Page 49 of Dishonor Among Thieves
He nodded. “You say you’ve never had the luxury of choice. But I have,” he said. “And I choose you. Stay with me. Be my wife. Not because you signed a contract. Because you desire it.”
“Wh…why?” I could hardly get the question out. My heart raced in my chest, and the blood rang loudly in my ears.
“Together,” he whispered, teasing my lower lip with a featherlight touch from his, “we will avenge Elgit and his goblin brothers. We will find and finish Rekker Haeloc. And we will free you once and for all from every tie that binds you to grief.”
My lips parted, and I lifted a finger to touch the fracture in his lower lip.
“Choose me, Brexia, because I choose you.” He lowered his face to mine and claimed my lips in a tender, gentle kiss.
Fear fled my body as something new, something beautiful and complex and perfect, replaced it. Lost in the feel of his lips on mine, I opened my mouth to his, admitting the probing sweep of his tongue. He tasted sweet like honey but earthy like the most fragrant moss after a rain. Stars lit the darkness behind my closed lids, and I raked my fingers up his neck and through his hair.
He groaned and strained toward me, holding my face in his hands.
“You are so unexpected,” he breathed. “My perfect thieving bride,” he said, a smile curling his lips.
“Not without reason,” I murmured between kisses. Having just a taste of kissing him, I wanted more. So much more. “Doing something wrong to accomplish a greater good.”
“Spoken like a true thief.”
I ran a hand from his finely stubbled neck to his chest, then lowered my head to kiss every bit of skin I could reach. The hollow of his throat, his chin.
He gasped for air and, raking his hands through my hair, tugged my face back to his. “Tell me,” he demanded, sucking my lower lip into his mouth. We kissed, desire and understanding flowing between us, for once unstopped by circumstance. Our tongues danced until I was breathless, but even then I wanted more. Of this. Of him. “Tell me,” he repeated. “What do you choose?”
My lids heavy with lust and my heart alive with something more, something that someday I might call love, I said, “I choose you, husband. As long as you promise I will be the one to kill Gini.”
ChapterThirteen
“If you’re going to kill her, first you must find her.” Rain’s voice shattered our tender moment with the abruptness of an iron pot dropped against a wooden table.
Neo and I separated reluctantly while Antonia pushed a cart laden with cheese, fruit, and a pot of steaming tea into the bedroom. Rain hovered close by her, urging the woman to move slowly and mind her head. They both seemed oblivious to what they’d interrupted.
I was reluctant to move my hands from where they’d roamed, but I did, curling my fingers together in my lap above the blankets. Neo glared at his brother while I self-consciously licked the taste of my husband’s kisses from my lips.
“Thank you, dear. I’m feeling quite well enough now to manage.” Antonia patted Rain’s arm. “I assure you, I’m more than recovered from the morning’s excitement.”
“I don’t believe the excitement has passed us by just yet. We have a problem,” Rain said. He moved gracefully like his brother, but there was something lighter about the younger Oderisi. His light stride was loose, free, as if he didn’t hold the weight of dark memory between his shoulders—like Neo did. Rain strode to the window and peered through the thick glass.
Even from several feet away, I could hear the wind still blowing, sending branches dancing across the blood-red sedum and bending leaf-heavy tree branches.
“This weather has done us no favors, brother.” Rain shoved a hand through his curls and huffed a frustrated breath. “The mage’s blood has been washed away.”
Neo kicked his feet out of bed and strode to the window, tugging the loose waist of his breeches over his well-defined hip muscles. As he walked toward the window, I saw for the first time the scars marring his muscular back. The tiny, intricate marks read like runes recording the horrors he’d been through.
He put a hand on Rain’s shoulder and peered past him. “No luck scouting her?”
Rain shook his head, his long sandy curls still damp. “I tried. Followed the droplets in the direction of the stable, but there was simply nothing to track. The animals are all calm, so I don’t believe she’s hiding there.”
“And the damage to the manor?” Neo rolled his shoulders and neck then walked to the cart and grabbed a slice of green apple. “Do you know how an illusionist managed to destroy our gate?” He looked back at me for answers.
I squinted as I tried to remember any time that Gini had used magic to manipulate physical objects. She could damage humans and even animals by convincing the mind that it was being hurt, like she’d done to Gia, Rain, and me. The injuries her magic caused were very, very real. But I couldn’t recall whether she’d ever been able to bend metal or splinter wood with her mind. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Although there is much about her power I may not know. How she came by the hag stone, how it was enchanted…”
“She must be developing her powers, or working with some other forbidden force,” he mused. “I fear she may have hidden some of what she’s capable from even you. After all the years you lived with her, her last hope of controlling you would be with power you weren’t aware existed, and therefore couldn’t defend against.”
“Gia was able to get the front gate removed from the fence itself, but we’ll need a craftsman to repair it.” Rain explained that the sitting room door was damaged but still intact and functional. Since it could still be locked, there was no need to move Elgit upstairs to one of the other vacant rooms.
Antonia handed me a mug of hot tea, and I took it, but set it on the bedside table. I held her hands tightly in mine. “I am so, so sorry for what happened to you,” I said. “To Dale…”
“Shhh, milady.” Her dark eyes sparkled. “We have the best healer in the Realm under this roof. Not to mention the gentlemen of the manor whosespecial giftsfixed us right up.” She pointed to her arm, which I assumed was where she and Dale had been bitten by Rain and Neo. “You know, I may be old, but I didn’t go down without a fight. I got a good swing or two in when I realized that mage was not a sick villager seeking aid.”
