Voices surrounded me, spoken as though a thick door muffled the sound. Someone nudged me forward. Were my feet moving? Air shifted, cooler than the corridor, there was softer light.
“All hells you’re enormous.”
I was tossed backward onto something soft and cushioned.
I laughed. “In more than one place.”
Skadi’s soft features hovered close to mine, as though she had me pinned on my back. Was she straddling me? Bleeding gods, I was a lucky bastard.
Until she shifted away and something soft was placed behind my head. “Spoken like a man truly trying to compensate.”
“Only you . . . will know from . . . now on, I suppose.”
Cool air struck my feet. Where were my boots? Next, a weight of fur tickled beneath my chin. Words were a challenge, too muddled to speak.
But I remained lucid enough to catch a soft sigh, then, “Such an alluring nightmare.”
Chapter 11
The Nightmare Prince
Sunlight was absolute shit.
Horrid and unfeeling, it sliced through my eyes like a molten stoker fresh from the fire. One arm fell over my eyes, but the weight of it added a pounding rush of blood to my skull.
Another groan, and I rolled onto my shoulder, cursing when whatever held me off the floor failed me, and I landed face down on a scratchy, woven rug. “Damn the gods.”
Eyes half opened, I padded around until I found purchase on a table’s edge that felt sturdy enough and heaved myself onto my knees. I hooded my eyes with my hands to keep the light from attacking again, and peered about.
I was in a sitting room of sorts. Gold filigree edged a dark inglenook. There were shelves with scattered books, some in stacks, others flipped onto their sides. The narrow bench seat where I slept was half covered in a fur cloak.
Atop the table was a tin of water and a few crushed herbs.
“Take them.”
I whirled around, the movement sending nauseous waves through my insides and my head spinning.
Skadi, dressed in a simple slate gown, strode into the room, threethick tomes cradled in her arms. She added the books to a sturdy satchel on the floor, and once she stood, pointed at the herbs. “Take them, or you’ll likely retch on the sea.”
The sea?
Skadi folded her arms over her chest. “Are you prepared at all? The ships will be setting sail before the noon sun.”
She spun around and kept stacking books and furs and what appeared to be diverse gowns for all seasons.
Gods. We were to sail home. With my wife.
I was vowed. A man with a household of his own. “The vows.”
I fell back to the rug, the heels of my hands dug into my eyes, and another groan broke free.
“Ah, did your disappointment still rise with the sun?”
With a slight lift to my palms, I glared at her. “You twist my words.”
She shook her head and went back to her preparations.
Bile teased the back of my throat. A few deep breaths through my nose, and I sat up, slowly staggering to my feet. Gods, I smelled like I’d rolled in a goat pen—sweat and leather and old drink. Careful not to stumble, I took the herbs and added them to the water, tilting the tonic onto my tongue in one swallow.
