Page 90 of Daughter Of The Ninth Line
No, something wasn’t adding up, and I was irritated at myself. Irritated that I couldn’t just let myself have this moment, this time, without looking for some kind of subterfuge. I couldn’t even go to Shay with this, because she would likely kill Avalon first and ask questions later. She was steadfast in her protection of me, perhaps even a little overzealous. As much as I wanted to trust my gut, I hadn’t survived this long without doing my due diligence. Which meant I needed to know more about Avalon Halhed and the Ninth Line.
Actually, I needed to knoweverything.
As always, the best starting point was first-hand knowledge, which wasdefinitelythe only reason I found myself sneaking down to the lower levels of Boellium in the early hours of the morning. Staying in the shadows, I picked the lock on the dorm door and slid inside.
Only to be met by a giant hound with teeth that glinted in the dim wall sconces.
Lifting my hand, I held him still. “Your master knows about this. No need to take my arm off,” I whispered to the mutt.
No, not a mutt. Braxus’s breed had been kept by the Third Line for as long as I could remember. They were tall and regal, beautiful and deadly. Even the First Line feared the war creatures of the Third Line.
The hound didn’t move for a moment, but eventually, he huffed and stepped away. He trailed me to the bedroom, though, and I doubted that he was about to let me into Avalon’s room alone. As if he’d heard my thoughts and agreed, he let out a quick bark, alerting Avalon I was here.
I glared down at him. “Jokes on you, furball, because I was going to wake her anyway.”
A sleep-rumpled Avalon emerged from her room, her face screwed up in confusion in the low light of the common room. “Vox? What are you doing here? It’s…” She looked around for some kind of clock, but I realized the dorm didn’t have one. How did she make it anywhere on time?
“Four a.m.,” I provided. “I wanted to see you.” Ineededto see her. It was a compulsion that resided deep in my chest.
She squinted at me. “At this ungodly hour of the morning?”
I gave her a lopsided smile. “Yes. I want to get to know you, without Taeme being here. This was the only time that was convenient.”
“Convenient for whom?” Sighing, she turned back toward the bedroom. “Well, let’s do it under the blankets. It’s freezing out here.”
I hadn’t noticed. The First Line prided itself on not feeling anything, let alone mundane things like cold, hot, or love. I didn’t tell her that, though, just followed her into her room, hearing the hound huff an aggravated sound as she shut the door. I didn’t do anything childish, like poke my tongue out at the beast, but I wanted to.
Avalon stumbled back toward her thin bed, while I looked around the room. It was empty of anything but the bare bones of life. Battered furniture. Scratchy blankets. The difference between our standards of living was stark. Guilt gnawed at my gut, but I pushed it away. I’d fix this, though I couldn’t do anything about it right now.
“If you’re done staring at my room like it’s a filthy barn, you can either get beneath the blankets or sit in the corner, but talk quick or I’m going back to sleep.”
I toed off my shoes and climbed beneath the blankets. I wanted to feel her body pressed to mine. It wasn’t polite, or gentlemanly, or appropriate in any way, but I didn’t care. I was desperate to feel the curves of her body against mine. I stretched my arm out along the pillow, and she lifted her head to lay it on my bicep. My heart beat a little faster in my chest.
“I’m exhausted,” she mumbled. “Why did we have to have back-to-back stamina training?”
I was fairly sure the instructors just liked to torment us. “You can be the best swordsman in the world, but without stamina, you’re as good as dead,” I told her softly. “Swing while you can, but if you have to retreat, you’ll need to be able to run more than a hundred feet without puking.”
She grumbled something beneath her breath, but didn’t disagree. “What did you want to know, Vox?” My name,murmured in her husky voice that was soft with sleep, made my dick hard. I wanted her to whisper it to the darkness as I pleasured her.
My fingers brushed across the tops of her shoulder almost of their own accord. “Everything.” Chuckling, I felt her shoulders lift as she breathed me in.
“You might need to narrow it down a little to start.”
“Why’d you come to Boellium?”
She snorted and burrowed closer. “You’re so warm.”
I could be warmer, cooler, whatever I desired; most powerful wielders of First Line magic controlled their own body temperature.
“I’m here because of conscription laws. You should know about those,” she teased.
“But why you?” I pressed. “Why not your brother, or the stable boy, or some farmer’s daughter? Why a female Heir?” I felt the tension stiffen her body, and I wondered if she really was a spy and was about to lie to me.
Instead, she sighed. “It’s not a secret—at least, not in the Ninth Line Barony. My father hates me. He blames me for my mother’s death.”
“She died in childbirth?” It happened all too frequently, especially in the Lower Line Baronies that didn’t have access to good physicians. Those wild, barren places where only the desperate people of Ebrus lived had higher mortality rates in general.
The tension in her body increased, like she was bracing herself. “No. It’s widely believed that I murdered her.”
