“I missed your brutal honesty, you know that?”
She laughed. “You missed Thorne’s home cooking, you mean.”
“Are they back yet?” I asked.
“Here and gone a day ago,” she said quietly. “They told us what happened in Grey Oak.”
“The Withered made it back to the caves then?”
She nodded. “Along with the contingent they recruited.”
I exhaled. “How many?”
“Not enough,” she admitted regretfully. I’d known it wouldn’t be. “But a start. Now, come on. I’ll give you all the details later. You look asleep on your feet.”
“I think Vanya gave my old room to Callan,” I said, stifling a yawn. “But I don’t mind the floor.”
“You’re not sleeping on the floor,” Rydian said, stepping into our path.
My heart stuttered.
Keres arched a brow at him. “And where exactly do you suggest she sleep?”
Rydian’s eyes met mine. “With me.”
My breath caught. Heat curled low in my stomach.
Keres’s brows shot up to her hairline. Daegel choked on his own spit behind us. From behind my old bedroom door came a faint, muffled, “Of course she does,” from Callan, because apparently the gods hated me enough to give him perfect hearing.
I swallowed. “Rydian?—”
He stepped toward me. Even tired, filthy, and half feral from sleepless travel, he looked like a nightmare carved into the shape of a male. A very handsome, very tempting male whose attention bordered on obsession just now.
Suddenly, Keres was gone, and we were standing alone in the hallway.
“Aurelia,” he murmured in a voice that sent a shudder of pleasure through me, “Come to bed.”
The way he said it, the question brimming in his depthless eyes—it felt like he was asking for so much more than one night. And I was more than willing to grant it.
Rydian extended his hand.
I took it.
The decision settled between us like gravity—inevitable, certain, ancient.
“Come,” he said softly. “Sleep. Before your legs give out.”
He tugged me toward the door to his room.
My pulse thundered as we reached it.
Inside, the room was dimly lit. Clean. Familiar in a way that made something in my chest ache. A heavy bed. A small table. A single candle flickering.
I stepped inside.
Rydian closed the door behind us with a soft click.
Shadows curled around his feet as he leaned back against it—watching me in a way that made every inch of my skin feel too tight.
