He traced his fingertips down her collarbone, ghosting a light touch over her breasts. “Or not. Ever.”
She was fairly sure he was trying to make a joke, but it didn’t land. His pupil-spread eyes were too wide, rapt as they slid over her body, and when he took a breath, it was audible. She tried to push down the overwhelming ache already spreading like liquid heat across her body. It had been probably only a few hours, yet she wanted him inside her again.
Someone just outside the room spoke in a harsh whisper and then giggled. Nya stiffened, and Morgen shut his eyes and muttered, “Busybodies,” before adding, louder this time, “I know you are well aware I can hear you!”
Nya pulled the sheet over herself as the voices faded along with quick footsteps. He shook his head before dropping his forehead to her shoulder.
“It appears Imeria took Carus’ order to spread gossip to another level,” he mumbled.
“Well, it’ll probably work more efficiently. Pretty hard to dispute a rumor we had sex when multiple people obviously just saw me naked in your bed.”
“Mmph,” he grumbled.
She bit her lip then quickly stopped, remembering last night. If he saw, if he reminded her onlyhewas supposed to do that. They would never leave this bed, and she needed to create some distance until she figured out how to make sense of what had happened between them—what she wasfeeling. Far too much, probably, given his recent betrayals and lies. Even if he’d had his reasons, she couldn’t forgive him so quickly. Could she?
She wondered if he sensed the sudden tension in her body, because he lifted his head and sat back, eyeing her. “There’s a few pieces of clean clothing that will fit you on top of the dresser.”
She didn’t ask why he had clothing for her even though she wanted to. She needed some distance to think. When he was this close, she went back to her old habit of forgetting and forgiving far too quickly.
She left the warm tangle of sheets and quickly dressed in the loose shirt and thick leather pants she found laid out. When she reached back to redo her braids, he was already behind her, brushing her hands away.
“Let me,” he murmured.
She swallowed, her throat tight. “Alright.”
Neither of them spoke, but each brush of his fingers against the back of her neck made her shiver, and she swore she felt his hands shake a few times. Last night had changed things; she supposed now, it was just a matter of acknowledging it. Neither of them were good at doing that, though, so perhaps they would exist in this new state of tension for another four years.
He stepped back before she had even realized he’d finished, and she turned, opening her mouth then shutting it before she could speak. Thankfully, he didn’t notice, busy knotting half of his hair back and searching for a shirt. He had just located one when Carus burst into the room unannounced.
She jumped, and Morgen started to say, “Carus, we talked about barging in. You seemed to have it down earlier this morning, so I don’t see?—”
“Principals,” Carus panted between heavy breaths. “Outside.”
Morgen’s expression immediately hardened, the mix of humor and irritation replaced by harsh resolve. “Who?” His voice was curt and demanding.
“Bella and Janis.”
“Sol?”
Carus shook his head. “Not yet, but I’d bet the bastard is hanging around close by to fortify if need be.”
“Understood,” Morgen said shortly. “Two minutes.”
Carus nodded once and promptly left the room, though Nya was certain he wasn’t far. When Morgen turned back to her, she immediately said, “I’m not staying back.”
“Nya—”
“No.” Her voice brooked no argument. “This is about me too now, and I will not let you shove me somewhere for safe keeping every time there’s danger.”
To his credit, he only hesitated a few seconds before relenting. “Fine. But do not engage with them, Nya. I’m serious. The principals may appear human, but they’ve been alive for several millennia and areverygood at manipulating people.”
“I would never mistake them for human,” she said, thinking back to Thanatos and Nyx.
Though both gods had exhibited genuine emotions and obviously cared for her mother, there was still an unmistakable ancient coldness to them. If that was what the principals were like when they loved someone, she didn’t want to know how they appeared when angry. She supposed she was about to find out.
Morgen inhaled sharply. “Good.”
It took him barely a minute to dress and attach more weapons than she could keep track of to his body with belts and harnesses—a variation of daggers, throwing knives, and even a dart she assumed contained some kind of poison, which he placed carefully in his breast pocket. When he was done, he approached her, brow creased in concentration as he knelt.
