Chapter Sixteen
BRIGID
Morning light was gently dulled inside of the nest, but I greeted it all the same with an irritated glare, knowing full well that I was alone.
Torion had not returned to the keep in the night, a fact I was sure of because I'd left the nest a half-dozen times and asked the guard stationed outside of the front doors.
I huffed, sitting up in the bed, a flow of pillows toppling from where I'd shoved them to land behind my back. I was exhausted, annoyed, and fighting a nauseous worry that made me even more annoyed. Torion hadn't strictly promised to return last night, but Iassumedhis eagerness to reunite with me, or at least the call of his rut, might ensure the trip was short.
Maybe it would've been if you hadn't insulted him on the way out, I thought, groaning and scrubbing my face with my hands.
A low murmur, deep in the keep, rumbled through the velvet curtains, dulled but familiar, and my hands dropped to my lap.
Torion.
It was still early morning, which meant he would've departed at dawn.
Grinning, I wrestled against blankets and pillows to reach the foot of the bed, snatching up my robe and nearly putting it on backwards in my haste to get out into the hall. It wasn't until I was opening the door that I heard the second voice.
A soft, husky feminine laugh echoed up from the great hall of the keep. "Are the beds made of stone too?"
Delusional hope flared for a moment. Maybe not all of the visiting dragonkin had made their way home yesterday. Maybe that hadn't been Torion's voice I'd barely heard, but another?—
"Certainly not. Didn't you see all the sheep on the way here?" Torion asked, his voice so easy I could hear the smile he was wearing even before I'd reached the balcony.
"You sleep on sheep?" the woman teased in answer.
My heart sank, dead weight now, as I looked down to see them together, and my stomach turned. She was pretty and windblown, with dark brown hair hanging in braids over her shoulders and down her back, buxom and tall and womanly. Not a young omega, but younger than me, I expected.
"It's a better rumor than what's usually said," Torion muttered with a crooked smile, his face starting to lift, to turn in my direction. I would duck behind a pillar and then retreat to…where? The room I'd taken when I'd first arrived? My cottage?
"Quit flirting with my omega."
I froze, and Torion's gaze found me, but my own flashed toward the three men entering through the keep doors, where the words had come from. A handsome figure with dark eyes and hair and deep umber wings took long strides to reach the woman Torion had been speaking with.
"Quit accusing your friends of flirting with me," she volleyed back.
"I will when they stop flirting with you," he said, his smile lascivious and hungry as he wrapped an arm around her anddrew her to his chest. But the kiss he placed on the crown of her head was tender and chaste.
"Ahh, this must be she," called one of the other men, the largest of the group, with long hair and ragged clothes but a confident sonorous voice, and I realized I'd been spotted.
Torion was still watching me, and the jealousy that had struck me hard at the sight of him with a beautiful woman sizzled away into nothing at the blatant hunger in his stare, the hope and expectation. I caught my breath and turned for the stairs. I was wrapped in a robe over my nightdress, but there was an ease amongst the group that spoke of genuine friendship, and they were all clearly just landed from a flight.
Torion reached me halfway up the stairs, the heat of his hands branding against my hips as he caught me, bending slightly to press his nose to my temple, the rustle of his breath as he scented me making the fine hairs on my body stand at eager attention.
"We woke you," he said, low enough for only me. I could see the others watching us over his shoulder, but I gave into the urge to close my eyes.
"No. Just drew me out of bed."When I heard your voice. Because I've been waiting for you."Should I get dressed first?"
"We'll all go up together to freshen up. Come say hello first?" He leaned back, brow furrowed. "There are two alphas."
And I had said I found alphas oppressive. "And friends of yours?" I asked instead. I did not excel at soundingsweet, but I was fairly sure I'd managed to be less temperamental than I had the night he'd left.
"Yes, but don't let that prejudice you," he said, smiling now and stepping back, his hand finding mine to guide me down. "I…offered them all a place to rest tonight."
I resisted the urge to laugh at myself, at my silly plan to seduce and tease and bed Torion straight upon his return to the keep, but I let my smile bloom and turned it to our guests.
"We have rooms refreshed from the selection ceremony. We're well prepared for welcome guests," I said. Torion's fingers squeezed around mine.
