“This was a mistake,” Morgan muttered. Rylo’s groan of pleasure came echoing into the hall, and she thought her heart might plummet to her feet.
This was a stupid, terrible idea. Another moan came from his room and she thought she might be sick.
“We have heard what you did to him,” the guard muttered. “Be off now.”
“What I did to him?” Morgan’s voice grew louder than she intended. But even her voice couldn’t muffle the sigh coming from inside the room.
“The bargain. Forcing his hand like that, then leaving Elio for dead.” The guard shook his head in disgust. “You don’t deserve his company.”
At that moment, she heard Rylo’s dry laughter mingled with the melodic laugh of a woman with him, followed by shuffling footsteps along the wooden floor.
“He’s finished,” a woman whispered as she snuck past the guard.
“Good, thank you for your work, even at this hour,” the man said, slipping some coins from a pouch around his waist and handing them to the woman.
The woman had a sweet, heart shaped face and full lips. Her light blonde hair looked slightly mussed and her white wings shone in the soft faelights. She wore a revealing blue silk dress, cut low with a corset that accentuated her slender waist. The woman brushed past Morgan with a wink.
Morgan turned to walk away, her head pounding with emotion. Why did she think he’d even want to see her?
She heard the door open, but she dared not turn around. It was probably the guard going back in. Had she just witnessed Rylo being serviced by a prostitute? It all seemed very transactional. Nausea twisted in her stomach. She picked up her pace on the stone floor, the click of her heels against the stone echoing around her. Everything was so silent, so hauntingly quiet after the Goldoth drumming of the evening. The war drums had ushered in everyone’s greatest fears. Goldoth would attack the Towers and the Latian warriors had abandoned them. Morgan had failed to secure an alliance, and she failed to even see Rylo before tomorrow’s battle.
She felt defeated. She wanted more with Rylo, but had ruined that. She’d failed him when he needed her and betrayed him by forcing his hand.
As she turned the corner, she heard a voice she’d recognize anywhere, sweet as honey, but punctuated by its deadpan tone. “Where are you plodding off to, pet?”
Morgan turned, her foot slipping on the polished floor as she fell on her ass. She looked up at Rylo, golden hair perfectly placed. He was leaning against the corner of the wall, his arms were crossed and his smile was big enough to reveal that damn dimple of his.
She pushed herself up, but she noticed her dress was torn and her ankle stung.
Great. Not only had she been caught loitering outside his room while he paid a woman for sex, but now she was battered and disheveled before she even set foot on the battlefield.
“I wasn’t plodding!” Morgan seethed at him. “I was just passing through.”
Rylo walked over to her, his fur-lined slippers silent on the floor “I think you’re telling lies again.” He pulled her up from the floor and into his arms. She winced at a sharp pain in her ankle and failed to disguise the discomfort from her face. “Come into my room. You took quite a fall there.”
Her heart thrummed in her chest as he looked down at her with golden eyes. No, she couldn’t go in there. Not after what she just heard.
“I’ll be okay. Thanks though,” she said, disentangling herself and taking a step back from him.
Rylo reached out to her and tugged her close to him. She was close enough to feel the heat of his very bare chest.
“Don’t go yet.”
She tried to pull away, the heat of her embarrassment probably visible on her cheeks. “I’m okay, really. Just out for a late night walk.”
“Morgan, look at me,” he said, gently tipping her head up toward him. His voice was smooth and he smelled like clean skin and spice. How did he smell so damn good all the time?
“I was just thinking of you. Please join me in my room.”
Morgan flinched and felt herself make a face in disgust.
“Gross. Please don’t tell me you were thinking of me when you had a prostitute visiting you.”
Now it was Rylo’s turn to make a face at her. He wrinkled his nose and frowned. “A prostitute? What are you talking about?”
“I did lie. I came here to talk with you because, well, against my better judgment, I’ve missed you. But I could hear the noises you were making in there. Then I saw the woman that the guard paid. It was obvious what was going on.”
“Goddess alive, woman! I was getting a haircut and a shave!”
