Page 85 of Seducing Jenny
“Then you should sleep.”
He eyed me, brows furrowed. “You must be as exhausted as I am.”
“I’m a little wired, actually. But maybe if I try to sleep, I’ll doze off.”
“Goodnight, Tiger love.”
“Goodnight, Mal.”
I did try. I lay beside Mal, listening to their soft breathing. Jenny snored a little, the cutest sound I’d ever heard. But I couldn’t sleep, and the thoughts pinging through my brain didn’t help matters.
I don’t know if Jenny feels the same way about us.
I don’t know how to kill a ruler.
I don’t think I can hold still any longer.
Carefully, I moved off the bed and replaced my body with the covers on Mal’s shoulder so he wouldn’t get cold, before I dressed and went into the hall to burn off my energy. I guessed it was around midnight, but after the day we’d had, time felt strangely imaginary. My shoes smacked on the cold marble, but they weren’t the only sound. Around the corner, someone’s bare feet made a quieter noise.
When I got there, I found Sam. “Are you lost?”
She startled, her face struggling between a frown and a smile. “No, not lost. I…Surge wanted to borrow a book of mine.”
I tilted my head. “Isn’t your room down the north hall?”
“Yeah I just…” she exhaled a breath and brushed her bangs from her eyes. “I needed a minute to think.”
“Must be an important book.”
“It is. It’s my favorite.”
Something about this encounter with Sam struck me as odd. “You read the magician tomes for fun?”
She giggled and the sound almost reminded me of Jenny. Her heavily blue streaked hair bounced around her shoulders when she shook her head. “The book isThe Poems of Xixiveh, not a magician tome.”
I blinked at her, surprised. I wasn’t educated, but everyone knew about Xixiveh. An ancient Ladrian woman who had defied the gods to learn to read, she wrote some of the most beautiful poetry ever conceived, a lot of it erotic in nature.
“You read Ladrian poetry?”
She nodded. “It’s the most romantic poetry I’ve ever read.”
I crossed my arms, curious. “And which volume is it that he wants to borrow?”
“That is none of your business, Tiger Orne,” she said sharply.
“Volume Eight, then?” I teased.
Her face reddened, and she blurted, “None of your business.”
I tried not to laugh at her embarrassment but I wasn’t very successful. “Hope he enjoys it. Though Surgeissingle, so maybe it’s cruel to let him read such smut alone.”
She jutted her chin out. “Or maybe it’s an easy way to flirt with him,” she countered.
My brows shot up. “Sam, do you have a crush on Surge?”
She rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed little hrmph. “Honestly, Tiger! The things you ask!”
“Apologies, Sam.” I held up my hands. “As you said, none of my business.”
