Because my agreement with Casteel remained. I wouldn’t back out because of how I felt or that my feelings were hurt. My brother was more important than that.
I lifted my head, bleary eyes focused on the ancient stone walls. The people of Solis were more important than how I felt, so were all those who called Atlantia home. Casteel’s brother was more important, as were all those names on the walls of the underground chambers.
Casteel and I could change things. We could stop the Ascended, and that was what mattered.
Climbing to my feet, I shakily made my way to the small bathing chamber, grateful that Casteel hadn’t returned while I’d been having a complete breakdown and moment of realization. I splashed away the tears staining my face and then undressed, pulling on the nightgown that could barely be called clothing. The cool material skimmed my breasts and hips, ending just below my rear. Tomorrow, I would question whether or not women actually slept in this…this scrap of silk, but tonight, I was too tired to even be concerned with it. After locking the doors, I took my dagger to the bed, placing in under the pillow. Pulling the blanket up over me, I tried not to think about how everything smelled of Casteel. I closed my aching eyes, and as weary as I was from everything, I immediately drifted into the oblivion of nothing.
It was the bed shifting under unexpected weight that woke me sometime later. Rolling onto my side, I slipped the dagger from under the pillow.
A hand caught my wrist in the shadows of the room, and a voice whispered, “Are you going to stab me in the heart? Again?”
Chapter 33
The scent of rich spice and pine reached me the second after the words.
Casteel.
My racing heart didn’t slow. “Why don’t you let go of my wrist and find out?”
“That sounds like a yes if I ever heard one,” he replied as my eyes adjusted. The glow of the lamp outside the canopy cast most of him in shadow, but he was close enough that I could see the arch of a brow and the amused tilt to his lips.
Promised to someone else.
Anger was a heatwave that swept away any lingering sleep. “Let me go.”
“I don’t know if I should.” His thumb moved in an idle circle along the inside of my wrist as he said, “Someone is likely to be very irritated if you stab me, and I end up bleeding all over the bed.”
“You could always clean up after yourself.”
“There’s something innately wrong with the idea of being stabbed and then having to clean up my own blood.”
I pushed against his hold, but my hand remained pinned to the bed. “There’s something innately wrong with you being in here! How did you even get in? I locked the doors.”
“Did you?”
“I did…” I sighed. “Key. You have a key.”
“Perhaps.” His head tilted. “Have you been crying?”
“What? No,” I lied.
“Then why are your eyes swollen?”
“Probably because I’m tired. I was sleeping, but you woke me up.”
“I wanted to come back sooner—it seems I always want to come back sooner,” he said, seeming to have accepted my answer. “Especially when you’re wearing something so interesting.”
The blanket had slipped to my waist in sleep, exposing the low neckline of the nightgown. Heat crept down my neck and across the swells of my breasts. “It was the only thing in here for me to wear other than the robe.”
“I like it.” He shifted, seeming to get comfortable as he reached out with his other hand, fingering the strap. “Such ridiculous, tiny straps. I like them.”
I knocked his hand away. “You can let go. I’m not going to stab you.”
“I find that oddly disappointing.”
“And I find that extremely disturbing.”
He laughed deeply, letting go of my wrist. I started to move, but he was so much faster, shifting so he was above me. The warmth of his body pressed against my chest as one of his long legs ended up between mine, shorting out my senses. A flash of heat rolled through me as every part of my body became overly aware of how close he was.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Making sure you’re comfortable.”
“And how will you accomplish that by lying on top of me?”
“I won’t.” A shadowy grin appeared. “I’m doing that because I like lying on top of you.”
“Well, I don’t,” I bit out, pulse thundering.
His chest brushed against mine, sending a velvet shiver through me. “That’s a lie.”