“Noted,” he said, excitement lighting his eyes in a challenge. He licked his lips, and my eyes flickered to them.
“So tell me then. Why did you risk your life to come after me?” I narrowed my eyes carefully at him, waiting to see if he would lie to me. Not that I thought he would. What did he have to gain from making an enemy of me?
His eyes flickered to Remus, who watched us with a frown, clearly ignoring my instructions to prepare my things. We’d be having a talk about his disobedience later, but for now, I was thankful to have someone at my back.
“Because, I can see plainly what you have yet to even consider.” Rijjat’s eyes roved over my face slowly. “You feel it, but you won’t admit it to yourself, but I’m a patient man. I can and will wait.” It was getting harder to hold his stare. I felt like he could see right down inside me. Like he was reaching for something that wasn’t there. “I have no doubt you’ll figure it out soon enough, and when you do, I’ll be right there waiting.”
I couldn't take it anymore. The room was becoming stifling, and sweat beaded on the back of my neck. I took a step back, trying not to make it obvious that I was struggling to breathe. Rijjat just watched me with a slight tilt to his lips.
Everywhere I turned in this damn country, it felt as if someone wanted—noneededsomething from me. It was exhausting in a way I never knew. My king usually left me to my own vices. He hadn’t bothered Waylan often either, trusting that he would fulfill his duties with loyalty, ready and willing to do whatever the king asked of him. I’d been in Nexus only four days, and already I’d been pulled in more directions than I had feet to follow.
I couldn’t afford to have any attachments here. It would only distract me from the task I’d set out to do. Even if that task was at the beck and call of a king I didn’t trust or respect. But I would complete the task, given that it was only a search for information, relatively harmless. Besides, I, too, was interested in that same information. Was Animus becoming paranoid? Was there a legitimate threat of war on the horizon?
It was hard to say with my king. He was a paranoid man, but were his delusions so far gone that he’d start a war when there was nothing brewing already? I had a feeling I already knew the answer to that. Yes. I believed Animus’s hatred for the Source and the ones who openly encouraged it ran far deeper than anyone really knew.
Rijjat must have noticed how tense I’d become because he took a slow step toward me, a cautious smile in place as I held my breath. Again, Remus shifted in my peripheral, once again ready to leap between us. “You’re far too serious, X. Even spies need to rest sometimes. There are so many pleasures around you, ripe for the taking,” Lifting a finger to my face, he lightly tapped the tip of my nose. I blinked in disbelief as he chuckled.
Before I knew what I was doing, my teeth were sinking into the tip of his finger biting down hard. Rijjat’s laugh turned into a sharp hiss of pain as he yanked his hand back and glared at me, though I couldn’t help but notice a different kind of fire burning in his eyes.
Ignoring that heat, I laughed, Remus joining me as Rijjat sucked on the tip of his finger to soothe the sting. I tried to pretend the movement didn’t have something in my belly tingling and my thighs rubbing together.
“Children…” came a dry admonishment from the doorway. We all turned collectively as Caldor stood there against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.
I was still wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes as I turned to Rijjat. “You think I’m too serious? I’d like you to spend more than a week with the Captain. You’ll be crawling back to me for my wit and charm in no time.” Caldor’s scowl deepened, but Remus howled in laughter while Rijjat’s eyes sparked with new life at the jab.
“You didn’t seem to mind my charm last night.” His tone was dry and bored as if he were recounting the weather or something trivial. The room fell silent. Caldor was looking right at me, a clear challenge in his deep blue gaze. “In fact, I seem to remember you begging for…what was it again?More, more, more?”
“Watch yourself, Captain,” Remus growled. The animal under his skin slipped through, reminding me that he had yet to take any more of the suppression potion. I wasn’t going to remind him just yet, not while we were surrounded by potential enemies.
Caldor smiled bitterly. “Does the lady deny it?”
Remus rumbled again, taking a step towards Caldor. Rijjat again watched our back and forth with nothing short of excitement and curiosity.
I let my eyes drag up and down the length of the captain slowly. He was dressed just as fine as the other two, in head-to-toe black, with golden buttons, and a black leather and gold embellished baldric to match that I assumed Nero was also responsible for. “Perhaps I begged for more because I found ourrather shortencounter lacking.”
His eyes narrowed, and his smirk dropped as Rijjat laughed behind his palm. Meanwhile, Remus couldn’t contain it anymore. Both men were nearly howling, while Caldor only looked like he was ready to lunge for me. To run me through with his blade or to finish what we’d started? That was the mystery.
“So what’s the plan then, oh wise master of poisons?” Caldor asked, stepping into the room after inspecting the corridor and locking the door behind him. As it clicked shut, our eyes met yet again, and a buzzing feeling filled my chest.
We might have been drunk last night, but I could remember every second of his hands on my skin and his cock filling me as deep as he could. My thighs ached with the memory, and somehow, I could tell he knew that.
“Do you have it?” I asked Remus, holding my hand out to him. He was handing me a rolled parchment he’d taken from his saddlebag in a blink.
After unbinding the leather wrapping, I turned, spreading the parchment out on the bare mattress while the men in the room crowded around me.
“Where did you get this map?” Rijjat asked skeptically.
I peered up at him with a raised brow. “What do you take me for?”
He huffed through his nose. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when it comes to you.”
“I’m glad you’re catching on,” I quipped with a sly grin. Caldor shuffled on his feet, nudging against Rijjat as he peered over my shoulder. I rolled my eyes but looked back to the map, pointing to a centralized courtyard. “We enter separately. Remus comes with me as my guardian–”
“No,” Caldor snapped, cutting me off. He stood up straight, his hand going to his blade. “I’m not entrusting your life to a shifter, not this time.”
A growl built in Remus’s chest as he faced the captain. “Say that again?”
I straightened up, placing a palm on the shifter’s chest, stopping him as he moved closer to Caldor. Then I turned my glare on the former. “You have no say in the matter. Besides, I need Remus’s gifts and training when we get close to the king and his advisors. If something happens to me, Remus is equipped to finish the task himself and report back to my Ravens and to the king.” I added that last part half-heartedly. Sure, I would report my findings to Animus, but not before I figured out what it all meant for Avedin.