I give him a nod, focusing on what’s important to me right in this moment. “I really don’t need to worry?”
“You don’t need to worry.”
“Well, then…” I whisper against his lips. “Let me take care of myself, and I’ll come back and we can?—”
With a groan, he pulls me close, his lips crashing into mine. My head spins with renewed desire, shots of heat striking directly into my core, but he pulls back far too soon.
“As much as I want this,” he says, “you need to conserve your energy for what lies ahead of you today.”
A world of darkness waits for us outside this room. I’m forced to recognize that my desire to stay comes partly from a place of fear. The sooner I leave, the sooner that darkness will swallow me again.
“Thyra.” He stops me before I can step toward the bathing room, his voice ragged. “You’re mine to protect. Now more than ever.”
When he first captured me, he declared I was his. A possession in his control. But this is different.
His to protect.
An offer. Not a command.
I give him a firm nod. “I am.”
It’s only once I’ve entered the bathing room that I reconsider what he said, telling me I’ll need my strength today and that he’s determined to protect me.
I’m suddenly wary of what might have happened while I was sleeping.
I want to step back out right away, needing answers, but the sooner I take care of my body, the better able I’ll be to focus on what lies ahead of me.
After quickly washing up and using the cup at the sink to drink my fill of water, I tightly braid my hair. The Lethian dress responded to my bodily needs and answered Antony’s touch last night, but it seems determined to retain its nightgown form for now.
My cheeks heat as I recall the way it transforms most readily when my physical need grows…
Stalking from the bathing room, my face still flushed, I say, “You told me to ask for help when I need it. Well, I need help turning this dress into a suit of armor.”
Antony has remained a sentinel beside the bathing room door, his helmet off, but I’m not sure how much longer he’ll remain uncovered like that.
A lazy smile crosses his face as he reaches slowly for me, his hands closing around my hips, before he drags me up against him and his lips feather mine.
Mere seconds later, he gives a disappointed huff. “That happened fast.”
Glancing down, I confirm that the tightening sensation around my body was, indeed, the formation of a supple suit of armor around me. The suit includes boots and reaches up to the base of my neck, leaving my head and hands bare. Briefly patting my hair, I discover that some of the magical strands have woven up into my tresses, securing my braids even more tightly in place.
I, too, feel cheated that it didn’t take longer, but my need for information surpasses any disappointment. “What happened in the night?
Any shred of relaxation in his posture vanishes.
“First,” he says, “I want you to know that I’ve never allowed iron to be ground to dust. Our power doesn’t allow us to control any piece of iron smaller than a fingernail. It’s for that same reason we can’t control the blood pumping through another fae’s veins, even though some healers say blood contains iron. Iron dust would be extremely dangerous, even for the fae using it.”
My face falls at his certainty.Does he think I lied?“But…”
“But someone’s grinding iron without my knowledge,” he says, immediately allaying my concern. “When I find that fae, and any fae working with them, I’ll end them.”
Breathing easily again, I ask, “Second?”
He gestures to the far side of the table.
Reaching it, I stare, suddenly frozen, at the elaborately decorated envelope resting beside the fruit bowl.
“Read it,” he says, but I hardly hear him.
