CHAPTER18
Iawoke to a soft knock on the door and the sound of muffled voices. I lifted the blanket higher against me, and the fabric felt blissful against my skin. My very bare skin.
I blinked my eyes open just as Evren was closing the door. He was wearing nothing but his trousers only halfway buttoned, and his hair was mussed from sleep. But he held a tray of food in his hands and my clothing in his arms.
“Morning,” he mumbled when he noticed me looking up at him.
“Morning,” I groaned as I pushed up in the bed until I was sitting. There was a slight ache between my thighs that reminded me of what we had done the night before, but I didn’t need the reminder.
Every part of my body still hummed with the memories of the way he had touched me.
“Gadira brought your clothes back.” He tossed them on the bed beside me before pushing the tray filled with pastries and meat in my direction. “And breakfast.”
I lifted a piece of fried meat to my mouth and moaned as the flavor hit my tongue. I was starving. “Do we continue our travel today?”
“Yes.” Evren nodded before sitting down on the edge of the bed and pulling on his boots. “It’ll take another two days’ time for us to arrive in Nabál. Jorah sent word back to the palace this morning.”
“Back to Gavril?”
Evren’s back stiffened as I spoke his name, and it took him a long moment before he was able to answer me. “Yes, princess. Back to Gavril.”
My chest ached, and my stomach turned at the thought. Of course he had sent word back to his brother. He was the captain of his guard, and I was his job. So, I didn’t know why it felt like a betrayal.
“And have you gotten word about the attack on the capital? Of the happenings there?”
“No.” He shook his head before running his fingers through his hair. “No one in the village has heard any talks of an attack. There is no news.”
“That’s good then, isn’t it?”
“Or it’s very bad.” He stood and buttoned his trousers without looking back in my direction. “Either way, I have no way of knowing unless word gets passed to us. Right now, we’re blind.”
“Do you want to go back?” I pulled the covers higher on my chest to shield myself from his answer.
“What?” He finally turned to look at me. “We left to protect you. I can’t take you back.”
“I didn’t mean for me to go back. You.” I nodded in his direction. “Jorah can take me the rest of the way. I can see that not being there bothers you.”
Evren stared at me for a long moment, and I squirmed under his scrutiny. “You think I’d rather be back there than be here with you.”
“I think that you are the captain of the royal guard.”
His jaw tightened, and he narrowed his eyes. “I am much more than that, princess.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” He cocked his head before he leaned forward on the bed and pulled the breakfast tray away from me. “It would appear that you need a reminder.” He reached under the blanket, and his hand wrapped around my ankle before he jerked me toward him.
I squealed as I attempted to keep myself covered, but it was no use. Evren pulled the blanket from me, exposing my naked body to him, and his tongue ran over his lips as he stared down at me.
“Where exactly do you need the reminder, princess?” He dipped his fingers into a small pot of honey that was accompanying the pastries, and I gasped as he raised them above me and let the sticky substance drip onto my breasts. “Here?”
“What are you doing?” I tried to cover my breasts, but he caught my hand in his and pushed it down against the bed at my side.
“Reminding you of the things I told you last night. They seemed to have slipped your mind.” More honey dripped from his fingers down my sternum and into my belly button. “I want to make sure you have a clear fucking understanding before we leave this inn.”
“I do understand,” I grumbled, but Evren wasn’t listening to me.
“No, princess. You don’t.” He lowered his hand still, and honey dripped from them and over my sex. “Or you wouldn’t think for a moment that I could possibly leave you.”