Sadie

Sunlight peeked through the windows of Navin’s room. My head lay upon his bare chest as I listened to his steady, sleepy heartbeat. We lay across the couch built into the floor. It was positioned between a row of marble columns that propped up the frescoed ceiling. Behind us was a bed so large it could easily sleep five people, dotted with satin pillows and embroidered blankets. To think Navin spent most of his time sleeping in a cramped bunk in Galen den’ Mora . . . This refuge looked built for a king.

Navin dropped a kiss to the top of my head, his hand trailing lazily up and down my bare back. I felt sated, smug, and more than a little confused. The sun had risen but I wasn’t ready to pick back up my weapons. There were things we did, things we said, that we could never turn back from now. I didn’t want to go back to pretending. It was too late to pull away, only forge ahead.

“Should I prepare the tea?”

Navin asked as he idly explored my skin with his mouth and hands.

“Wolves don’t need the tea,”

I said with a sigh, curling my toes and stretching my arms above my head. “We have our own ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies. The last thing either of us needs is a half-wolf running around.”

“I’d never really thought about it before. Children,”

he corrected, “not half-wolves.”

I chuckled. “Galen den’ Mora doesn’t seem like the most practical option.”

“Nor does the life of a soldier,”

he said, and I bobbed my chin in agreement.

“But maybe one day,”

I mused to the ceiling. “When wars are done and kingdoms are saved and I put my knives down for good—”

“You’ll never put your knives down for good.”

“True.”

My smile broadened. “But maybe I’ll use them more for whittling than stabbing by then.”

“I like this future.”

Navin tugged me closer to him.

“If we survive to claim it,”

I said, meeting his eyes. He looked at me with such open adoration, and I knew in my bones this face he wore wasn’t a mask. I shook my head. “You can’t look at me like that when the Songkeepers return. Not until we’re far clear of them.”

His hands paused their roaming. “I’m sorry for what will happen today,”

he murmured into my hair. “I’m sorry for who I will have to be when Rasil returns. But if it means getting you out of here and safe from him . . .”

What had once been a simple diplomatic mission had now quickly spiraled into an elaborate plan. I had Silver Wolves wanting to capture me, Onyx Wolves wanting to marry me, humans wanting to use me, and a court that still needed me. I was attempting to trick people on all sides now, worst of all myself.

“It’s nice to know I’m not the only one with a little bite,”

I said instead of voicing all my tangled thoughts. Navin’s hand squeezed the flesh of my hip in acknowledgment. “I just wish I didn’t have to pretend. I’d love nothing more than to carve that arrogant smile off your husband’s face.”

Navin coughed out a surprised laugh. “I don’t think we’d get far past his samsavat if you did.”

“Can’t you control it?”

“Only the one who created it and his bloodline can,”

Navin said. “The song of control is meaningless without the song of creation—a song I don’t possess. Besides, I don’t make a habit of getting close to things that could eat me.”

“And yet you fell for me,”

I murmured, my whole body shaking from his laughter.

“True,”

he said, warmth in his voice as he trailed a finger up my back. “Once we get to Sankai-ed and find Maez, we will get you new knives and you will feel much better.”

I chuckled, twisting more to my side and hooking my knee over his thigh. “I feel naked without them.”

“I prefer you naked.”

Navin’s fingers trailed over the curve of my ass. “Does it feel different?” he mused, looking up at the ceiling. “Being with a human?”

“Not as much as I thought it would,”

I murmured. “This frenzy.” My voice fell to a whisper. “I can’t stop wanting you.” Navin sleepily pulled me tighter against his bare chest and kissed up my neck. “I’ve only ever seen it in mates.”

“Mates.”

Navin’s lips paused and then he pulled his head back to stare deeply into my eyes.

“I know that’s only a Wolf thing—”

“The Songkeepers believe in something similar,” he said.

My eyes flared. “What?”

“It’s when one soul sings to another.”

He swept his thumb across my lips, his eyes wandering from my mouth to meet my gaze. “I’ve wondered for a long time . . .” He swallowed as his voice grew thick. “My heart hears only your song.”

We moved at the exact same time, our mouths colliding as we pulled each other closer until we were flush skin to skin. It didn’t matter. Songs. Mates. Words were meaningless to this feeling, like he and I merged somewhere into one. My mouth claimed him along with my soul. No matter how unlikely, no matter how ludicrous, he was mine and I could never turn back from knowing it.

Navin’s hand slid between us, and he started circling my clit, but his words, this knowledge of who we were to each other, it was too much. I pushed his hand away and he immediately moved it to my thigh, squeezing it as our mouths worked over each other.

I hitched my leg higher, angling my hips as I wrapped my hand around his silken hard cock. I lined him up to my entrance and he slowly pushed in. Each inch made my head fall back farther, my moan a broken rasp. It had only been one night, but Gods, I already loved when he was inside me. It was the most open and real we ever were with each other, our bodies always able to perfectly communicate in a language all their own.

Navin’s hands kneaded my ass, pulling me farther onto his cock. He brushed my loose hair off my face, his hand sweeping around to the back of my neck and pulling my forehead to his. We moved in perfect unison, my hips rolling in time to his thrusts as our hooded gazes met. We paused, breathing each other in, feeling where we connected.

“We have enemies coming at us from every direction,”

Navin panted. “But I am always on your side, . Always.” His fingers tightened their grip on me. “Even when you want to stab me.”

My chuckle ended on a moan as he started moving again. “You’re mine, Songkeeper,”

I groaned as he thrust into me deeper. “Always.”

With those claiming words, we picked up the pace. My hips rocked, tilting into that perfect angle that I knew would make me come undone. The tip of Navin’s cock grazed over the spot over and over, faster and faster, until our skin was slick and the air was filled with our carnal sounds.

With one final pump of his hips, we came together, my body clenching around him, pulling his release from him. Lightning skittered through my veins, my entire body fluttering as my orgasm roared through me. Wave after unending wave, I fell into that euphoric oblivion.

Navin’s lips slowed as he breathed in my last panting breaths, our muscles finally releasing as we collapsed into the soft bed. I swept back my bangs clinging to my forehead with sweat as Navin traced circles over my belly and up the center of my chest.

When his fingertips circled my nipple, my pussy fluttered again. “Careful,”

I warned, rising onto my elbow and smiling at him. “Unless you’re already prepared to go again?”

The whinny of horses in the distance signaled the return of Rasil and his crew.

Navin groaned at the sound. “They couldn’t give us one more hour?”

“I’m the one who must return to the dungeon,”

I pointed out. “Yet you’re the one moping.”

He sighed and stood. As his eyes trailed over me, his impressive length hardened yet again after another round of lovemaking. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned and I rolled my eyes. How very Wolf-like indeed.

“You’re insatiable,”

I said as I quickly grabbed the ball of discarded fabric in the corner and pulled one of his tattered sandy shirts back on. It had a terrible smell to it now and I wrinkled my nose.

Navin grabbed the shackles off his dresser and stooped, binding my feet. His hand trailed up my legs as he stood, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in its wake. Everything in me told me to fight, to rebel, but I knew the only way out of this place was to submit and I could no longer deny the thrill that came with him overpowering me, either. One more night of this charade and then we’d be on the road again.

Navin pulled my hands behind my back and bound them as he dropped his mouth to my ear. “I’m coming for you tonight.”

I shuddered as he pulled on my bindings to check them, then his hand snaked around my front and he cupped my sex through his shirt. My head dropped back against his chest, and I took a shaky breath. How badly I wanted those fingers to push in, to begin circling me again. I’d be burning up the rest of the day with desire, thinking about when he’d come collect me that night. This feeling built in me wave after wave, completely inextinguishable.

I stepped out of his touch, practically stumbling forward with my bound feet. I turned to him and took a deep breath as my shoulders tensed. “Make it look good.”

When I peeked my eyes open, Navin gaped at me. “What?”

“I can’t go back to that cell looking all well-washed and well-fucked. You’re supposed to be taming me, remember?”

He smiled at me for a second, pure smug pride. I looked at him like he’d sprouted horns. Surely he knew this was coming. “You said we needed to play his game.”

“Yes . . . ?”

“Well, then you’re going to have to hit me.”

Navin’s eyes and nostrils flared like I’d just told him to slit my throat. “I’m not going to do that.”

“A black eye at least,”

I insisted, tilting my face and offering out my cheek.

“No.”

“Come on, show me that right hook,”

I goaded, dancing around in front of him. “Let’s see how you stack up to the Wolves I’ve sparred with.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You’re going to ruin this plan for both of us,”

I growled. “How will your husband believe you otherwise?”

“Husband in name only,”

he spat back. Good, maybe I could rile him up enough to relent. “And I never agreed I would hurt you.”

“How did you think this was going to go? We need to show him you mean to deliver me to Rikesh as your prisoner,”

I said. “The only way we’re getting out of here is if he thinks you can control me.”

“I can’t do that—”

“I will shift as soon as we’re out of this shithole and the wounds will heal and I’ll be fine,”

I said, rolling my eyes. “Come on, you weak little bleeding-hearted musician, don’t be pathetic. I’m a soldier, not a puppy, just fucking hit me!”

I knew the blooming bruise along my eye was impressive. Navin wasn’t the only one who knew all the right buttons to push. I smirked and my split lip stung, making me smile even more like a sadist. At least toying with the wound with my tongue gave me something to preoccupy my time.

It wasn’t anywhere near the worst beatings I’d taken in the sparring rings. Sweet Moon, it probably didn’t make the top one hundred, but I bet it looked magnificent still. Navin certainly knew how to use those big hands. My body still throbbed in the echoes of our passion, and despite being up all night, I wanted him more with every breath. Everything was suddenly driving me crazy with need. My toes wiggling in the sand of my cell, the brush of Navin’s shirt across my nipples, the tickle of my hair down my neck. My entire oversensitive body was perpetually teetering on the edge, begging for Navin’s body in a way that edged on madness. Our whole relationship felt like a fever dream—a foolish one.

I waited for hours, expecting Rasil to check on me right away, but the Songkeeper was clearly taking his time. One day, I’d find a way to return to this place just to punch him in his arrogant, beautiful face. The fact he thought I could be captured by any human was laughable let alone that I could be transported as a prisoner to Rikesh without a million opportunities to escape. I hated this ruse, hated how weak it made me look, but at least I was getting myself the fuck out of there.

When two sets of footsteps finally sounded on the stairs, the afternoon sun was low in the sky judging by the orange glow that filtered down behind them. I let out a long-suffering sigh and switched my position to cower in the corner, letting my mask of fear slip into place.

“Oh ho ho, Navin!”

Rasil exclaimed delightedly as he sauntered over to the bars. I peeked up at him so he could get a good look at my face and then straight back down. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Rasil clapped Navin on the back with pride and Navin immediately stepped away.

“You always underestimate me,”

Navin said, his voice an octave lower than when I’d heard it last. He folded his arms across his chest. “I told you I had her under control.” My stomach flipped at the sound, so dark and menacing.

Except this time, it didn’t make me loathe him. I wondered if I could get him to use that voice again under much different circumstances.

“Clearly,”

Rasil said, holding a finger to his lips in contemplation as he studied me. “You will win us a treasure more precious than all the gold in Olmdere, Wolf.” His grin was more feral than any Wolf. “I think I should send Ciara and Jaime with you.”

“No,”

Navin cut him off a little too quickly, drawing Rasil’s gaze. “They don’t know the greater magics like us. They will just slow me down,” he said a little slower.

“If only Mina were here,”

Rasil said, cocking his head. “Then there’d be at least two of you.”

Navin hummed in agreement. “I thought it best she stay behind and keep a close eye on the Golden Court Queen,”

he said. “Mina is right in the Queen’s pocket now, and with Damrienn and Olmdere both vying for Valta’s armies in their brewing war, I thought it best that a Songkeeper stay close to her side.”

“Always one step ahead of the rest.”

Rasil slid his hand from Navin’s shoulder down his bicep in an affectionate, lingering touch that made me want to snarl. “And Kian. Is he still with us?”

Navin’s shoulders tensed. “He is,”

Navin said carefully. “Though my brother is still recovering from his time as a Rook.”

“When you return to Olmdere,”

Rasil said, “I expect Kian to face your judgment for his traitorous ways.” Rasil actually expected Navin to punish his brother? What an absolute asshole.

Rasil looked back at me. “Now that I know you are up to the challenge, I will appoint you as our executioner. If only there was a song for death . . . Ah, well, the song we’ll be acquiring is close enough.”

My head snapped up at that, my one good eye wide. “Do you have something to say, Wolf?” I cowered again and shook my head. “No, go on,” Rasil taunted. “Tell me.”

“You call us Wolves barbaric,”

I snarled. “Yet you’d send him to kill his own family.”

“I am his family,”

Rasil said, his voice echoing off the cave wall. “The Songkeepers are his kin. Navin and the softhearted Ora seemed to have forgotten why we exist at all.”

“I haven’t forgotten,”

Navin cut in. “I will avenge us, and I will get our song back. Give me a horse and I’ll take her now if you like. We’ll be in Rikesh by the full moon.”

“I like when you’re eager to please me, love,”

Rasil said, rubbing a hand up Navin’s arm again. “But you and I both know the crishenem will come for you after sunset.”

Navin shrugged. “I will sing them away.”

I silently begged him not to push Rasil any further. I knew he was trying to rescue me, but convincing Rasil of his intentions was walking a razor’s edge.

Rasil shook his head. “Save your songs for Rikesh.”

He kicked sand at me and clicked his tongue when I flinched. “Let the little bitch have one more night in her cell to remind her not to mess with you. You’ll leave at first light.” He placed his hand on Navin’s shoulder and steered him around. “Come, Bec is making dinner.”