The Night House Read online

  Maybe she should put the shield up and disappear.

  Thane remained motionless.

  Alexis pulled back, probably realizing she kissed a cold rock. Her lips bunched up and her brows puckered. “Don’t you miss us? We were good together.”

  “You did both of us a favour when you broke things off.”

  Maybe Taya could sink into the floor. During her training sessions with Thane, they determined she had little offensive skills and her strength came in the form of defensive shields and merging with her weapons. Maybe she could merge with the tiles?

  She shifted her weight and eyed the door. With three long strides, she’d escape the room.

  Alexis’ gaze cut to her. “Is it her? Is this shadow the reason?”

  Maybe she could make it with two power lunges.

  “My reasons are solely based on you, Alexis. On us.” He leaned forward. “Did you honestly think you could cast me aside like unwanted trash and I’d come running back to you the moment you crooked a finger?”

  She pursed her lips.

  He stepped to the side, gripped the handle and opened the door. “Your husband is waiting for you.”

  Alexis pulled herself up straight and lifted her chin. “You’ll regret this.”

  Oh, wow. She parted with that line? So cliché.

  “I doubt it.” Thane closed the door on Alexis’ heels and turned the deadbolt. When he faced Taya, the bags under his eyes looked darker. He hadn’t been sleeping well.

  The exchange with his ex may have exhausted him, but Taya found it quite satisfying to watch. She smiled.

  “Don’t say it,” Thane said.

  She lifted her arms out to the side. “What?”

  “You can wipe that smug smile off your face as well.”

  She jabbed her forefinger into her breastbone as if to say, “Who, me?”

  “Yes, you,” Thane bit out.

  She tried, but her mouth twisted and sprang back into a smirk. She gave up and let it widen. “If you want private time with your brother’s wife, just say so. I can leave.”

  “Leave? That woman poses a threat.” Thane flung out his arm to point at the closed door.

  Taya snorted. “Not to your physical safety. I visually checked her for weapons.”

  “That dress could’ve hidden anything.”

  Not the top part. “True, but it would take her awhile to get anything out of those skirts and I’d hope by then, you’d figure out her intent and defend yourself.”

  “There are other reasons women lift their skirts.” Thane ground his teeth. “That woman is nothing but calculation.”

  “She’s definitely up to something.” Most likely wanting the security of marriage to Julian and the passion in Thane’s arms.

  Thane nodded. “Let’s put Alexis and her questionable motives to the side right now. You never answered my question.”

  She made a habit of not answering his questions.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you saw Gale on the Earth side?”

  Her hands flew to her hips. “This is the first time I’ve seen him or heard any mention of him being alive after the Arkavians invaded Earth. I thought he died in the sacrifice.”

  “Did you check for his body?”

  “Of course not. I had no reason to.” She mostly tried not to lose everything she’d eaten that morning. All the faces had blurred together. “I didn’t keep the information secret. You knew I had his brother’s swords. Why wouldn’t you assume our paths crossed? Why wouldn’t you mention that Elias’ brother was still alive?”

  “I assumed you stole or scavenged the swords. I didn’t realize the House of Raiden and the sacrifice circle were connected. I didn’t mention he was alive because I didn’t want you to get altruistic and try to return magical swords you’re under no obligation to forfeit. If he wants the blades of Raiden back, he has to take them. It’s Arkavian Law.”

  Understanding clicked painfully in place. What a pair they made. “I didn’t realize Gale was a part of the sacrifice stuff. We each held a piece to a two piece puzzle.” Cool air pebbled her skin. She rubbed her arms. “But Gale survived. He must be part of the leaching. If I had to guess, he saw me tonight with his brother’s swords and suspects I know of his involvement. After the failed assassination hit, I followed him and he asked your brother about me. He wanted to know who I was and where you found me.”

  “Is that what you were doing at the reception? Trailing mysterious men in a dress?”

  “He's hardly mysterious. You know who he is.” Why did he sound angry? She did a great job improvising. She lifted her chin. “But yes. That’s what I did and I looked good doing it.”

  Heat flashed in Thane’s gaze. “Yes, you did.”

  Oh my. He could melt polar ice caps with that look. “How’d he explain his brother’s death and the loss of his men and slaves?”

  “He said a nasty group of rabid earthens attacked him and he was the sole survivor. His Tarka skills are so weak, everyone believed him. We believed him. He went on that supply run for the House of Jericho.”

  “He has an interesting interpretation of the truth.”

  “Don’t we all?” Thane asked.

  What the hell did he mean by that?”

  He stepped close, his body inches from hers. Without an explanation, he gripped her face and leaned down to kiss her. His lips pressed against hers, hot and demanding. He tasted of sweet chocolate and sin. She inhaled his fresh pine scent and drank in more.

  Well, maybe he meant this. She could lie with her words, but her body told the truth. She melted into his arms and lost herself in the heat of the kiss. He pulled her closer. She ran her hands up his chest, enjoying the hard compact muscles under his soft shirt.

  A cool draft ran along her back as her nerves sang for more. Thane’s mouth moved to her jaw, then her neck, sending chills down her body.

  Thane shoved her to the side without warning, breaking contact and sending her flying. He flung out a hand.

  Taya hit the cold stone ground, rolled and sprang to her feet, weapons drawn. The blades whined for blood.

  Suspended in the air, mid-leap, a man had his arm drawn back with a throwing knife in one hand. Black garb covered his face and he wore plain leather armour with no house insignia. Cold air blew in from a window. The late night visitor hadn’t properly closed it.

  “Assassin,” Thane said. He continued to hold out his hand to keep the man frozen in place. His Tarka power rolled off him, radiating invisible waves toward their attacker.

  “I should’ve seen him,” she said.

  Thane walked over to the man and stopped a couple of feet away. “You were distracted.”

  “A mistake I won’t make again,” she said. Though she meant the words, her body begged for his touch. The taste of him lingered on her tongue and her lips still tingled from the pressure of his mouth on hers.

  He looked over his shoulder. “Worth it.”

  Honestly, what a silly thing to swoon over, yet here she was. Swooning. As if Thane contained a magnetic pull, Taya walked over to him. “Will he talk?”

  They turned in unison to the assassin. His dark eyes had glazed over and foam bubbled out of his mouth and through his face covering. Saliva dripped to the floor with a patter.

  Thane sighed. “Death tablet. Assassins often have a tooth pulled so they can store poison in their mouth.”

  “Why don’t I have one?” Apparently, her mouth wasn’t through talking before thinking.

  Thane chuckled. “I’ve seen how you shovel food in your mouth. You’d most likely dislodge the death tablet by mistake and manage to kill yourself.” The laughter drained from his expression. “I’m not letting that happen.”

  “Why not? It’s a part of the deal. I knew when I signed on I might die for you.”

  “This is non-negotiable.” His jaw tightened.

  “I made a promise, Thane. To kill for you. We both know what dangers this job entails. Nothing’s changed.” And back to lying, ap
parently. If her heart had a choice, it would punch its way out of her body cavity and spill the whole truth at Thane’s feet.

  His large hands curled into massive fists. “Everything’s changed.”

  She blinked at him. What did he mean by that? Had things changed for him, too, or did the kiss tell him exactly how enamoured she’d become? “You should reconsider. If I’m caught, you’ll wish I had one.”

  He frowned.

  “I’ll sing like a canary.” Her mouth kept moving.

  “No, you won’t.”

  “You sound so sure.” If she couldn’t kiss him, she may as well poke the Thane bear.

  “There are many things about you I don’t know or understand,” he said. “Your integrity is not one of them.”

  Warmth swept her body. Seriously. It had been over a year since she had any male companionship, but this was ridiculous.

  He unclasped his dress scabbard and propped his weapons against the bedside table. “Come on. We both need sleep before we head home tomorrow.” He pulled back the covers.

  “Um…”

  “What?”

  She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “The dead guy?”

  Thane grunted. “I’ll take care of it.” He stalked across the room. The assassin’s body floated through the air and trailed behind him. Thane flung open the door and stepped into the hallway.

  The assassin had come through one of the windows, which someone must’ve left unlocked for him. No wonder she felt a draft. While Thane dealt with the body, Taya secured all the points of entry and checked the rest of the room to ensure no other surprises leapt from the shadows tonight.

  During her circuit through the room, she passed the metal tray with the chocolates and popped them in her mouth. The intense flavour exploded in her mouth and brought back the memory of Thane’s kiss and the taste of him on her tongue. Her skin warmed. Nope. This wasn’t a good time to revisit the kiss.

  Instead of turning into a love-sick tween, she shed her various weapons and scanned the room for the cot. Where the hell was it? The other houses always brought a cot in for Thane’s shadow. Was this an oversight or an intentional slight? Where would she sleep?

  Thane returned, shut the door, turned the lock, and brushed off his hands as if he actually got them dirty.

  That was fast. Did he just dump him in the hallway? “Do I even want to know?”

  “Probably not.”

  She shook her head. No doubt she’d find out tomorrow. “They forgot to leave a cot.”

  Thane shrugged. “Climb in. You can sleep with me.”

  Well, he seemed unconcerned. If the House of Auroris tried to insult him, they failed. And now he wanted her to sleep with him.

  Sleep. Just sleep. Right? The pressure of his phantom lips still pressed against her own. She raised her eyebrows.

  He held his hands up in mock surrender. “Best behaviour. Promise.”

  He might manage to keep his hands to himself, but she didn’t trust her own intentions.

  Thane waited, his expression an open challenge as if he knew her exact concerns. He waved his arm out in a sweeping motion toward the bed.

  Ass.

  She walked to the opposite side, pulled back the thick covers perfect for staving off the cold in a damp castle, and slid into the bed. Her body thrummed with anticipation.

  For what? Get it together, woman.

  Thane snuffed out the candles with a flick of his wrist, and climbed into his side. The mattress dipped with his weight. He rolled toward her. His arm slipped around her waist and his hand splayed against her flat stomach.

  What was he doing?

  He pulled her into the heat of his body, surrounding her with his dizzying scent. He nuzzled his face into her neck and hair, and took a deep breath.

  “You said best behaviour.”

  “This is my best.”

  “And it’s terrible.”

  “And if I hadn’t caught the draft in the air, you might’ve died tonight. Someone tried to assassinate you. Twice,” he growled.

  “I’m your shadow. It’s what I do.”

  His grip tightened. “Let me hold you.”

  Her nerves sang with his proximity. Her memory replayed their kiss and demanded more. She still tasted his sinful tongue in her mouth, and if she were honest with herself, she needed him to hold her, too, but it was wrong. She swore to her dead friends to avenge them. Sleeping with the enemy conflicted with her promise. Yet…yet she wanted Thane. She craved him. Shouldn’t she be happy, too? Wouldn’t her friends want that?

  “It’s a good thing the assassin interrupted us.” Thane’s breath brushed against her neck while his words pierced her heart.

  “Wow. Regrets already.”

  “Absolutely not,” he growled. “But you have a couple of weeks left before you’re free from your service.”

  Apparently, they were having this conversation now, to hell with the dead guy Thane disposed of and the spooning.

  “Did you question my consent a moment ago?” Her consent had grinded all over his rock hard body and begged for more.

  His fingertips stroked her stomach. “No, but nothing can happen between us while you work for me as an indentured servant.”

  “Why is it so important to you that I’m free?”

  “Besides it being the right thing to do?”

  “Yes.”

  Silence descended on the dark room. It stretched until Taya was certain he wouldn’t answer her and closed her eyes to sleep. The heavy sheets rustled as he pulled her closer. His legs pressed against the back of hers.

  “My mother,” he whispered.

  She tensed. The memory rushed forward. Thane rarely spoke of his mother.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  Thane shrugged, his hand sliding along her stomach, as if to say it was not big deal, but the tightening of his hold and shallow breathing said otherwise.

  “She never wanted to marry my father,” Thane said. “He scooped her up from an impoverished line under the House of Edur. He saved her family from financial ruin and held their livelihoods in his grasp.”

  “Isn’t Edur a big house?” Her brain ran through the genealogy of the houses Adrianna gossiped about incessantly.

  “Yes, but my mother’s family was a small branch under a large tree. They weren’t important enough to the head of the house—a distant fourth cousin—to risk defying the House of Jericho. My father could crush my mother’s immediate family at any point.”

  “So she did everything he wanted.”

  “Yes. That’s why the infidelity rumour is so preposterous. She’d never jeopardize her family, especially her little brother. She loved my uncle very much and would do anything to protect him.”

  “What was in it for your father? Surely he could’ve found a more willing bride.”

  “Willing, yes. Controllable and predictable, no. He wanted guaranteed compliance. He wanted someone from a big house with a high probability of producing magically gifted children who he could control at all times.”

  “And so he found your mother.”

  Thane nodded, his chin brushing her back. “Julian never forgave me for her death.”

  “His hatred is misplaced.”

  “Maybe.” He placed a light kiss on her shoulder. “I spent a lot of my life blaming myself, too.”

  Oh, Thane.

  She should say something, anything, but what? What could possibly remove a lifetime of hurt and anger?

  She placed her arm over his and squeezed. He held her closer and nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck. Maybe words weren’t needed right now. Maybe silent support was enough.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  A Quick Skinny Dip

  Taya kept her attention on the path in front of Sugar, but the weight of Lokni’s gaze irritated her skin. She gave up. “What?”

  Lokni had kept his mouth shut about her and Adrianna swapping outfits last night, and he never elaborated or explained what happened betw
een him and Thane’s cousin after Taya left them to return to the ball. From Adrianna’s wide grin this morning, Taya assumed all was well for both of them, but obviously something ate at Lokni. They were now half a day away from the House of Auroris. How had he managed to keep his mouth shut this long?

  “Have an eventful evening?” he asked.

  Ah. She knew he wouldn’t last.

  No one had said anything about the assassin’s body the next morning. She still had no clue where or how Thane disposed of it, but apparently Lokni found out about their late night visitor. “I’ve never seen a man foam like that before.”

  Lokni’s mouth turned down and his brow bunched as if someone took a corkscrew to his face and twisted.

  “What?”

  “That was more information than I needed.”

  “What are you talking about?” She hadn’t explained what happened when she swapped places with Adrianna or the unexpected visit by the assassin and Thane’s mysterious cadaver removal skills. How could he accuse her of saying too much?

  “What are you talking about?” Lokni asked.

  Taya blinked.

  They stared at each other.

  “No cot…” Lokni Leaned in. “You and Thane…”

  Heat flushed her cheeks. R-rated images flooded her mind. She might dream about Thane, but why would Lokni think anything happened between them? Had Thane said something? How’d they know about the cot?

  Understanding rang the little bell inside her head. She winced. Lokni, and probably Soka. Those rat bastard twins must’ve removed the cot. She should’ve figured it out sooner.

  “Thane and I killed an assassin,” she said. Better to fess up now than let Lokni run around with rumours about Thane foaming.

  Lokni straightened in his saddle. “Oh. That explains the body outside Julian and Alexis’ bedroom.”

  “He didn’t.”

  Lokni grinned. “He did. Special wedding gift.”

  Idiot. The last thing Thane should have done was antagonize his brother. She’d have to talk to him about that later. Right now, she needed to confirm the cot situation before she started plotting revenge. “Why do you think something happened between us?”