“Do you instruct your men to whip beggars often?” I couldn’t help the growl that escaped me.
Stryker gave me a pointed look. “Last time a group of ‘beggars’ ambushed our carriage, I got this.” He lifted his shirt to showcase a nasty puckered scar on his gloriously chiseled abdomen. “Sometimes beggars are raiders, but he never should have whipped an unarmed man with children.”
I nodded, satisfied with that answer.
“Do you think the family can be cured somehow?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “If the illness is a result of a curse as they claim, I don’t think there’s much anyone can do for them.”
His voice was even and his face expressionless, but I still felt as if seeing his brother’s people for himself had deeply affected him. But perhaps that was just wishful thinking. How much empathy could a monster really have?
We fell into silence once again. I couldn’t say exactly what occupied Stryker’s thoughts, but my heart was heavy as my mind swirled with thoughts of curses and black hearts and the piercing gray-blue eyes of a particular Ethereum lord. I no longer knew if I could kill.
* * *
We reached the inn at nightfall. We were staying at the base of the Jewel Spring Mountains in the small village of Blackrock below the ruby mine. The same ruby mine that Eli had said would be stripped of its riches.
Stryker wanted to interrogate people immediately to ferret out who was trustworthy, but the mine foreman was able to talk him out of it.The mines were closed for the day and ripping people from their beds would not be seen as reasonable.
After a warm meal, Stryker walked us upstairs to a room at the inn with only a single bed. I crossed my arms and gave him my most seductive glare even as my stomach tied in nervous knots.
“Stryker, if you want to share a bed you can just say so. You don’t need to invent excuses.” I jingled the cuff on my leg that connected to him.
The left side of his mouth quirked as if he wanted to smile but thought better of it. “Oh, have no fear, we won’t be sleeping in the same bed.”
I glanced around the room again, confused because there was definitely only one bed in the room.
When I turned back to him he wasn’t even trying not to smile anymore. Humor shone clearly in his eyes at some joke I wasn’t privy to.
“There’s only one bed,” I said, stating the obvious.
He nodded. “I’ve asked that a bedroll be brought up for you. I’m sure you’ll find the floor quite comfortable.”
“The floor!”
The ground was worn hardwood that at least looked clean. I’d certainly slept on worse since arriving in Ethereum, but still. Phantom pains shot up my back just thinking about a full night on the hard surface, but maybe the bedroll would make it manageable.
Someone knocked on the door and when Stryker opened it, the innkeeper was there. He handed Stryker a bedroll, a thin blanket, and the most pathetic-looking pillow I’d ever seen.
“Seriously?” I asked with a frown when the innkeeper left and Stryker shut the door.I planted my hands on my hips and gave him my most haughty stare. “A true gentleman wouldn’t allow a lady to sleep on the ground while he lay on a soft bed.”
He looked over his shoulder at me and his gaze raked over me in such a blatant way that there was no disguising the hunger in his eyes. Immediately heat bloomed low in my gut.
“I never claimed to be a gentleman,” he said, his voice as rough as gravel.
The breath caught in my throat. I was wholly unprepared for the sensations igniting in my body and tried to take a step away from him, but the shackle prevented me from going too far.
Stryker bent over to spread the bedroll on the ground, breaking our stare, and I finally felt like I could breathe normally again.
I suddenly felt very glad we weren’t sharing the small bed. The floor would be just fine.
Clearing my throat, I willed my body to calm down, praying he hadn’t seen me blush in the low light.
After arranging the bedroll for me, Stryker straightened, looking weary. “I’m tired, can we not argue and just go to sleep? We’ll both have a long day tomorrow.” As he said it he pulled out the hand cuffs and slipped the cool metal around my wrists.
I rolled my eyes, annoyance chasing away any longing still pumping through my veins. “Do you really think after today I would try to strangle you, or something?”
He just stared at me, as if that’s exactly what he thought. Great.
