“How’d you even get in here?” I asked the little tyrant.
“Eliza delivered him last night,” Rathiel mumbled, his voice all rumbly from sleep. “After she, Calyx, and Levi returned. I thought having him with you might help you sleep.”
Well, it’d worked, considering I hadn’t suffered a single nightmare last night. And it warmed my heart that Rathiel had thought of that.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I said.
I tilted my head toward Rath, careful not to disturb the smug lump still purring away on my chest. Rathiel’s eyes were half-open, his celestial blues catching mine. He didn’t move much, though. Just watched me with that soldier’s stillness that made me wonder if he’d even really been sleeping in the first place.
“Who said I was asleep?” he asked before reaching over to stroke Purrgy’s back. The cat responded by, of course, purring even louder.
“You certainly looked asleep,” I told him.
His focus locked on me. “Any nightmares?”
“None whatsoever,” I assured him, smiling. “Kitty magic.”
“Hey, it was my idea,” Rathiel muttered.
A laugh slipped past my lips before I could stop it. “Fair point. Thank you.” I leaned over for a kiss but winced when Purrgy’s claws snagged my arm. I sucked in a sharp breath and straightened out. Thankfully, the jerk dislodged his claws and settled back down.
“Ginger tyrant,” I mumbled.
I turned my attention back to Rathiel and snickered when I found him full-on watching me.
“You’re staring,” I told him.
“Enjoying the view,” he countered. “It isn’t often we’re alone.”
The smile slipped from my face the second he finished the sentence. The last time we’d been alone, Sable had died. At least here, things were different. Here we had our own room complete with privacy in an outpost brimming with my entire army. But Rathiel’s words still struck a nerve.
I cleared my throat. “Where’s Vol?”
If Rathiel noticed my mood change—which he always did—he didn’t say a word. Instead, he rolled onto his back and stretched. “He opted to spend some time away from the ‘furred demon’ as he put it. I think he spent the night in Eliza’s room.”
I extricated myself from the fluffy furball and set him on the floor. He landed with a gentle thump, his tail flicking in complete disgust with me, then strutted toward the door. When I didn’t get up to let him out, he shot me an expectant look over his shoulder and released a loudmeow, a sound every cat owner in the universe understood.
I pushed upright with a groan, muscles aching from sleeping on a stone bed. The room spun a little, likely left over from the exhaustive magic I’d used to destroy the bomb but quickly settled. Every inch of me ached, but that was part and parcel of sleeping in Hell. My bed back on Earth hadn’t been the best, but it’d been a heck of a lot more comfortable than this. What I wouldn’t give for something with memory foam. Something that cradled my bones instead of broke them.
Once on my feet, I hobbled to the door and cracked it open just wide enough for Purrgy to saunter out. A part of me worried the hellspawn might make a meal out of him, but I had totrust them not to. Also, I’d threatened their very souls if anyone touched a hair on my furball’s head, and I’d meant every word.
I opened the door wider, about to step out and give any nearby hellspawn a death glare, when a strong hand closed around my waist and pulled me back. I stumbled backward into a wall of Rathiel, which was not a metaphor.
“Don’t go yet,” he murmured against my hair.
“I need to get out there,” I said, even though my body decided to lean back against him, without my permission. “I have corpses to raise and an army to train and?—”
“Stay,” he said, his arm tightening just enough to remind me how good it felt to be held. “Just for a bit. No one needs you right this second. Well, no one except me.”
He tugged me backward until my legs hit the stone bed.
“Rath…” I whined. “I don’t think?—”
“Exactly. Don’t think,” he murmured in my ear.
He dropped onto the bed first and pulled me into his lap like I weighed nothing. Heat bled through the thin fabric of his shirt, and his bare arms cinched around my waist.
“Everyone thinks you’re resting,” he murmured, brushing his mouth along my temple. “No need to rush.”
