“You shouldn’t be trusted to even speak until you’re healed,” he says as I see Kit leaping into the hot spring. She floats off while I carry Riley in and sit down with him on my lap. I make sure to lock my arms around him so he can’t go anywhere.
“The minerals will promote healing,” I explain. “Hopefully they’ll help these bruises on your beautiful body go away.”
“My bruises? What about your damn wounds?” he asks, but I ignore that because it’s too tempting to hold him. And the hot spring will help me more than any of the human devices have.
“They’ve healed. You can look at them and confirm.”
“Maybe on the outside, but you were half dead hours ago! You don’t listen to anything I say,” Riley growls.
“You’re so feisty. Do I need to fuck the feisty out of you?”
“It didn’t work last time, and it’s not going to work this time.”
“That’s because we only went one round,” I murmur while my finger trails down his torso. His hand blocks it from going any farther.
“Nope, we need to save my poor body.”
“Poor, my ass,” I say before nipping his neck. I really think he’s being rather unfair here, but I force myself to listen… and in the meantime, I kiss and suck and nibble, which he allows me to do.
He closes his eyes and sinks into my touch. He’s asleep in minutes, and it makes me wonder if he didn’t sleep well for the past six days while I was unconscious. It’s been so long since I’ve had someone to fret over me like this. Far too long.
I hear Quill’s footsteps as he comes over to see what we’re up to. He leans over to nuzzle me before trying to take a bite of Riley’s hair.
“No, no, he’s sleeping,” I say, but Quill is quite determined to harass him. “Quill, I know it’s fun having a new person around, but we can’t harass him awake.”
Quill is only distracted by Kit who is busy digging everything out of a cupboard, and once she’s finished doing that, she climbs into it. Quill hurries over to see what she’s up to and helps her destroy whatever he can. And I’m left in this palace that has caused me so much pain, these empty halls that were once filled with joyous life, and this existence I once hated so much that all I could think about was how I could end it once Quill was gone.
But this time, there’s so much warmth tucked into my arms—a heavy body pressed against me that I vow to protect no matter the cost. I knew what the horseman would do to me when I turned my back to him, yet I would have taken that pain again and again just to avoid being without Riley.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Riley
“We really should return. I can’t leave everyone completely defenseless while I have fun here,” I mutter as I hug the book to me and roll over on the chaise. While Torin has only been awake a full day, I’m nervous about enjoying life over here when everything could be falling to chaos over there.
He peeks at me from where he’s spooning his mount.
“You’re so weird,” I say.
Torin’s head pops up from where he’d had his face stuffed in Quill’s lionlike mane that flickers and flutters sometimes, almost like it’s made of fire. The golden-red hue adds to the effect, but Torin sure loves shoving his face in it.
“How am I weird? You wear Kit like a mask when you sleep,” he says.
I hesitate before I slowly slide Kit off my face. “That’s just where she sees best. We really should return now that you’re healed.”
“Fine, fine. Should we gather your strange friend while we’re at it?” Torin asks.
I raise an eyebrow, confused what that question even means. “My strange friend?”
“Yes. The odd one.”
“Mickey? Mickey’s here?”
“Yes, he’s been here for a couple of days. When I saw him earlier, he told me.”
“What?” I ask, shocked that Mickey’s just been living it up here and never shown his damn face! “Where is he?”
“Right now, he’s in the hot spring.”
