Page 39 of An Empress of Earth & Darkness

At that, she rolled onto her belly and pulled up the covers so that her body was covered a little. “And I will stand by your side until the sun falls from the sky.”

His eyebrows pulled down as he found a strand of her hair to play with. “Not even after that?” he jested.

Emara rolled her eyes. “Okay, even after that.”

The back of Torin’s hand brushed all the untamed hair from her face, and she took a moment to just look at him in all his beautiful glory. His angled jaw, his striking eyes, his full lips, swollen from how hard he had kissed her. His body relaxed on his bed like he was meant to be in this moment with her. Like this was where the Gods wanted them to be.

And then a thought occurred to her.

She sat up abruptly, taking the covers with her. “Oh my Gods, I am in your room.”

He rolled onto his side, still stark naked, and said, “And is that a problem?”

Emara laughed as she took in her surroundings for the first time. She blinked a few times before swallowing.

She had never been in Torin Blacksteel’s bedroom before.

His bed was massive, twice the size of the one she had in Mossgrave, and absolutely bigger than her one down the corridor. Surrounding them on the bed were four posters of dark oak, and light charcoal fabric hung in ties at each corner. His sheets were crisp and as white as snow, decorated with furs at the bottom. Plenty of pillows lay scattered around, and she let out a giggle at how messy they were from what they had just done.

His walls were white, but the art that hung there was complete with forest landscapes and midnight skies full of stars. Weaponry dotted all over the room too, of course, like some sort of mini training room. Axes and swords hung on the walls, and by the door that they had broken through in passion hung a tiny archery set, like the one a baby Torin would have first practised with.

She had no idea why her heart reacted the way it did when she thought of a small hunter, dressed in training gear, with a little mane of inky hair and baby-blue eyes. The menacing scowl, she imagined, would still be the same.

She banished the thought and the emotions it conjured up and cast her eyes around the rest of the room. He had a dark oak wardrobe placed next to the large window like her own, and she assumed it was stacked to the brim of nothing but black garments and hunting attire. A light grey oil lamp sat on top of the same black-oak drawers as the bed, and one sat at either side of them. A few royal-blue rugs lined the floors, and she noted a bathing chamber off to the right that seemed to be carved in white marble.

His room was nothing like the Tower outside of this room, cold and meaningless.

Torin’s room was cosy and, surprisingly, rather stylish.

“Should I be worried that you haven’t said anything as your eyes have investigated my entire bed chambers?” He laughed slightly as he still twirled the strand of her hair in between his fingers.

“You shouldn’t be worried.” She turned back to him and smiled. “It’s just I have never been here before. I think…it’s not what I expected.”

“Not many people have,” he said back coolly. “I don’t let people in here. It’s mine.”

And that surprised her too.

“No friends?”

It was then that he rolled his eyes and let go of her hair, his back finding the mattress once more. “No friends. Just you.” He pulled on her elbow gently, and she fell back onto the soft mattress to feel his warmth again. “It’s only ever going to be you that’s allowed in here. In my own little part of this Tower I am supposed to call home.”

“I could get used to that,” she said, holding back her smile as she blinked at him. “I like it.”

“Just smile.” He grinned as he looked at her. “I know you want to. I bet you had all sorts of little sordid fantasies about what my room would look like.”

She wanted to laugh so hard because it was true. But she couldn’t, not yet. She couldn’t let him know that he was right.

She hit him with a soft fist on the chest. “Shut up. I will smile when I want to smile, not when you tell me to.” It was then she couldn’t trap the smile that graced her lips. “And I can’t tell you about the kind of fantasies that I had about this room because I don’t think you would class them as fantasies.”

“I bet a gold coin you thought I would have ruby-red silk sheets and a sex swing in the corner?”

She could feel her eyes bulge out from her skull. “A sex swing? Torin Blacksteel! I did not for one moment think you would have a sex swing.” A flustered laugh escaped her. “I don’t even think my mind could conjure up a thing.”

He chuckled. “Give yourself some time,” he said, his smooth voice coasting through the small distance between them as they lay together on the bed. “You haven’t been to the markets on a full moon. You would be surprised to see what they sell on those nights.”

She bit her lip. “Oh Gods, is it bad that I am now curious about what a sex swing would look like?”

A deep laugh rumbled from his belly, and it was the first she had seen him laugh properly in Rhiannon knows how long. “There is always the next winter solstice.”

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