Page 90 of Of Blood and Banes
I change the subject.“Any casualties?”
“None that have been reported. Those that lost their homes in the fire are being housed in the town’s community hall. A’nala says they want to throw a feast for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes, for you. Because you saved the town. If it weren’t for you, the entire place would have burned to the ground.”
I allow myself a small smile as I lean my back against the stone wall and slide down. I stare blankly ahead, exhaustion tugging at my eyelids and body, begging me to rest.
“And if it weren’t for you, I would have been dead anyhow. Whether it was today or long ago.”
“You know it goes both ways,”she purrs.“Get some rest. Your exhaustion is bleeding over to me. It’s quite annoying.”
Chuckling, I allow my eyelids to finally close as I doze off. Sometime during my slumber, I sink to the ground and rest my head on piled hands. The cold, hard stone digs uncomfortably into my hip.
As I shift, I open my eyes and peek at Darian. How funny that we are here with him in my bed, as I lie on the ground. I can’t imagine how he slept comfortably for the nights he spent here on the floor. Or…perhaps he never was comfortable.
Gods, did it really take me this long to realize it? Did it really take me experiencing it to sympathize?
Each time I begin to doze off, I snap back awake, woken by the lingering worry that the dragon’s breath wasn’t strong enough. What if he had been too far gone and it only prolonged his inevitable death?
After an hour of fighting against my intrusive thoughts of finding him dead, I push off the ground with a grunt and slip into the bed next to him, my eyes trained on his face. I don’t even bother to settle under the sheets with him, figuring it far too intimate. Resting my fingers on the side of his throat, I search for his pulse. Once I find it, I leave my fingers there. Beat by beat, I anchor myself to the pulse, allowing it to carry me into sleep.
CHAPTER 30
BACK TO
“Good morning.”
My eyes flash open, and green eyes stare straight into me.
For a moment, I don’t even recognize Darian’s voice, still gravelly and rough from his previous night’s brush with death.
My hand still rests on the side of his stubbled neck, the tips of our noses mere inches apart. Before my mind can catch up to why I’m in bed with Darian, I scramble backward frantically.
My cheeks heat, and I pull the sheets up over my chin. “The hells are you doing here?—”
Oh. It all swims back to me. The dragon’s breath has clearly settled within his body. Color blooms in his cheeks, chasing away the ashen color into his hairline. Even his eyes are a brighter shade of green, the rise and fall of his chest mellowed to a simpler rhythm.
“Not like I have anywhere else to go,” he whispers, pulling a fist up to rattle the manacles encircling his wrists.
My grip on the sheets relax, and I let my arms fall into my lap.
He pushes up to lean his weight onto his elbow. “Who knew you’d becomesofond of your roommate.”
I turn my back to him, sitting on the edge of the bed braiding my hair as I mumble, “I’ll soon be requesting your transfer to someone else’s room, so don’t hold your breath about being myroommatefor much longer.”
“I’ll hold my breath if it means stopping my heart to kiss you again,” he whispers as his hand rests on my upper back and slides over the top of my shoulder.
I spin with a glare, the bed jumping underneath us at how vigorously I turn. I suppose there’s no hope he might have forgotten that little detail in his delirious state.
“Good,” he purrs, locking eyes with me. “I have your attention.”
His hand travels down the front of my shoulder, skating across my collar bone and edging dangerously close to the swell of my breast. I’m frozen, my heart thudding painfully in my chest as I watch his lazy movement. He cuts toward the center of my chest and plucks the necklace, then turns the vial over in his scarred fingers.
His eyes snap back up to mine. “Where did you get this?”
I hold his stare and flick his fingers off the vial. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
