“Is something amiss?” Cassian wondered.
I tucked the locket into my shirt and shook my head. “Nope. Just testing out the shirt.”
We made our bed, and lay in it, too. I slipped beneath the sheets and admired the softness of his silk shirt as the cloth pressed against my body. Cassian snuffed out the candles, plunging the room into darkness except for the hearth and a faint light from the window. The bed sank a little as he joined me on the other side of the large king-sized bed.
I just had to ask the question. “So is this bed really large enough for a king?”
He chuckled. “It’s slightly smaller than my own, but comfortable.”
I burrowed deep under the covers and let out a soft sigh. “Goodnight…”
“Goodnight.”
Sleep was blissfully quick to come, and I had vague dreams of shadows and smiling men offering tainted gifts. The chocolate was tempting, but that promise of dark adventure in his magnetic blue eyes warned me that something was amiss.
I awoke some time later when something looped itself around my waist. A yelp escaped me, and I tried to leap out of the bed. The intruder tightened their grip around me, and it was then that I realized what had captured me.
It was Cassian. His arm was now wrapped around my midsection.
I twisted around and glared at the darkness of my shoulder. “What are you doing?”
His murmured voice floated over me. “Getting warm. The fire is almost dead.”
I turned my head back and beheld a few cooling embers in the hearth. “Did you want me to get a blanket from the foot of the bed?”
“No,” he muttered as he pulled his front against my back. He nuzzled his face into my neck. “I’m quite comfortable in this position.”
I lay as stiff as a frozen fish, unsure whether I could reach an arm around and swat at him. His hand wasn’t helping, as his fingers massaged my hip. A faint heat pooled between my legs, and my breath caught in my throat.
A chuckle came from my companion. “Is something the matter?”
I couldn’t stop the blush on my cheeks, but I could add to it a sharp look over my shoulder. “You’re not helping me get to sleep?”
His eyes twinkled at me as he drew me tighter against his front. “Is that what you want?”
Curse my feminine instincts, as my body reacted to his closeness with warm desire. I swallowed hard and tried to keep my words from wavering. “That’s what you said we needed, remember?”
He buried his face into the back of my neck, and his voice came out muffled by my hair. “Did I?”
A soft rap on the door interrupted any chance of fun. “Grace?” The hoarse, whispered voice was none other than Vesta.
I squirmed out of Cassian’s hold and threw on a spare blanket before padding my way to the door. The hall was dark, but a faint light from the starry sky shone through the paned window to my right. The glow allowed me to see the shivering mess of a human that was Vesta. She wore a thin nightgown with a shawl draped over her shoulders. Her black hair was down, and the tips of the strands swung at her hips.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
A soft sob emanated from the quivering girl. “I-I’m so sorry to wake you at this hour. I…I just need someone to talk to…”
“You don’t have to apologize,” I assured her as I grasped her upper arms.
She gave a soft yelp and drew away. I jerked my hands back before my eyebrows crashed down. Questions filled my mind, but they had to wait. The little waif at our doorstep needed comfort, not questions.
I stepped aside and swept my arm toward the interior. “Please come in.”
She took an eager step, but abruptly stopped herself. I couldn’t make out the finer features of her expression, but she seemed to shrink back. “I…I’m not sure if I-”
“Of course you should,” I insisted as I grabbed her hand and pulled her inside.
Cassian had taken the time to dress himself and now stood at the foot of the bed. He grabbed a chair from the corner and set it down near the fire for our guest. I led her over and seated her while Cassian worked away at reviving the embers. She took a seat, and he soon had a fire going, one that allowed me to see her face.
