“The crown has been looking for Ashgate for as long as I can remember. I’d spent years searching for it with the queen’s army. Let them finally find it now.”
“You’ll tell the queen where Ashgate is?”
“Well, not the queen herself, but someone from her army, yes.”
“What will happen then? They’ll attack it, right?”
“Most likely.”
“What if the humans get hurt during the attack?”
“No one wants to harm Joy Vessels.”
“Yet we’ve been harmed quite a lot in this world,” I muttered.
Timur paused in thought for a moment but didn’t argue with me.
“I’ll make sure the queen’s generals know about the humans and their likely locations,” he said. “By law, Joy Vessels belong to the queen. The army will take them from Ray and Mazra and return them to the royalsaraiwhere they will be taken care of?—”
I shook my head again. “Is there any chance we could let Prince Rha know about Ashgate instead? He has his own army, doesn’t he?”
“He does, but I’m not sure how big it is or if it can take over Ashgate without the crown’s help. Do you trust Prince Rha more than the queen?”
I bit my lip, considering his question. “I’m not sure if I should trust either. I’ve never met the queen, and I don’t know the prince’s current state. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Alright. I’ll be thinking too,” he said softly, and I heard a smile in his voice.
Since we met, Timur had connected to me through his tendrils only a few times. But every time he’d done it, he’d been drinking my emotions deeply, greedily, learning as much as he could. And he remembered. He remembered not only how to smile but also the emotions that caused it. When I looked at him, I could tell that his smile was genuine as were the affection and tenderness behind it.
“I wish I could give you everything you want,” he said. “I would give you the world, any world of your choosing.”
Smiling, I placed a kiss on his cheek. “How about this one? I’ll take this world because that’s where you are.”
I realized something at that moment. I really was okay with staying in Alveari. I wouldn’t even mind staying in Ashgate if Timur remained here with me. He had turned even this dreadful place into a home for me.
He returned my kiss, then gave me another one, on my lips this time. I slid the tip of my finger up his chest, then traced his collarbone before skimming the ridge of his jaw.
“You cancelled all our appointments,” I said softly. “It means it’s just you and me for the next four days, doesn’t it?”
“Just you and me,” he echoed, then added with a soft rumble in his deep voice, “But if you keep touching me like this, my sweet Elaine, we’ll end up spending the entire four days in bed.”
My heart sped up, desire unfurling low in my belly. It felt like an eternity since he’d touched me last.
“In bed? With you? Not the worst place to be…” I breathed against his lips.
His hands traveled up my arms, his claws gently scraping against my bare skin. His breathing was strangled. His body strained. There was always a barely contained desperation when he touched me, but he seemed to be gaining better control over his animalistic lust. Or maybe I was just learning to fear it less? And maybe even to like it?
His wings moved, lifting us from his chair. He glided over the floor, bringing me to our bed behind the silk screen. Then lay on his side, drawing me close.
“Being with you is an endless exercise of patience,” he said, trailing gentle kisses down the side of my face.
“You seem to be doing better at that.” I cupped the back of his neck. The silky whisper of his tendril emerging from his nape slipped between my fingers.
“I want to feel you,” he said, palming my breast through the scarf tied around my chest, then stroking my hardened nipple with his thumb.
He tasted my emotions rarely and sparingly, like a miser dipping into his treasure chest. I knew he was still cautious about it. But so far, we hadn’t noticed any ill effects on him.
On the contrary, my joy seemed to help him ease the pain. He’d had no outbursts of agony since that day on the beach, even when flying, which jolted his legs quite a bit. Timur claimed his sleep got better, too, even in bed. Of course, inside the impenetrable walls and behind the airtight doors of the cave, we both felt safer and slept better. But Timur was convinced everything good that happened to him was because of me.
