“Are you saying that you plan on moving into my bedchamber?”
“Only until you form your Akwale.” I stroke back up Cruaih’s back, then back down toward Daya’s motionless fingers.
“That could be months. You said so yourself.”
Some might consider our conversation moving in circles; I see it coming full-circle. I don’t carry my hand off Cruaih’s rump this time, relishing the feel of my pinkie brushing against the Serpent Queen’s thumb.
“I hope my presence won’t cause you too much discomfort.” I realize I’m a bastard for not presenting my guarding offer as a choice, or suggesting other Crow contenders for the job—like Aoife, who’s returned with me.
“I only have one bed,” she says.
Of course, the instant she says this, I picture her sprawled atop it, long pink hair fanned over one of her pillows, coral nipples peaked, folds shiny with…Fuck. Just because she hasn’t stolen her hand away from mine, just because her lids are at half-mast and her nostrils pulsate, it doesn’t mean she wants my desperate ass.
I swallow, trying to moisten my hunger-abraded throat, and cast my gaze on my cat instead of on my…on the woman Cruaih is using as a mattress. “I’d be there to guard you, not to sleep.”
“Do I have a choice in the matter of these living arrangements?”
My gaze veers toward hers. “Naturally.” I try to smile but all my lips manage is a manic twitch. “But I do believe you should have a presence in your room at all times.”Not Enzo, I add internally. “Preferably someone with iron appendages. Or, I suppose, an iron blade.”
“Iron doesn’t harm the Shabbins.”
My jaw hardens. “True, but Serpents can’t exactly shapeshift into lethal smoke. We might not be able to asphyxiate sorceresses with it, but it would hamper them.”
“Why not thrust the responsibility of vigil onto someone who doesn’t intend to spend their days counseling me? I hear Aoife, Reid, and Aodhan have returned with you and will be staying.”
“I don’t trust Reid to do a proper job. He’s too besotted by Agrippina. I could ask Aoife, though.”
She cocks one eyebrow. “What about asking Aodhan?”
The vein at my temple feels a second away from rupturing. “The only reason he’s here is because Imogen threatened to drive an obsidian blade through his heart, so Lorcan asked me to bring him along.”
“So, no Aodhan?”
“That’s right. No fucking Aodhan.”
Is that a smile drawing up the corners of her mouth? “Then I’d prefer Aoife stay with me.”
“Why—” I clear my throat so the rest of my question doesn’t come out strangled. “Are you frightened of me?”
“Frightened?” A grin breaks across her beautiful face, tossing me years back to one of the many conversations she doesn’t remember but that’s embedded inside my soul. It was the day I’d regained use of my vocal cords after five centuries of them being atrophied. I’d asked her if she’d gotten over her fear of me, or if she still required time alone?She’d crossed her arms and hissed into my mind that she’d never been scared of me.
Just of certain parts of me,I’d murmured through our bond.
My taunt had caused a lovely blush to steal across her cheekbones.
I’m not scared, she’d sworn, adding that she had no doubt that this ‘certain part of me’ would be massively underwhelming anyhow. I’d challenged her to find out. She’d claimed that she wasn’t interested. But she had been.
Could this new version of Zendaya be interested?
Her thumb begins to move, caressing the edge of my pinkie that quit moving when she alluded to someone else guarding her. “The reason I prefer Aoife is because, although you might not need much sleep,Ido, and I’d be incapable of relaxing if you were in my bedroom, Cathal.”
“Why? Why wouldn’t you be capable of relaxing?”
“Because, Cathal of the Sky Kingdom…” Her hand scales mine, then swirls around my wrist, before journeying back toward my unmoving digits.
“Because what?” I rasp.
She delicately rakes those red-red nails of hers along my fingers, knuckles, and wrist. “Because you’re not exactly a source of tranquility, General.”
