“This was easier when I was a child,”she retorted.
For a moment, my smile faltered. Harlan loved climbing up into the window of Nyana’s kitchen. Had the huntsman delivered my letter? How many more days would it be until I received his reply?
“Are you going to help me or just keep staring at my ass?”
Unable to resist, I laughed, and the responding sound that came from her was the essence of annoyance. I placed my hands at her waist and lifted her weight, helping her the rest of the way into the building. As she cleared the ledge, she kicked at my shoulder with her boot, rather pointedly, I suspected.
My cloak caught when I braced my hands to pull myself up. I pulled it off, and when Evera’s head came to peer through the window, I tossed her the satchel first, and then the cloak, handing over the wine more carefully.
Evera bundled the cloak in her arms and sucked in her bottom lip, her gaze pointedly on my biceps. Desire seeped through the bond again, and I ran a hand through my hair, looking up at her.Gods, I want to kiss you.But I wouldn’t, not yet.
I made an extra effort to show off a bit, flexing my arms as I easily lifted myself. Face-to-face with her, I balanced on my boots in the windowsill and held her eyes. Evera exhaled roughly, and I grinned.
Scrunching up her face with the cutest damned look of determination, she shoved the satchel back to me, nearly pushing me backward.
I braced myself with an arm on the right side of the window frame, catching the bag with the other.“Do you want me dead?”I asked, doing my best to feign injury to my pride.
“No,”she mumbled, and the lack of a quip surprised me.
I studied her, and when she looked up at me through her lashes, my heart stilled.
“Am I permitted to eat now?” she demanded.
The return of her sarcastic wit curled my lips into a smile. “Not quite yet.”I dropped down from the windowsill and into what appeared to be a large entry room.
Evera glowered.
“Show me your home.”
“Neirin—”
“Show me what you pretended when you were a child. Amuse me with this, and I’ll reward you”—I leaned down to her flushing cheeks—“with a tart.” Heat trickled through the bond, and with a grin, I turned from her to take in the expansive room.
The walls were high—two stories with a railed balcony along the upper level, broken in sections. Beneath my feet, the wood flooring creaked, old but sturdy. It was clear that in its time, the manor was built without concern for cost. I rested my hand on an intricately carved support column, pondering the structural stability of the home I’d brought my mate into.
“Are you coming?”Evera called from the base of a staircase.
Worry for her well-being clenched my chest.“Let me go first.”
She scoffed and ran up the stairs with hapless abandon.
I followed her, gritting my teeth when I took in the state of the upper-level flooring.“This place isn’t safe.”
“You worry too much.”
Only over you.The realization was sobering. For I did worry over her, desperately so. My very existence seemed inextricably linked to hers; her safety was imperative. Equal it seemed, though in a different sense, to the protectiveness I felt over Harlan.
Evera continued, a lightness to her step and a glint of childish wonder in her eyes when she looked back at me.
Sighing, I allowed myself a soft smile. To see her spirit lightened, her walls down … This was a good idea.Unless she steps on a rotten board and falls through.The corners of my lips turned down.
“There are three rooms up here; our home only has one room we all share,”Evera rambled as she led me down a hall.“What could anyone possibly need so many rooms for?”
I shrugged, considering the countless rooms in the castle. Though admittedly, most of them wouldn’t be needed for a single family.
“A study,”I offered, peering into one of them. A large window at its back let in ample light.“The castle has a separate nursery for the children.”
Scrunching up her face, Evera shook her head.“I would want my children in my bed. At least until they’re older.”
