“Well, I need to hold up my reputation as an insufferable bastard, now don’t I?” he murmured.
A bubble of laughter popped from my throat, and I smiled.
His body went preternaturally still. “Ah. So that’s what it looks like.”
“That’s what what looks like?” I asked him.
He smiled. “Nothing. We better get to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day prepping for the next trial.”
Flushing at the sudden change in conversation, I shifted on my feet, suddenly realizing I’d left the boots back on the beach. That was the second pair I’d lost in a week, and they weren’t even mine. “All right. Night then, I guess.”
“Goodnight.”
I watched him stride into the living room, toward the couch where his pillow and blanket sat waiting for him. For a moment, I hesitated, wondering if I should offer him the bed instead. But by the time I found the words, he’d started to undress. He tugged his tunic over his head, and the pale light of the moon slanting in from the window illuminated the hard, rugged panes of his chest.
My heart thundered.
I shook my head and dashed toward the bedroom at the end of the hall. I hoped he hadn’t noticed me standing there gaping at him like a fool. It was just…his physique was particularly impressive. Anyone would notice that.
Feeling far more flustered than I had any business being, I closed the door, stripped off my clothes, and climbed into bed. It wasn’t until I was drifting off to sleep that I realized Rivelin had been talking about my smile.
19
RIVELIN
I tossed and turned all night. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Daella had told me about her past—and her future. The bastard had bound her to him, and she saw no way out. It explained a lot. There had to be a way to get her out of this mess, but barring somehow removing the damn shard from her hip, I didn’t know what it was.
She couldn’t return to that life. That was all I knew for certain.
Skoll padded in from the back door I’d left cracked for him all night and nuzzled my hand. I sighed and sat up on the sofa, running my fingers through my hair. I’d hardly slept, and while elves didn’t need as much rest as most, I still felt like my head was stuffed with wool.
“Dammit,” I muttered to myself. Sometime in the past few days, I’d let myself soften toward the half-orc, and I didn’t much like that. It always came back to bite me in the ass.
“Good morning,” Daella said uncertainly.
I looked up to find her hovering in the doorway, still in her nightclothes. Quickly, I looked away. The thin material didn’t leave much to the imagination, and her curves were a delicious temptation I could never indulge in. Still, the shape of her thighs—and everything else about her—hadn’t escaped my notice.
I cleared my throat. “Morning. You hungry?”
“Starving. Should I make us something?”
I arched a brow.
“I do know how to cook, you know.”
The offer was sweet, and pretty unexpected coming from her. “No, no. You get dressed. We’ll break our fast at the Dreaming Dragon Inn. We can find out the details of the Fildur Trial there. They’ll have announced it yesterday while we were in the mountains.”
“The inn. Need I remind you, I got kicked out the first night I was here.”
I found myself looking over at her, despite my every intention not to, and fates be damned, that nightdress showed off every inch of her mile-long thighs.
Her cheeks reddened. “Right, you have coin so it’ll be fine. I suppose I should go get dressed now. Are you going to take a bath first or will you do it later? What about Skoll? Is he hungry? He should come with us, or do they not allow fenrir inside the doors?”
Her words came out in a breathless rush, and an unexpected satisfaction settled into me. She’d noticed me noticing her, and it had gotten her flustered. Her eyes darted down and then back up again. And that was when I remembered I was only half-dressed myself. She was noticing me right back. I smirked.
“I’ll go get dressed.” And then she was gone.
Skoll sat on his haunches and stared at me. There was judgement in his yellow eyes. Or was it encouragement? Fuck, I needed to focus. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her body, though I’d been careful to avert my gaze when she’d been hurt. And when I had looked at her that night, I’d been so focused on that damn shard…
No matter. Today’s task loomed too large to get distracted by this kind of thing. Despite Gregor’s sabotage, we’d done well in the first challenge, but we needed to win the next one. It was the only way to stop Isveig from getting his giant claws into this place.
M ornings at the Dreaming Dragon Inn were quieter affairs than the boisterous evening revels. The village of Wyndale, being as small as it was most of the year, didn’t boast of a variety of delis, restaurants, and taverns. So if one wanted to break his fast somewhere other than at home, the Dreaming Dragon Inn was the place to do it.
A bell jangled on the door as I pushed inside, Daella just behind me. There were about a dozen patrons scattered around the many tables, each quietly digging into a full breakfast. Being a shadow demon, Elma’s specialty was khlea—some dried meat—and fried eggs, along with olives, soft cheese, and bread to scoop it all up. The inn was the only place on Hearthaven to serve it. She’d won the Midsummer Games several years back and asked the island for a steady supply of ingredients, since olives didn’t naturally grow around here. Food was always readily available, even if we still had to farm it.
Daella and I sat across from each other at a table along the back wall. Elma swung by only a moment later, wiping her hands on her faded brown apron. She shot me a smile but pointedly ignored Daella. Shadows pulsed from her skin.
“Morning, Rivelin. Rarely see you in here. What can I get you?”
“Elma, this is Daella, my assistant for the Games.”
She pursed her red-painted lips and glanced at Daella. “Yes. The murk from Fafnir.”
“Who saved Kari’s life.” I nodded at the corner where Kari quietly ate her meal alone. Every now and again, the redheaded elf cast a quick glance our way.
“Ah, yes. That is true.” Elma’s face softened a little. “Well, I suppose it’s nice to meet you, Daella, but I hope you don’t plan on telling your emperor about us. Otherwise, I’m going to have to kick you out again, even if you do have coin and one of my favorite patrons this time.”
To my surprise, Daella laughed. “You’re very blunt.”
Elma grinned. “Gotta be, running a place like this. You should see what some of the rowdy dwarves try to pull in the evenings. They can sometimes get rather handsy, if you know what I mean.”
“Something tells me you put them in their place easily enough.”
“That I do. That I do. Now what can I get you? Can’t say I know how to do a traditional orcish breakfast, but I can do a Full Eggs and Bacon—that’s what the humans like—or I’ve got the one from my homeland. Demonika Breakfast.”
“I’ll have the Demonika Breakfast, thanks.”
“The same for me,” I said.
After Elma bustled off, I lowered my voice. “Where did that come from?”