“Platonic it is,” he agreed. But then, because he couldn’t help himself, he added, “Does this mean you won’t be helping me take my pants off again?”
Gantalla rolled her eyes and smacked his arm lightly. But she stood up and started heading for his room, and after sparing only a moment to admire the view of her shapely behind, Nalyx got up to follow her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nalyx lay awake in the early hours of the morning, feeling surprisingly relaxed, despite the fact that yet another night had passed without him being able to explore a woman’s body. Sunlight was filtering in around the curtain on his window, and Gantalla was curled up against his side. She was still wearing her shirt, and Nalyx had made a concession to her modesty by donning a pair of loose, cotton shorts. She was still asleep, her breathing slow and even, and he could feel the warm puffs of air against his skin. It felt entirely perfect.
The odd thought occurred to him that it would be nice to have someone to wake up to like this every morning. And strangely enough, the serving women didn’t count. When he woke up next to one of them, he was hungover more often than not from a night of hitting the liquor hard, or the woman was eager to wake him for a repeat session of the night before, not letting him relax or sleep in.
Not that he was complaining about morning sex, not in the slightest. Butthiswas different. Relaxed. Peaceful.
Good gods, was he actually thinking in terms of finding himself a wife? He’d never been interested in that sort of thing before, always seeing it as too much of a burden, too restrictive to be tied down to only one woman.
But all he could think now, watching Gantalla’s black hair splayed across the pillow, was that he wanted to see that sight every morning.
She was fascinating to talk to, and they’d chatted long into the night, sharing another cup or two of the bottle of whisky that still sat on Nalyx’s shelf. That, too, was unusual, in that he hadn’t finished the bottle yet. What was it about her that made him behave so uncharacteristically?
Finally, after about half an hour of lying there, Gantalla stirred, stretching lazily, then her eyes fluttered open.
“Morning,” she said, as she realised where she was, and then she smiled. “Seems you were right after all.”
“Told you I could keep my hands to myself,” Nalyx said, a wry grin on his face.
She chuckled. “No, I meant about the bed. It is more comfortable than the nurses’ quarters.”
He snorted out a laugh. “That, too.”
She settled down again, bringing one hand up to stroke his chest. A frisson of sensation shot through him at the contact, and he subtly angled his hips away from her. No need to interrupt the peace with his libido. “Did you sleep well?” she asked.
“Very.” He had, undisturbed by dark dreams of battle and soothed by the presence of a warm body beside him.
They lay in silence for a while, enjoying a few moments to just relax. Then Gantalla spoke again. “It occurred to me yesterday that there are no locks on any of the warriors’ rooms. When I came to collect my things yesterday, I could just walk right in. Is that safe? I mean, you’ve just got your weapons and armour lying around where anyone could sneak in and steal them.”
Nalyx raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Steal them? Not likely. No one would dare try and steal from one of the warriors.”
“They’re too scared of being caught and punished?”
Nalyx shook his head. He didn’t even know what the punishment would be for such a low act. “No, I mean everyone in town knows we need our equipment to keep them safe from the demons. Stealing from us would be like stabbing themselves in the foot. No one’s that stupid. And aside from that, there are certain perks to the serving women being able to access our quarters.”
“Like what?”
Nalyx frowned, then remembered that Gantalla was still new in town. She wouldn’t be aware of quite the way things worked here. “If one of the women wanted to give a warrior a nice surprise,” he said, his tone warming as he remembered that several women had done that very thing for him in the past, “they come over in the afternoon and wait for us to get back, and…” How should he phrase this? “And we get a nice, warm gift laid out on our bed, ready to have some fun.”
Gantalla sat up a little. “You mean they’d… You’ve come back and some woman is just sprawled out naked on your bed?” She sounded affronted by the idea.
“Yes, basically.”
“But what if the warrior’s coming back with another woman? Wouldn’t that cause problems?”
Nalyx shrugged. “If it was me, I’d just ask them to join in.”
Gantalla looked away, and he could see her trying to process the idea. “Doesn’t anyone ever get jealous?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. But that’s not the way it works. That’s not to say there aren’t any rules at all. If a woman’s married, none of the other warriors will touch her. That’s just a given. And if a warrior proposes marriage to a woman, it quickly becomes common knowledge that he’s not available for other women. But until he does, everyone’s pretty much fair game. And if he’s interested in a woman, but another woman thinks she can tempt him away, she’s entitled to try.”
“That doesn’t sound very honourable.” Gantalla lay down again, a frown on her face.
“Maybe things are different where you’re from. And I understand why that would be the case. But here… That’s just the way it is. I’ve never really thought about it before.”
