Her hair hung in a long braid over her shoulder. It was the color of starlight, but deeper than only silver—sometimes when the lightstruck just right there was a flash of amethyst, blue, or pale gold in her hair. Secret shades, much like the secrets she kept tucked away in those eyes.
She was draped in a silken robe, nothing covering her feet, and tucked under her arm was a thick, black leather book with yellowed pages.
Over her head, Dorsan met my gaze. “As stated in the alliance of Dokkalfar and alver, the princess Skadinia and Prince Jonas shall share a chamber each full moon. The alliance clearly states a bed will be shared.”
“What?” I pressed a palm to my chest. “You mean I can’t ravish my wife on the floor? Perhaps the chair? I’ve been rather inclined to try a position involving my desk.”
Dorsan’s smooth, unruffled demeanor nearly shifted in a bit of shock. Damn, it was close. I would get him eventually.
My wife, on the other hand, looked properly scandalized. Lips parted, eyes wide, I did enjoy that rosy flush that always took the tips of her ears.
The elven guard cleared his throat and backed away. “Until dawn, then.”
“Unless we do not feel like emerging after all the lovemaking it seems we will be doing, Dorsan.” Skadi did not flinch, not the slightest twitch of her lips as she spoke and entered the room.
I nearly choked on my own breath. Her smug little smirk flooded my veins with heat—annoyance or something else, I wasn’t certain—but she looked fiercely pleased with herself when she strode toward my desk, her imposing book in hand.
The guard seemed a touch paler when he closed the door.
I clicked the lock and faced the . . .aggravatingcreature invading my bedchamber. “Well played, Wife.”
“You are not the only one who can unsettle the nerves.” The spine of the book crackled when she opened the pages to a previously marked place. “In fact, much of my existence unsettles folk.”
She wasn’t wrong.
The woman shook my steady footing often, but I did not think itwas the same way she meant. Apprehensive glances followed her aplenty. Not only here, but I noted much the same on Natthaven.
What was I supposed to do now? I was no stranger to sleeping with a woman, but I was a stranger to sleeping with a woman in my bed.
I took lovers anywhere but here—not in my room.
It was too close, too personal. It opened hope for expectations I never intended to deliver.
“Do you plan to sit over there all night?” I asked when silence went on too long.
“You heard Dorsan.” Skadi didn’t look up from the page. “I mustsleepbeside you. So, I believe you already have your answer. When it is time to sleep, we will sleep. Until then, I’ll remain here. It is a long book though. Could be some time.”
Another frown. Soon, my mouth would be horribly set in a downward turn.
She wanted to play indifferent, and I would be happy to test her tolerance. “If I’m right, that is the saga of the seven raven brothers?”
Skadi nodded. “And the golden maiden. A fae tale I haven’t read before, but it’s adequately interesting for now.”
I unlaced the front of my tunic. “It’s a romantic tale.”
“Hmm.”
“About a fated love that emerges between the maid and one of the brothers.”
“I assumed that was the design of the story.”
I yanked my tunic over my head. Skadi tried to hide it, but she looked. She swallowed a little harder and nearly pinned her nose to the pages. “Are you going to sleep now?”
“No.” I strode across the room. “I plan to wash while you read.”
“Good.” She said, voice strained. “You look rather . . . unkempt.”
Did I? With a discreet sniff under my arm, I settled that the work on the upper room earlier had left a bit of a smell behind.
