Now it was my turn to be stunned. He’d never indicated that he was interested in my weapon before. I went over to our bed, to where I’d left it under my pillow. I brought it back to where he stood.
“May I?” he asked. It was the first time in a long time he’d asked for something instead of demanding it.
I spun my sword around so that he could take the handle. “I’m surprised you offered me the non-pointed end first,” he said wryly.
He held my xiphos aloft, looking at it in the sunlight as he turned it one way and then the other. He lowered it and ran his fingers along the edges, careful not to cut himself while testing their sharpness.
“It is a finely crafted weapon,” he said, handing it back to me the same way I’d given it to him. “Wielded by a great warrior.”
Tears sprang into the corners of my eyes. Why did that mean more to me than every other compliment he’d ever given me?
I had to clear my throat before I could speak. “A great enough warrior that you wouldn’t mind if I went hunting for a terawolf?”
“You’re not hunting for a terawolf.”
“Why not?”
I had rendered him momentarily speechless so many times in this conversation and did so again. He finally collected himself enough to say, “Are you serious? Why don’t I want you to go looking for supernatural creatures that are, based on what you’ve told me, still hunting you? That have venom in their fangs and can turn invisible at will?”
“When you put it that way, you make it sound ...”Entirely unreasonable.I couldn’t tell him about the scroll. Not until I knew what it contained. “But what if I really, really needed to?”
“There is no reason for you to—” He sounded as if he might have been on the edge of getting angry and he pulled himself back, much as I had done myself earlier. His tone was much calmer when he said, “Wife, I would tie you to that bed before I’d let you do something so dangerous.”
The night of his birthday, he had told me what delicious things he would do to me if I were tied up, and I had to draw in a shaky breath. I put my hand over my heart, as if that would stop it from galloping.
And he noticed.
I saw his eyes darken, saw the knot in his throat bob, his jaw clench. A heavy and weighted silence stretched between us. He leaned forward as if he wanted to be closer, and then right when I thought he would reach for me, he took several steps back.
“No terawolves,” he said as he sat back down at his desk.
Even though I’d promised myself that I was going to try and be more honest with him, I was going to have to allow one small lie of omission.
Because I would absolutely be headed out to catch a terawolf as soon as possible.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I spent most of the day training with my sisters, practicing the magic using Io’s fortification potions. We could last for longer, and now that we knew how to stop using our aspects, we didn’t have to worry about passing out.
Late afternoon I sat at the table in my room, reading one of the books Suri had chosen for me. I skimmed the pages, hoping something might stand out.
Luna basked on the table in a fading ray of sunlight. She was nearly the same size as Io’s cat and slept constantly. I had moved her over to the table, thinking she might enjoy the warmth. I had never realized that animals grew so quickly.
She woke suddenly and yawned as she stretched. Her eyes slowly blinked open, and when she saw me, it almost looked like she was smiling.
“Did you enjoy your nap?” I asked her.
Yes.
One moment I was looking at her and the next she was gone.
Vanished.
Startled, I stood up. My heart thudded hard in my chest. I touched the spot where she’d been resting. Not there.
So she hadn’t turned invisible.
Twenty seconds later she reappeared in the same spot.
