Page 84 of Enchanted Shadows
“When am I not?”
I talked with the men for a few minutes more, then decided it was late enough. Kessara and I had a big day in the morning.
We were given hugs goodbye, and then walked the halls of the castle together. Husband and wife.
“That wasn’t so bad now, was it?” she asked me. “Far better than some events I’ve been to.”
I shrugged. “I’m just not used to being a guest of honor at these events. I’m used to working them.”
“You work too much,” she told me. “You should learn to enjoy the sunsets more.”
We turned a corner, and she jumped. I immediately moved to stand between whatever it was and her, my magic flaring in response.
It was a cat that ran off to hide in the shadows. Little did it know, it was not safe from Kessara there. “Not to worry,” I told her. “That’s just the cat Warrick has been trying to domesticate.”
She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’ve been a little jumpy since Amos told me about Calix.”
“Well, honey, about that.” I put out my hand for her to take, and she surprisingly took it. “You have a big trial in the morning. After that, I think I need you to explain to me the history between you two.”
“I’d rather take the test.”
I laughed. “Come on. It can’t be that bad.”
“It’s Bram Stirling bad,” she admitted, looking like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole.
We finally got to my room. I opened the door and let her in. Without delay, I moved to take off my formal jacket.
“This is beautiful,” she told me.
Like Jorah, I liked having a view of the forest out those windows.
“Thanks. I’m here so often, Jorah and Krew eventually just had me move into these rooms. They were Jorah’s original rooms from when she was in the Assemblages.”
I eyed the fireplace, the spot she had found me. The secret passage beyond it.
Someone had laid out some pajamas for Kessara, which she grabbed and went to change into.
I took one last drink of whiskey. I was in a damn mood tonight. Likely too tired. It was the night of my wedding reception, and I was buried in whiskey instead of elsewhere.
“Owen?” Kessara asked, standing beside the bed.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t sleep on the couch.” She pointed to the bed. “This thing is huge. We don’t even have to touch. Just sleep next to me.”
That was... more tempting than it should be. Exactly how many whiskeys had I had tonight?
“Please. You mentioned your neck has been hurting. We are both adults. We can handle this.”
My eyes traveled her now mostly bare legs. “No.Youare an adult. I am an overgrown man-child.”
“An overgrown man-child who I will throw out with my shadows if you make a move I do not like.”
I was fairly certain I could do numerous things, which she would, in fact,like. This was a bad idea. How the hell did I get out of this? “I snore.”
“I know. And we will have to stay in the same bed when we travel to Agria. Should things get that far. So we might as well get used to it now.”
I ran a hand down my face. “Kessara, I am exhausted. I need sleep.”
