Page 58 of Oracle of Ruin

Silence aside from the sounds of eating fills the room until Derrín breaks the silence.

“You didn’t do it in the pool at least, right?”

Blaine’s knee hits the chair in front of him and Amír chokes back a laugh.

Kya stares agape, flinging her twin a filthy glare. “Derrín!”

“I’m just saying it is our only place to clean ourselves, unless you all were fond of the river.”

“I thought the river was delightful.” Rowan grins and runs a scarred hand through his hair. Bastard. He’s actually enjoying this.

“No,” I offer meekly, hiding behind my hands. All that confidence I possessed in the bathing house has disappeared instantly, and I set my empty bowl on the floor as my stomach turns.

Kya lays a hand on my arm. “I fucked Amír against that wall right there with the hilt of my knife. You might want to move over a little, Torin, unless you want to keep leaning on that holy spot.”

“I doubt it’s holy.”

“The noises she made were.”

Kya’s reply shuts down Torin’s dry response.

The words are so bold and unabashedly filthy that I find myself coughing, then near laughing as Amír’s face blanches. Derrín groans and excuses himself while Torin hastily moves from his spot on the wall. Emilie keeps eating like she never heard anything.

Rowan sighs. “In front of my mother? Really, Kya?”

“You didn’t seem to mind a minute ago.” She sips her broth noisily. “Besides, it’s just sex.” The assassin drapes herself over her lover’s knee now, their fingers interlocking as Amír regains some of her color.

The rest are too horrified by the new and explicit information they’ve received to remember what Rowan and I did. Everyone except for Blaine, who remains still, his eyes unfocused.

Rowan picks my empty dish up from the floor, asking in a soft voice if I am still hungry. When I say no, he carries the dish to the wash basin and rinses it clean before returning to where I sit, offering me his hand. The others murmur good nights, beginning to disperse to their own rooms with promises of discussions tomorrow. I leave the room hand in hand with Rowan, leaving Blaine alone to his thoughts.

Guilt gnaws at the edges of my consciousness, but nevertheless, I let Rowan lead me away, down the halls to the room we found before. He allows me into the bed first, letting me rest on the edge closest to the wall and furthest from the door. He settles in beside me, his presence all encompassing. A wave of citrus and leather washes over my system and I sigh. The darkness of his presence has never been the same sort of darkness that plagues my nightmares. His is warm and covers me with protection. There is no chill of terror or smothering. I settle against the solid plane of his chest, my face against his bare skin. I can feel his lips as he presses a kiss against the top of my head and wraps his arms around my middle. I drift off into comfortable sleep, the dark claiming my consciousness.

Chapter27

Verosa

Rowan shifts in his sleep, the motion rousing me from my own. I stretch my arms skywards, my every joint popping as they snap into place after a night of good rest. Rowan lays on his back, his face exposed to the light drifting in through a gap in the curtains. Tiny filaments of dust dance in the weak golden light, cascading around his face like a golden halo. I turn on my side, propping my face on his chest to study him.

My pinky traces the straight lines of his nose, his strong jaw and brow bone. My palm traces down his chest and abdomen, his scars scratching the surface of my palms. I lean forward to kiss one on his shoulder that I recognize. He got that one saving me a year ago from Mavis’s goons the night we met. Its jagged, raised peaks etch the first lines of our story, and as much as I hate seeing or remembering him in pain, a small smile lifts my lips. Despite it all, that night brought me to him. It brought me to Kya and Derrín, and yes, even Amír.

A low knot forms in my stomach. It brought me to my parents.

Aiko and Finneas… I don’t even know where they are right now. Don’t know if they’re alive or not. I won’t think of that. They must be alive, just as Torin is alive. Everyone else thought that was impossible, and yet here he is.

Here he is working for the rebels, the people who want me dead. He swore he was loyal to me always, and yet…

Rowan’s knuckles trail up my arm to the junction of my shoulder then back down again. He blinks the sleep from his eyes and nudges my face upwards with his shoulder. His lips capture mine slowly, and he keeps his eyes open a second before they flutter closed. “Good morning,” he murmurs, his voice low and laced with sleep. The sound goes straight to my core.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” I prop myself up on my forearms. My bangs fall messily in front of my face and I attempt to blow them away before I give up.

Rowan chuckles, the sound reverberating through the bed. I rise now and Rowan groans, trying to pull me back down.

“Come on, I’ve got questions to answer, and a few of my own.”

“Can’t that wait? It’s only dawn.”

“If not now, then never.” I smirk as I saunter towards the door. “Besides, they’re all awake.”

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