“Plenty of time for that groveling you had planned. On your knees. In bed.” She walked her fingertips up my chest with tantalizing slowness.
Damn.She’d barely touched me, and I was hard as a rock.
“Anything you want, Firecracker. Anything.”
Chapter 55
Elodie
Iknocked on Galyna’s door before dawn, heart in my throat as I mentally prepared to hand over the sword that marked me as part of the Maiden’s Enclave. This time, though, Valens held my hand.
He was my anchor in the storm, and I wasn’t going to apologize for leaning on his quiet strength. We were a team now, and it was different from what I was used to, but in the best possible way.
Galyna didn’t open the door.
Head Priestess Marciana did.
“Oh, priestess. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt?—”
She snorted indignantly. “You’re only interrupting my waiting to speak with you. Come in. Both of you, I suppose.” Marciana arched an eyebrow at Valens, eyeing him appreciatively up and down.
She shut the door behind us, and we found Galyna standing at ease by her bed, Dakota fidgeting nervously next to her messy one. I felt for her. Marciana was intimidating to a new maiden.
All the priestesses were, really. Lisanne? She was scary as fuck.
“Please feel free to sit,” she said, gesturing to the beds, since they were the only option. I perched on the edge of Lyna’s bed, and Valens opted to stand at my shoulder. I set my sword down on the comforter, feeling no small pang of sadness at parting with it.
Setting it down felt less permanent than handing it over, but the end result was the same.
“There’s a bit of housekeeping to be done any time a maiden leaves service with the enclave. Thank you for returning your equipment.” Marciana nodded to the sword and the small bag of uniforms Valens had carried in. The journal about Narcissa was in there too, right on top. My other weapons weren’t standard issue since I’d purchased them with my personal stipend, so I’d kept those.
“You’re welcome,” I responded automatically, though the words felt hollow.
She nodded graciously, then pulled out a handful of envelopes. “Here I have your honorable-release papers.” She pressed the first into my hand. “This one is your final stipend payment from the enclave. This envelope is filled with well-wishes from your sisters. I’d expect to receive more post once you’ve provided us with a forwarding address. Not everyone was able to get a note in time to make it here. Once everyone gets a look at this guy, don’t be surprised if a lot of the correspondence is leave visitation requests.” Marciana pointed her thumb at Valens’s imposing bulk.
It made me smile as I accepted the third envelope, and I traded a quick grin with Galyna. It was huge, overstuffed, and crinkled when I grabbed it. Maybe I wasn’t losing my sisters after all. Visits when they were on leave sounded amazing.
“This one contains some personal correspondence.”
I frowned as I accepted it. It was thin, not bursting with enthusiasm like the ones from the maidens.
“Personal? From who?”
“Personal meaning we held it for you, but I have no idea what’s in it. It isn’t from the enclave.” She was clearly bored with the topic. “And finally, a statement of all personal accounts you entered the enclave with that have been managed for you by Priestess Marguerite, who is in charge of finance. There are also bank access cards as well.”
“Wait, what? I didn’t bring any money to the enclave. My adoptive family…”
“Rendered unto our keeping your full inheritance from Pack Shadownight. You were unaware that your parents had provided well for you?” She frowned. “It was no small sum before Marguerite worked her wonders on it over the last two decades. By anyone’s standards, you’re an heiress. A filthy-rich one.”
I gaped down at the nondescript envelope, feeling the edge of a hard bank card inside through the paper. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Marciana chuckled. “It wouldn’t have mattered had you not taken a mate. All maidens take a vow of equality and poverty. It would have gone to your designated heir upon your death, just like the rest.”
“The rest” was a laughably small sum. Our personal stipend from the enclave was enough to buy a bus ticket for leave and a few drinks at a local watering hole once or twice a month, maybe some spare clothes. Not much else. I’d had to save up almost a year to buy the custom sling for my sword.
“Thank you,” I finally said, realizing it would be rude not to.
“You’re welcome. And thank you, Elodie, for your many years of dedicated service. You will be sincerely missed by all of us. You’ve brought joy to our numbers every single day since you arrived. You are both welcome to visit any time you’re in the area, and I’ll consider your home an automatically approvedleave spot for any maidens who wish to visit in return. Assuming your husband is okay with that, of course?”
