A lump formed in his throat. Had she felt him? He tugged his hand away. “How, uh, how is your shoulder?”
“It’s perfect.”
“Good.”
Dyna faced forward, this time with a real smile. She moved closer to the foyer, bouncing on her toes to look over the crowd for Zev. Cassiel stayed by the door, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed as he watched her, ignoring the tingle her touch left on his skin.
Their Blood Bond was establishing much quicker than he had thought. Dyna’s presence and her emotions coursed through him constantly. Her short bursts of confusion could only mean she felt him too.
He tried to control his own emotions, but having them out on display filled him with a jumble of them. It was bad enough that he had hers to deal with too. He attempted to put space between them, to shoulder her aside as he had before, but when he did, her responding sadness flooded him with guilt.
It was exasperating. He didn’t have time for trivial things such as feelings, but he couldn’t shake off the chaotic ones raging inside of him. It was a mixture of anxiety for breaking another Celestial law, an exhilaration that his blood worked, and disgrace for what he had done to her.
Dyna was his Blood Bonded. The significance wasn’t lost on him.
And saving her had also answered a question he had always wondered about his impure blood. He healed a human. That must mean his blood was divine enough to slay the Shadow. She didn’t need to risk her life crossing Urn. He could keep her safe.
Cassiel pressed on his temples. But what of the map?
He finally had a chance to reach Mount Ida. He needed Dyna to get there. Was it worth risking her life for his aim? A darker thought rose above the rest: he may not find what he searched for on that island.
“Redheads are always the ripe ones, yeah?”
Cassiel glanced at a table set by the wide windows near the entry where a group of four men sat and drank. They were laughing, spouting vulgarities, and all had their eyes pinned on Dyna.
“Fine tartlet, that one,” said a bearded man in a cocked hat. “I wouldn’t mind having a go with her in the heather.”
A dark-skinned man with a red rag tied around his head laughed and tossed back a swig. “That one looks highborn, Garik. She’d never pay a gobshite bastard like you any mind.”
Garik laughed and said to a skinny man with a nest of ginger hair beside him, “Aye, that’s what this smug twat said about the last trollop to warm me bed.”
A larger man, burly and flat-nosed, cackled loudly. “Aye, you’re always rutting the lassies. How do you manage it with your ugly arse?”
“Why, it’s simple. Women like men who tell them the truth. To that sweet thing there, I’ll say, ‘Miss, I’m a seafaring man needing a place to berth my ship, and the dock between your thighs looks a lovely place to moor.’”
Rage blazed through Cassiel as their infuriating laughter rang in his head. Namir was wrong. Good clothing didn’t divert the wrong attention. Men were vile regardless of how one was dressed.
They quieted with his approach, and he loomed over Garik. “Attempt it, and you’ll have no ship to berth.”
The men stared at him for a second then burst with hysterical laughter. They laughed so hard tears welled in their eyes, a couple smacking the table.
Garik’s mouth twisted in a mocking sneer. “You shouldn’t spit out threats you can’t keep,boy.”
Cassiel clenched his fists. The insufferable man might learn he was very capable of keeping threats.
“Cassiel,” Dyna came to his side. She hadn’t heard their conversation but must have sensed his fury. It was burning through him, heating his head. Her wary gaze flickered to the snickering men leering at her. She took his arm and tried to pull him away. “Let’s wait by the door.”
Garik smirked and took a drink. “Ah, so she is with you, then. My apologies. You’ve done well for yourself, boy. Fine tartlet she is. Too fine for the likes of you. I can see why you wouldn’t want to share.”
Cassiel ground his teeth. He itched to wipe that nasty grin off the whoremonger’s face.
“Come on,” Dyna pulled on him harder, and he allowed her to turn him around. “We don’t want any trouble,” she said to the men. “Good day.”
“Aye, good day it is, love,” Garik replied as his eyes dragged up her body. “Might we make it a good night as well? I bet you taste quite sweet.”
“Mind your damn tongue!” Cassiel shouted.
“Believe me, boy, one night with me and she won’t mind my tongue at all.”
