those eyes."An angry voice seethed.
Neither of them had to guess about who the man was talking about. There hadn't been many women in the tavern with eyes that rare. Nymiria felt her blood run cold, but it was quickly halted by that warm feeling spreading over her again. She looked up at Aziel, assessing the hard lines of his face to try and get an idea of what he was thinking.
After Nymiria had been forced to take the throne and she made her horrible and reckless decision to seek help from their enemy, there was a group of men in the kingdom that hadn't taken too kindly to her inexperience. They wanted her dead. And Nymiria would never,everforget those faces.
She wondered what Aziel thought this was about—if he knew they were searching for her, the princess who betrayed them, or if he believed them to be Huntsmen looking for any straggling Mystics left out in the wild.
"Siobhan said they were on this floor. She said the girl should be alone."Nymiria flinched at the sound of one of the doors at the end of the hall busting open, but Aziel was already hauling her away from the door, hissing curses to himself as he looked for…something.
"We can go out the window." She suggested.
"They'll more than likely have someone outside." Aziel shook his head, his eyes darting around the room before landing on her. "Can you do another glamour?" He asked.
"I only know three." She almost whined, her fear and Aziel's magic warring with one another inside her body—quickly shifting back and forth from fear to that blanketed calm.
"Justthree?"
She shrugged, forcing herself to ignore the bewildered look in his eyes as she began shifting. Aziel shifted, too. His shoulders broadened, his hair turned a few shades darker, and the blue of his eyes melted away. He blinked at her with dark green eyes, giving a nod of approval at the jet-black waves that were now falling over her shoulders. The only thing that couldn't be masked were the silver vines and flowers that were crawling up her body.
Just as Aziel suspected, they were definitely going to be a problem. He needed them to look as human as possible and those shiny little moonflowers were going to give them away. But the sounds of doors being kicked in were growing closer. With each harsh sound of wood crunching and locks breaking, Nymiria flinched, looking to Aziel with wide eyes until the door directly next to theirs crashed open.
Of all times, he pickednowto freeze up? She scoffed, moving back towards him and shoving him into the wall. Aziel was murmuring something to himself, his eyes giving a glazed look that had her hesitating.
