Near midnight, we reach the main road that cuts through the sleeping village. Nori is a stretch of cramped cottages and shops, a community that’s more like a town than the sprawling villages in the valley. It’s our last stop before we reach the northernmost village of Reede where I’ll make my home, far away from the temptations that torture me at every turn:the very men at my side.
Colden leads his horse and mine by the reins while Alexus walks a short pace ahead, clinging to his animal’s bridle. His black cloak billows like a dark ghost in the frigid wind, painting him into an ominous figure moving through the snowy landscape.
“I truly wish you would’ve waited until spring to do this, princess,” Colden grumbles up at me for the hundredth time since our journey began a few weeks back, snowflakes clinging to his eyelashes. We’ve argued many times about my questionable godly royalty, but he won the right to call me princess in a drink-off two years ago, fair and square. “If I lose my balls to the cold,” he continues, “and find myself doomed to eternity on this godsforsaken earth without them?—”
Before I can laugh at him, a door to one of the tall, crooked buildings swings open, spilling a wedge of golden light across the road. Sounds of soft chatter and faint music drift into the snowy darkness. Drink in hand, a man stumbles across the threshold of what appears to be a tavern. We watch him stagger down the road as we approach, and in minutes, after handing our horses off to a stableman, we’re standing inside the warmth of the bar in our rugged clothes, our laden packs dropped at our feet, hearty stale ales in hand.
Colden looks around the tavern from beneath his hood. “I believe we’ve found the local love shack.”
The room is filled with half-drunk people. A few sit alone, but most others are either coupled up at tables or wadded together in darkened corners doing gods know what. There’s laughter and murmurs and giggles and grunts to boot.
Eyes are upon us, though, as they’ve been every stop thus far. We’re drifters—travelers—yet thanks to Alexus’s shaved face and pulled-back hair, and Colden’s drab attire and dirt-smudged cheeks, no one has any inkling that their king, his Collector, and a descendant of Loria are in their midst.
And we want to keep it that way.
“We need rooms for the night,” Alexus says to the barkeep, keeping his hood up and his voice down. He leans his big body against the cedar counter and discreetly slips enough silver across its smooth top to buy the woman’s silence and nonchalance. “Can you accommodate us without any attention or affair?”
Covering the coin with a meaty hand, she glances at our faces and nods, sweeping the money into her skirt pocket. “I’ve only one room,” she says with a rasp. “The owner’s chambers. He’s gone on a fishing expedition. It’ll be plenty big enough, though ’tis only the one bed.”
The three of us share a glance and shrug at the same time. One bed is no matter. We’ve slept in the same room twice while stopping to rest. There aren’t many taverns or inns in these parts to begin with, much less those with lavish rooms waiting to be rented for a night. Sleeping with Colden and Alexus isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done—for more than a few reasons. But a bed is a bed, and I’m with my best friends. I won’t complain.
“That’ll do.” Alexus drums his fingers on the bar top. “If you could get the lady settled first, we’ll join her shortly.”
Again, the barkeep studies our faces, though she pauses when she reaches mine. A knowing smirk tugs the corner of her thin mouth, and her brow flattens. She’s either thinking that I’m a whore down to my marrow or that I’m a very, very lucky lady. I cannot discern which, and I truly don’t care. Iamlucky, though not for the reasons she probably thinks. I’m lucky to have these two men in my life, of that much I’m certain.
With a semi-wary look at my friends, I tug my pack over my shoulder, and the woman leads me to the back of the tavern. We climb a narrow set of stairs and stroll down a dimly lit hall to an arched doorway. I think of the dagger hidden beneath my cloak as she jangles a key ring from her pocket. She doesn’t look worrisome, but as Alexus has taught me, I watch her closely and keep my guard up regardless.
I can taste magick wafting off her.
She unlocks the door before pushing it open on creaking hinges and gestures for me to enter. I step past her into the cold, empty chambers, shivering in the shadowy darkness. It isn’t long before she has a fire crackling in the hearth, candles lit across the room, and a glass of mulled wine poured and waiting for me on a table beside the bed which is far larger than I expected. This place isn’t lavish, but it’s more comforting than the simple wilderness taverns we’ve visited before tonight.
The barkeep glances out the single window at the falling snow, then jerks her chin toward the copper soaking tub sitting in the corner of the room. “I’d prepare a bath, milady, but?—”
I raise my hand to stop her. “I wouldn’t ask you to deal with that tonight. We’ll be fine. We just need sleep.” What I don’t tell her is that I can and will remedy the bathing issue on my own the moment she’s gone.
That smirk of hers returns. “I could imagine you’d need a bit more than sleep after traveling with two men such as those downstairs.” Her round face flushes scarlet. “I certainly would. We don’t see very many people like them in these parts. Handsome lot.”
It’s my turn to blush. “They are quite lovely. But we’re only friends.Companions. We’ll be snoring within the hour.”
She frowns. “And is that what ye want?”
“Of course.” I smile uncomfortably, hoping to hide the lie. Having my body pressed between Alexus Thibault’s and Colden Moeshka’s, sleeping, isn’t what I want at all. It hasn’t been what I’ve wanted the two times we’ve shared a bed on this journey. But I’m not as brazen as Colden or as honest as Alexus, never one to speak my longings aloud. Especially not now that I’m leaving them.
The barkeep gives me an odd look, one of disbelief mixed with disapproval, but also one of doubt, as if she doesn’t quite believe my ‘of course.’
“That’s a pity, milady, but to each her own, I s’pose.” She heads to the door and pauses. “But just in case, I’ll spin a winter’s wish for ye, that the Ancient Ones grant you whatever it is you truly desire.”
A winter’s wish. What I truly desire. Dangerous combination if wishes really came true.
I thank her, and once I’m alone, I let my glamour fall and face the room, every corner glowing warmly with firelight. I somehow doubt the Ancient Ones care much about my carnal yearnings, or that I would very much like it if Colden and Alexus would grant me one night—just one—in their arms. I know I would be loved. Admired. Adored. I know that every touch would be a pleasure, every moment bliss. I’ve never felt that with anyone, really. Probably because I trust no one the way I trust my king and the Collector.
And I doubt I ever will again.
I turn to the copper tub. The boys always give me time alone when we stop to rest, a testament to the kind of men they are. They’re probably downstairs enjoying their drinks as usual, though I know they’re weary and would much rather be stripping away their layers and boots as they relax on the settee by the fire. I consider going down to fetch them, but they’ve just started on their ale, so I doubt they would come.
Plus, the bath.
In a matter of minutes, I’m sinking into a tub of steaming water. Water magick is a handy gift, and thanks to Alexus’s teaching, I know my way around a fire thread or two. Fire magick is so important to him, something he seems to cling to, even though he can’t wield it. I’ve always wondered why, and I’ve considered attempting to look into his past to find the answer. But a man as private as Alexus Thibault probably hides his secrets for a reason, and my gift isn’t meant to pry into my friends’ lives. Not unless they want me to. And he never has.
