But he doesn’t. He rounds a corner and disappears, leaving me sexually frustrated.
And the worst part about it? I can still hear him laughing.
Chapter 27
There’s a pounding in the distance.
Groaning, I turn onto my side, begging for the sound to die. It doesn’t. The pounding resumes, growing much louder this time.
“Zaira! Get up! It’s first light!” Rynthea shouts on the other side of my door. “King Draedor is ready for us!”
I spring up with a gasp, swinging my legs to the edge of the bed. That’s a mistake, though, because as soon as I’m on my feet, I stumble sideways and have to catch myself on the nearest storage chest.
Shit.
Maybe I shouldn’t have had another glass of wine as I settled into the chamber last night. I needed something to distract me from the constant thoughts of Thane, though. It helped for the most part. Helped me go straight to sleep.
I’m regretting it now, though. I hold on to the smooth wooden edge of the chest, breathing evenly as I squint at the closed terrace doors. A bold stretch of sunlight streams in through the gap in the curtains, highlighting clean wooden floors. Even without my spectacles on, I can make out silver flecks in the stone walls.
“Zaira!” Rynthea calls again, banging on the door. “I can hear you moving. Don’t make me break this door down.”
“I’m coming!” I release the chest and throw my arms out to my sides to balance myself. When I feel stable enough, I head to the door as steadily as possible, unlock it, and pull it open.
“Orvena’s sake,” Rynthea says as she looks at me from head to toe. “You look like pure shit.”
“Ugh.” I press a palm on my throbbing right temple. “I feel like it, too.”
“I should’ve warned you that Bernwood’s wine is strong. Takes more for most beastials to get drunk, so they enhance it. One glass is enough to knock a mortal on their ass.”
“It could be an aftereffect of the talmoon I smoked with Kelrean last night, too,” I say with a pathetic wince.
“I told you not to get mixed up with that goof. Was he here last night?” She scrunches her nose, peeking into my room for signs of him.
I glance back. All she’s gleaned, I’m sure, is an unmade bed and my filthy rucksack on the floor.
I recall last night’s events with the prince. Going to the tent. Taking a stroll with him. The heat of the flames on my skin as I sat by the fire. The taste of sweet, spongey bread and wine. The feeling of talmoon coursing through my bloodstream…and of course Thane punching Kelrean square in his face.
It was all so very interesting. However, what I remember most is how it felt being with Thane in the carriage. And then on the stairs. Followed by his threat to gouge the prince’s eyes out if I let him into my room.
To my surprise, Kelrean never showed up at my door. I was partially relieved by that, honestly—not that I really think he has beast warts, like Thane said. I just wasn’t sure if I was up for hanging out with him after the naughty things I’d done in the carriage with Thane.
Knowing Kelrean is attracted to me, and I to him, leaves me unsure of what might’ve happened between us. Would Kelrean have tried to kiss me? If so, I don’t think I would’ve denied him.
But what does that make me? A woman thinking about kissing two men in one night? I have a feeling that, if something were to happen between me and Kelrean, I would have been comparing his kiss to Thane’s the entire time.
“He wasn’t here,” I tell Rynthea, shifting on my feet.
“Good. Well, hurry up.” She rests the handle of her scythesword on her shoulder, the edge of the blade mere inches from one of her horns. “Everyone’s already downstairs.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.Shit. Wash your ass and get dressed so we can go.”
Rynthea stalks away, and I close the door, hurrying to find my specs before searching for a proper outfit from the wardrobe. I decide to go with tan leggings and a burgundy tunic. We still have so much ground to cover in order to break Analla’s curse. We can’t afford any more delays after this.
I go to the washroom, glad one of the helpers has already been here to fill the washbasin. I give my teeth a solid brush as well as my hair before collecting my things and hurrying out of the chamber…all while fighting dizziness.
Downstairs, I catch Rynthea and Algar standing in front of a broad glass window that reveals distant mountain peaks and fleecy white clouds. And off to the right, cloaked in his familiar black garments and buffers, is Thane.
