Now Lorant was gone. NowIstared into the mirror.
Turning away, I went to the bathing area to prepare for the day, emerging sometime later fully dressed.
I left my suite and walked down the hall to speak with my wife, the woman I loved.
The woman who might be able to save me.
6
Reyla
“Reyla?” Merrick’s voice lilted through my sitting area.
My pulse jumped, and I scowled at the door from where I sat on the sofa with Farris snoozing by my side. A fire crackled in the hearth, and the room had felt cozy.
Until Merrick came tapping on the door.
As dawn had crested the sky, I’d gotten up, bathed, and dressed in a tunic and pants, then slunk out of the bedroom to sink down onto the sofa.
My eyes burned from another poor night of sleep. And my heart burned with feelings for both Lorant and Merrick I still couldn’t define. Two men sharing the same body. Two separate individuals who should actually be one. Why? A “curse” was not enough of an answer.
I was going to dig into this until Iexposed it all.
“Reyla?” Merrick’s voice echoed again from the hallway.
At my call and only then, Surren would grant him entrance to my suite, and I liked that in this, my guard’s loyalty belonged to me. Not that I worried Merrick would harm me, but I needed a place where I could be alone, without anyone disturbing me if I didn’t want to give them access.
Farris bounded over to me, his fluffy gray tail spiraling, his lips stretched back in a nyxin grin around his ball. He dropped it at my feet. There wasn’t much room here for him to play. I or Faelith would need to take him outside, but with rain drizzling down, coating the windows and the world in tears, I wasn’t quite ready to brave it or make Faelith do it for me. He’d have to go outside for other reasons soon, but that wouldn’t take long.
“Pretty little bride?” Merrick growled.
That silly nickname should make me growl right back at him. Instead, it made my skin overheat and my body?—
I didn’t want to think about what both men did to my body.
“Come in,” I said, tossing the ball across the room. Farris bounded after it as the door to the hall opened and Merrick stepped inside, his gaze locking on me.
The reservation I found in his eyes actually reassured me.
“My queen?” Lord Briscalar called out from behind him. “If you have a moment?”
“Not now…please.”
He sighed. “Very well. I’ll discuss this with you later?”
“Alright.”
Merrick glanced over his shoulder, taking in my ladies hovering in the open doorway. “I’d like time alone with my queen.” He closed the door and advanced toward me like a stag stalking a doe in heat.
Fuck, now there was a thought I had to shove aside quickly. But he was still Merrick. Lorant was still Lorant. And I appeared tobe as enthralled with them now as I had been before I discovered they were the same person, split but still sharing a body.
Farris scampered over with the ball in his mouth and dropped it on my lap. Picking it up, I grimaced at its wetness and held it overhead while Farris leaped about, trying to take it from me.
“You know that nickname is creepy.” I kept my voice light. If nothing else, I couldn’t bear to hurt Merrick. Neither of them, actually. This curse was torturing them both already.
Nudging Farris to the side, Merrick stepped in front of me, the warmth of his body coasting down across mine. My simple clothing was not enough barrier between me and this too-appealing man.
“I assume you’re referring to pretty little bride,” he said with that sweet nature that I used to adore. “Do you find Wildfire creepy as well?” Leaning close, he stroked his knuckles down my cheek.
