They quickly paid an extra fee to Tenebrae for the mess and inconvenience before Traveling back to the castle. Razik immediately went his own way once Kailia was settled in their rooms, and Cethin found Niara. He’d been right. The wound needed extra care, much like when he’d been stabbed by Kailia’s dagger. He’d been feeling groggy, and his vision had even blurred some. He’d assumed that was his body demanding rest, but now he wondered if it had more to do with her weapons. The arrowhead was smaller than the dagger, and that would explain why it’d taken longer to affect him.
When he finally pushed through the doors to their rooms an hour later, he wasn’t surprised to find the sitting room empty. He was surprised to find her still awake though, sitting against the headboard with that book propped against her knees.
She looked up, gaze lingering on his bare torso before sliding to the wound and finally his face.
“Still not dead,” he said with a wink.
“Those are different pants,” she replied.
He huffed a laugh. “Niara insisted I bathe before she treated the wound. Said it’d be pointless otherwise.”
Kailia nodded, eyeing him warily. “And now you will disappear to wherever it is you go in the nights?”
“Are you missing me, wife?” he asked wryly as he removed his shoes.
When he turned back, she was watching him, hands smoothing over the furs on the bed. “I…enjoyed the time inShadowfen. The fighting, yes, but also the… I enjoyed the time. Would you have slept there?”
His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“You never sleep,” she said in exasperation. “Would you have slept if we’d stayed there tonight?”
Perplexed by where this conversation was going, he said carefully, “I sleep, Kailia. Not often, but I do. I need to sleep, actually, and I was planning to do so in another room.”
She nodded again, hands still moving over the furs.
“Unless you want me to sleep here?” he ventured, bracing himself for whatever innocent snark was about to come from her.
But instead, she nodded to herself before she said, “I think sleeping in the same bed would be a small start.”
He blinked in surprise. “Kailia… Are you sure? People move around when they sleep.”
“I know that.”
“Okay, and if you wake up pressed against me or my arm is around you, am I going to be stabbed?”
“Possibly,” she affirmed.
He stared at her for another long moment before he silently made his way to the bed. Pulling back the covers, he blew out the candles on the bedside table before he slipped between the sheets, relaxing into the pillow. Truth be told, he had rarely slept here even before Kailia had become a part of this. He’d actually forgotten how comfortable this bed was.
His eyelids were already heavy, and he felt her shift next to him.
“Relax, Kailia,” he said into the dark room. “I can feel your heart racing.”
“You cannot,” she scoffed, but her tone was breathy. Anxious.
Cethin reached for one of the extra pillows, placing it between them like a barrier. He couldn’t promise it would keepthem from finding one another in their sleep. If anything, their magic was going to seek each other out. But the point wasn’t to prevent anything, only to give her a semblance of comfort.
This was a small start, and as he finally gave in to the sleep that called to him, all he could think was that maybe the stabbing would be worth it.
Chapter 27
Kailia
Snapping up straight, she turned to the right to see if there was a king in the bed beside her.
Instead, she found a sanded stone wall.
Her gaze falling to her lap, she smoothed her hand over the scratchy wool blanket. The air was musty and humid. She was in a small bed scarcely large enough for a grown male.
