“It matters not.”
“You don’t deny it?”
I nearly laughed aloud. Deny Lady Lyra was seductive? It would be akin to denying my father had descended into madness beginning the day my mother died.
“I do not ask permission,” I told him as we entered the palace gates. “Merely to advise you of my plan as I will need your aid.”
Dren didn’t hesitate. “Tell me what you need, and I’ll see it done.”
“Tonight,” I said, “I retrieve the Stone of Mor’Vallis. Here’s what I need you to do…”
12
LYRA
With little else to do but wait, I utilized Terran’s bathing chamber, marveling at the display of lights and coziness of a space even the grandest of Aetherian bathing chambers could hardly rival. After dressing, I wandered his bedchamber, enjoying the soft, thick woven rug beneath my feet which softened the blackstone floor. I stared a bit too long at his large canopy bed which stood at the chamber’s center, framed in dark wood with clean, strong lines.
How many had he taken in that bed over the many years he’d been alive? Were they all Gyorian? Likely so. Pulling my thoughts away from what it would be like to ride one such as Terran, or find myself beneath his thick frame as he attempted to dominate me, Gyorians known for liking control both in the bedchamber and outside of it, I perused the rest of his chamber.
Along one wall, shelves held maps, old tomes, and a carved box bearing the royal crest. It was a warrior’s room, aye. But not an unfeeling one. Terran’s bedchamber was, in fact, so different from the wings of the Gyorian palace where I had stayed previously, it was difficult to believe they were one and the same.
The door slammed open.
I turned, unsurprised to see Terran filling its frame.
“Do you plan to dislocate every door in the palace? Or are you capable of opening one as most do, without pulling it from its hinges?”
Closing it, he inspected the very much “in place” hinges, making his point. Covered in dirt, he strode past me toward the bathing chamber.
“You would do well to hide yourself to the solar for a time. Supper will be arriving shortly.”
Hardly glancing at me, he stopped at the bathing chamber’s entrance. “Unless, of course, you wish to hide yourself in here. With me.”
“I would,” I lied, pretending I’d not imagined him in that tub with me, “but I’ve already bathed.”
“As I can see. But ’tis much more enjoyable with a partner than alone. Perhaps you need another?”
This seduction had become a game between us. One I did not intend to lose.
What will you do when I call your bluff, Prince Terran?
Pretending to think it over, I headed to the solar, giving him a moment to disarm. But just as he disappeared under the archway’s curtain, I spun and followed him inside instead.
Heart pounding, I entered the chamber as water began to fill the cavernous tub.
“I’ve changed my mind,” I said, startling him. “Perhaps a second bath will do after all. It was quite a luxurious experience, one I would not have expected here. In Gyoria.”
Eyes narrowed, he watched me, clearly not believing my actions would match my words.
How far will you go to prove a point, Lyra?
With him? Too far, likely.
Without looking away, Terran took off his tunic once again. This time, as he began to remove the linen shirt beneath it, I didn’t stop him. Instead, I unfastened my belt. Every bit of skin he revealed was tanned. And muscled. Like most Gyorians, he was large… Terran’s strength one of his greatest assets. Rows of ridges on his stomach. His biceps, and shoulders, flexed as he tossed his shirt to the floor.
He was, in a word, glorious.
“Like what you see?” he taunted.
