Elio brings a hand to his chest like she’s wounded him. “Abusing your patient? You know that only turns me on.”
She bites back, but their words blend into the buzz of the crowd. Rune hadn’t said anything. He’d let me keep my secret. I’m not sure why the knowledge makes my bodyrespond the way it does—with an aching warmth that settles around my wary soul.
They go upstairs just as my food arrives—a whole plate of seared mushrooms and veggies. I struggle to identify a few, but scarf them down all the same. Hopefully Otto makes it back soon, he’d probably know every one of them. When I’ve finished I choose a corner to lean into, uninterested in taking up the whole table for myself. I hold Rune’s mug and sip mine, checking each body that comes through the door. It’s strange that I don’t feel that instinct to reach for my old hood anymore, but the amount of people is overwhelming all the same. I’ve no coin for a room, which continues to feel more and more like an oversight as the innkeeper exchanges coin for keys.
“Odi!”
Otto waves from the doorway and then moves to order at the bar. Rune follows him in, but cuts a path towards me when I brandish the extra mug.
“Things okay?” I ask as he downs it in a swig.
“Yes. It won’t be cheap, but they have what we need to patch it. Once I can make it back to my father’s ports, we can see about a permanent fix. Did you get a room?”
I shake my head. “I wasn’t graced with any pocket change.” I look pointedly to Otto, who walks up carrying three mugs in each hand.
“Good lad!” Rune says, taking two and passing them to me. “Let me go get us a room.”
“Us?” I call after him.
“Rune’s very protective,” Otto chirps, sipping on the first of his ales before tossing his chin in greeting at Soraya, who still sings by the hearth. “Everyone else already go to bed?”
I scan the tables. “As far as I know. Most everyone is too exhausted to bother drinking this place dry.”
Otto nods distractedly and Rune dodges full tables as he returns, his face pinched in a peculiar expression.
“What is it?” I ask.
“There was only one room left.”
I look to Otto. Leaving him without a room isn't an option. “Well, I can—”
“Oh no, I’m good!” Otto says, catching my concern immediately. “Soraya got us a double bed before I went to the alchemist.”
“Oh. Well then, it’s fine.” I shrug at Rune.
“It’s a single. There’s only one bed.”
I shake my head, confused. “The cabin on the ship has one bed.”
His smile grows. “But this one isn’t likely to have achair, Odi.”
I’d assumed that, but I still take a drink to hide the heat crawling up my neck. I study a point over his ridiculously toned shoulders. “There’s always the floor.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “You’d sleep on the floor?”
I grin, meeting his eyes over the rim. “No. That’s all yours, Captain.”
When he speaks, it’s a purr, sending my mind scrambling around the memory of his body beneath mine, of his pleasant surprise every time he discovered anotherweapon hidden beneath my clothes. “Oh, I won’t be sleeping on the floor, little doe.”
WHO NEEDSMANACLES WHEN YOU HAVE SHEETS
29
RUNE
Odilingers behind me while I unlock the door that leads to our room for the night. She might not be touching me, but my heart responds to her nearness anyway. The air shifts when she’s close, and my chest answers before my mind does, heart drumming like it knows her place better than I ever could. As if it will always find her, no matter the distance.
The knob finally gives way and I push the door open, stooping under the frame as I step inside. I hold it wide, gesturing for her to come in before I quietly click it shut.
