The Night House Read online

  “What are you two gossiping about?” Thane grumbled as he brought Hades to the other side of Taya’s horse.

  “Your unusual wedding gift,” she said.

  The horse hooves clip-clopped along the narrow bridge as they crossed a raging river below.

  Thane’s gaze darted to the river. Something about running water disrupted Tarka power—not fully, but significantly enough that most Tarkas avoided rivers, lakes and oceans. They didn’t like to make themselves vulnerable. And unsurprisingly, most attacks on Tarkas occurred near water. Some Tarkas took armed guards into the bath with them. Not Thane. He took a sword and said he never wanted to rely solely on his powers for survival.

  “A dead assassin is a lovely way to say, ‘I love you,’ ” Thane said.

  Sugar snorted and tossed her black mane. Some of the hairs whipped across Taya’s face.

  “Unless your brother takes it as a threat,” she said.

  “It’s only a threat if he’s the one who sent the assassin. He’ll take it as a gesture demonstrating the might of the House of Jericho.” He pulled his shoulders back. “You should practice your Tarka shielding to—”

  Something large flew through the air, passing inches from Taya’s face and lodged into Thane’s chest with a sickening thud.

  Thane grunted and the impact knocked him over. He hit the railing on the side of the bridge and tumbled into the river.

  Lokni spun in his saddle, pulled his bow, notched an arrow and released it in one fluid motion. The arrow sailed through the cool air. A man cried out. A body dressed in black and green fell from a thick tree branch jutting out from the forest over the river. The body hit the rocky bank with a terrible slap.

  Heart in her throat, Taya dismounted and ran to the bridge railing. A long, javelin-sized, spear-like arrow stuck out from Thane’s chest on the right side as he flailed in the water.

  The men ran up to her.

  “He can’t swim,” Axel said.

  She looked at them.

  “None of us can,” Soka said, gaze darting left and right.

  She shed her dual scabbard and dropped them on the bridge. Metal clanked on wood. She pulled her boots off and swung onto the railing.

  “Make sure you shield,” Lokni said. “If you touch him without it, he’ll sap you for healing.”

  And then we’ll both drown. What a comforting thought. She took a deep breath of cold air and jumped into the icy river. The frigid water enveloped her, shearing her skin with its near-freezing temperature. She surfaced a few feet away from Thane, his gaze wild.

  Unflappable, rock-solid, immoveable Thane was terrified.

  She threw up a shield. The power wove around her. The water rammed against her magic as if trying to knock the barrier down. She clenched her teeth and pushed forward.

  “Stay away,” Thane barked before his head dipped under. He bobbed back up. “I can’t shield.”

  “I can.” She swam over.

  “Don’t…” Glug, glug. “Don’t touch me.” Thane flapped at the water. His head plunged below the surface again. His face grew pale.

  “Shut up and stop flailing.” He would knock her out if he clipped her with one of those clobber fists. She couldn’t get close enough to grab him. How would she pull him to safety? Her chest tightened. Her mind spun. How? How? How?

  “I…don’t—” His lips turned blue. His gaze wavered. Blood flowed away from him in the water. “—flail.”

  His body went limp. She dove under the surface and gathered him in her arms. She pushed off a large rock and with a powerful kick, pulled them to the surface. She hooked an arm under Thane’s so she could clamp him against her body. The javelin sized arrow stuck out of the water. Even if she could pull it from his chest, he’d bleed out.

  She leaned back and let the buoyancy of the water support their combined weight. She used her free arm to paddle backward and frog kicked to propel them faster. The rushing water battered at them, splashing icy water in her face. She couldn’t feel it anymore. Everything was going numb.

  Probably a good thing Thane was unconscious. If he panicked again while she rescued him, he’d push them both under.

  The river carried them down the bank and smoothed out. Ripples of water danced along large rocks jutting out from below. She didn’t fight the current. Instead, she angled them and used the power of the river to push them to safety. Her feet found the rocky ground and her legs shook. Her teeth chattered. Hypothermia was kicking in. She needed a fire and body warmth. Thane needed to heal. Time was running out.

  The thunder of hooves grew louder.

  She hauled Thane out of the river and dragged him away from the water’s edge. God he was heavy. With more distance from the water, her shield grew stronger. She needed to drop it soon. Thane couldn’t heal from the men and he’d already lost a lot of blood. His breathing didn’t look good either. Shallow and raspy. His skin pale.

  No. He wasn’t allowed to die like this. He wasn’t allowed to die at all.

  She hooked her arms under his armpits and hauled him to a nook in the treeline.

  Horses burst from the forest. Axel leapt from the saddle. “What can I do?”

  “Build a fire.” She turned to Lokni. “Make a bed for us.” Then to Soka, she said, “Help me with him. He needs to be stripped down.”

  Her teeth wouldn’t stop chattering. The air sliced at her numb skin.

  Lokni and Axel jumped into action and Soka took Thane from her and carried him with ease. No one mentioned the large arrow jutting from his chest.

  “He’ll be fine once he heals from you.” Soka walked Thane over to the bedroll Lokni had already laid out. “He won’t need body heat.”

  “But I will.” She dropped the shield. A disturbing warmth spread through her limbs. Her heartbeat slowed. Oh no. She’d run out of time. “Hurry.”

  Soka flipped Thane onto the bedding and pulled off his clothes. While he worked on Thane, Taya stripped down. Her legs wobbled. Her stupid hands and arms fumbled with the buckles and clasps.

  “Let me help.” Lokni grabbed her shirt hem and pulled up.

  “Don’t…get…any…ideas,” she chattered. If anyone could help any woman undress, it was Lokni.

  Lokni said something about Thane, but the world wavered around her.

  Fire crackled in the distance.

  “Get…that out first,” someone said.

  Her vision blurred. Light headed, she careened forward. Strong arms caught her and she floated.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  A Done Deal

  Crackling heat from a fire bathed her face. She opened her eyes and her lashes fluttered against a broad chest.

  She froze.

  Events stampeded back into her memory.

  With her ear pressed against his naked chest, Thane’s heart pumped away in a healthy greeting. His strong arms held her close and their legs intertwined. Her limbs had that “too-warm” swollen feeling she used to get after coming inside from playing in the snow.

  She pushed away from Thane. His arms tightened and held her close. If she pushed again, he’d release her, but she didn’t want to leave the heat of his body. Not really.

  “Shhhh,” he said. “Don’t ruin the moment.” His voice sounded rough and raspy, as if he ran it over gravel and let Hades stomp on it. He did have a javelin sized arrow embedded in his chest not too long ago.

  “You should’ve let me go,” he said.

  She relaxed into his warmth and ran her hand over his chest. A new circular scar marred his right pec. Angry and raw, the puckered red skin stared back at her only inches from where the skin dimpled from his last arrow wound.

  He rumbled approval.

  “You’re okay?” she asked. And are you part cat? How many lives did Thane have? How many has he already used up?

  “All healed. Thanks to you.”

  “And the men. If they hadn’t set up camp, I’m not sure either of us would’ve survived.” Where was the rest of the team? No other be
d rolls lined the clearing and only Hades and Sugar waited for their lazy humans to get up and feed them. The wind didn’t carry any sounds of the twins bickering or the steady cadence of Axel’s rumbling voice retelling a story of his youth.

  “You would’ve managed.” He brushed his thumb along her arm. “You’re a survivor.”

  Survive first, feel later…

  “Where are the others?”

  Thane didn’t answer right away. Instead, he lay beneath her and continued to stroke her skin. “I sent them away.”

  “What?” She pulled away. “Why?”

  He clamped her back to his chest.

  “We’re sitting ducks, right now. Let me go. I need to secure the perimeter.”

  His chest rumbled. “I’ve recuperated enough to defend us.”

  “Why’d you send them away?” she asked.

  “I’ve dreamt of holding you naked for the last year. Now that I finally have you here, I didn’t want anything to spoil the moment.”

  Warmth of a different kind now swept through her body. The twins would definitely disrupt the moment unless Thane remembered his immovable morals first. “Why let others ruin it when you can do it yourself?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” His chest muscles tensed under her face.

  “What’s changed from last night?” If he wouldn’t touch her then, why would he now? She pushed up enough to prop up on an elbow and look into his eyes. Despite Thane’s infamous card playing skills, he never successfully lied to her. In fact, he never really tried.

  Thane’s jaw clenched. His body tensed under hers.

  “You could release me early, you know. You’re the one who imposed the year-long sentence.”

  Thane grumbled and looked away, breaking the eye contact. “I’ve thought of that.”

  Taya waited. He obviously dismissed the idea for some reason. She wanted to know why. “What is it you want, Thane?”

  He sighed. “I want you to assassinate Gale.”

  Okay, not what she’d expected him to say at all.

  Then it clicked. Like a cold, wet towel to the face, understanding slapped her brain. He feared she’d leave if he released her, and then he wouldn’t have someone trained with her skillset to take out Gale.

  She opened her mouth to reassure him, but he kept going.

  “I want to set you free.”

  She shut her mouth.

  “I want you to stay with me because you want to, not because you have to.”

  Her chest expanded with a fuzzy warmth.

  “I want to keep the bond in place and claim you as mine. Properly.”

  Properly? Her imagination filled in the blanks of what a proper bonding entailed. Cool wind slipped over her face from the river, but did little to cool the fire burning inside her.

  Thane’s hand gripped her arm as if he feared she’d run. Maybe he did. Despite his grip, if she bolted, he’d let her go.

  The river rippled and bubbled nearby. And the tree branches swished in the gentle breeze.

  “I want you…” He plucked a strand of her hair from his chest and wound it around his finger. “I want you to love me, like I love you.”

  She sucked in a breath. Her heart hammered against her breastbone, as if it would bash its way out of her body and latch itself to Thane if she refused to give it to him. Thane had laid out all his feelings, fearless as ever. Yet she knew he feared her response.

  “Is that all?” she asked. It was a long list of wants, yet she’d grant them all, the yearning in her veins already ramping up in response. In anticipation.

  His lips tugged up. “There’s one more thing.”

  “Only one?”

  “I want to do very bad things to you.”

  “Bad things?”

  “Dirty things.”

  She had a fair idea of what he meant. A huge idea. It currently pressed into her hip. She wanted to roll on top of him, impale herself and ride him into the sweet bliss of ecstasy she’d fantasized about since she first glimpsed him sitting like a statue on a rickety supply wagon.

  “We have a saying on Earth,” she said instead.

  He stroked her arm, his gray gaze flashing. “What’s that?”

  “If you love something, set it free.”

  His arms tightened around her. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and nodded. She hadn’t told him the second part of the proverb, but from his firm mouth and tense muscles, she didn’t need to.

  “Taya of Earth,” he said. “I release you from your service.”

  A slip of his magic unwound from her mind and trailed away. The bond remained in place, wrapped around her with its comforting and consistent pressure.

  Thane opened his eyes and waited. Waited for her to bolt. To run away. To reject him like his family. Taya had no plans to leave. She’d still avenge her loved ones. She’d still search for a way to save earthens, but she had her own happiness and future to consider, and right now, that future stared back at her, open and vulnerable, waiting for her decision.

  “There’s a second part to the proverb,” she said.

  His eyebrows rose.

  “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours.” If it doesn’t, it never was.

  His lips compressed into a thin line. His voice growled. “You’re leaving then? Is that it? Or are you saying you’ll come back and you want me to wait for you?”

  She shook her head. “It’s a stupid saying. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t need to leave to know I’d return.” She held her breath.

  The confusion fled from his face and his lips twitched. “You’re not going?”

  She nodded.

  His grin turned wicked. He clutched her, his fingertips digging into her side. “But you will be coming…”

  Bolts of heat flew straight to her groin. She leaned down. “Promises, promises.”

  He turned his head to the side. Her lips pressed against his stubby cheek instead of his mouth. She groaned. What now?

  “You don’t have to sleep with me as payment for your freedom,” he said.

  Oh, Thane. “You need to shut up, now.” She chuckled in his face and pressed her forehead against his. “I’ve been yours since the moment we met, and it has nothing to do with servitude.”

  He growled, gripped her in his arms and rolled to pin her beneath his weight. He settled between her legs and flexed his hips. He pushed into her slowly. “You need to give my mouth something else to do, then.”

  “Done.” She pulled his head down. His mouth crushed against hers. Sin and chocolate played with her senses. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held him close. He pushed all the way in and suddenly he was everywhere. His magic surrounded her and slid inside, pulsing and moving in time with his hips. The pleasure he wrought consumed her, and her world became his.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Practice Makes Perfect

  Taya stood over Lane’s moon-bathed face. Even in sleep, resting his head on a plump pillow with his white hair splayed out, his mouth tugged down in an unimpressed scowl. Did he dream of more takeovers? More wars? He had already amassed so much power in Arkavian society, what more could he want?

  More power. There was always more power.

  With the window open, the sound of the gentle lapping of the ocean against the cliffs below trickled into the bedroom.

  One fluid motion and she’d end Thane’s suffering. At least the suffering from his father’s abuse.

  She stilled, letting the cool breeze slide over her shoulders, and stroked the smooth leather of her dagger’s hilt.

  One plunge. One slash. That’s all it would take to free Thane from this asshole.

  She shook her head. Platinum hair brushed against her cheek. She couldn’t be the one to take Lane’s life. Thane would never forgive her. She knew that.

  It’d almost be worth it.

  Instead of slitting his father’s throat, she pulled her shielding magic around her and backed out of the room. The newly
greased hinges turned soundlessly as she shut the door behind her. A few feet away, the guards stood in relaxed postures with their backs facing the door. One of them yawned.

  “Stop that,” the other hissed, and then yawned.

  “I can’t help it.”

  “That saucy wench keeping you up?”

  They exchanged a grin.

  Taya slipped past Lane’s guards and made her way down the hall. She needed to report her shielding success to Thane. Not that her achievement changed anything. Thane refused to send her after Gale until they devised a way to assassinate him so no one would, or could, reasonably point fingers at the House of Jericho. Currently, their houses weren’t in a feud and had multiple trade agreements. Thane couldn’t risk those. If he had proof of Gale’s involvement in the assassination attempts, things would be different.

  She passed a large mirror in the hallway, the air wavered as if unsettled by a force. No reflection stared back at her.

  Lokni told her once she looked like she lost substance. If he watched the entire process and she stood still, he could make out an outline of her body, but if she snuck up on him or moved too quickly, he had no clue where she was and she became a real life shadow.

  The power drained from her bones and her body throbbed. She turned the corner to enter Thane’s wing and dropped the shield. Sweat poured down her face and an ache bloomed in her chest. Though she’d improved her shielding, it still took a lot out of her. Her magic had limits.

  She knocked on Thane’s door. Her arms shook.

  The door swung open and Thane’s eyes widened. He gripped her face and captured her mouth with a hungry kiss.

  Pshhht. Who needed air? She melted into his arms and let the heat of his body consume her. Her skin begged for more. She burned for more. The memories of their time together by the river flooded back and a needy ache expanded through her body.

  He pulled back entirely too soon. “I thought you’d sneak in.”

  “Tapped.”