Chapter 29

E mara had hazy memories of falling asleep on the floor of her bathroom, but she could no longer feel the cool tiles underneath her. All she could feel was skin and muscle with the rising and falling of a warm chest. She instantly took in the scent of pine and frozen berries and fluttered her eyes open. Sheets wove around them subtly, exposing a few parts of skin. One of her arms lay over his chest, and he had fallen asleep with his hand tangled in her hair.

She hid a lazy smile at that.

The beating of his heart was soft and steady, and she loved it when she knew he was relaxed with her.

Soft rays of light filtered through the fluffy clouds that drifted outside her massive window, and as they found Torin Blacksteel's chest, they illuminated old scars. Her hand travelled up his torso, feeling his soft skin contrasting with the ridges of his carved body. Inky black hair lay against the white pillow, and his skin practically glowed against the crisp sheets. He was a masterpiece. Waking up to him was like a dream.

Is this what married life could be like for them, or would they end up in separate quarters like Naya and Viktir?

They hadn't even talked about this kind of thing.

Suddenly, the room was too hot and the light sheets were suffocating. She flung her legs out of the bed and sat up. She had been getting used to the idea of sharing a bed with Torin, sharing her life with him… What if that was not what the Commander of the Blacksteel Hunting Clan had in mind?

"Emara?" Torin's hoarse voice struggled to wake from its slumber.

She looked over her shoulder, and the glory of him lying in her bed like a god hit her heart. The sheets that covered him had been pulled down his torso, dipped low enough for her to see that little trail of hair that led south. The sunbeams softened his angled features, but his ocean eyes weren't soft. Concern and desire swirled in his irises like a constellation of blue stars.

Her breath caught in her throat.

He was the most magnificent thing in the whole kingdom, and in that moment, her world rocked.

"Is something wrong?" he asked as his hand raked through his unruly hair.

When she saw him like this, it was like magic coursed through her veins and spilled into her heart, filling it so full it could burst. There was something so raw and beautiful about him when his eyes were just awake and his hair wasn't swept tidy. When his muscles were relaxed and the day's troubles were not on his mind yet.

He was breathtaking.

Her teeth caught her cheek so that the truth would stay locked behind her lips. She shook her head, spilling hair all around her like a black satin curtain—probably just as messy as his.

"You do know," he said, lips twitching upward, "you more often than not chew your cheek when you are lying or hiding something."

She stopped her bad habit instantly. How could he read her so well?

He placed his hands behind his head, displaying his bulging biceps; he lay there like the subject of an oil painting, unaware of how the light was capturing every muscle and every shine in the strands of his hair. "Want to tell me what's going on in that pretty little head of yours? Or maybe we can start by you telling me why I found you sleeping on the bathroom floor last night?"

A heat rushed up her neck to her cheeks. "I just have a lot going through my head."

He moved, and one of his hands came over to the small of her back as a gesture of comfort. "We are in this together now. Your dark thoughts are my dark thoughts. Let me ease them."

But she wasn't sure if she could show him every piece of darkness that she kept deep down. She could feel that it was bubbling up, and the more she suppressed it, the more it felt like it was screaming. She swallowed as a thick tendril of darkness threatened to curl up her spine. "It was honestly just an uneasy thought. Silly, really, especially with everything going on."

There were a few moments of silence before Torin spoke again. He drew a little circle on her spine, pushing away the darkness building under her skin. "Do you want to postpone our union?"

She turned to look at him, and her chest tightened when she did. His face was full of apprehension. "No," she said quickly. "Not at all. Do you?"

The sparkle came back like a tidal wave in his crystal eyes. "Not even my nightmares will dare to dream of it."

She laughed as his fingertips made their way up her spine, sending shivers across her skin. Before she could lean in and feel the warmth of his lips, embers broke in the fireplace. Emara looked up to see that there was a fireletter hovering above the flames. She leaped from the bed and opened it.

"Who is it from?" Torin asked, relaxing back into the same position as before.

Emara rolled her eyes. "Artem."

"What is he saying now?" Torin sighed.

Emara tried to hide a small smile that was sneaking onto her lips as she read it. "He has advised that they have readied the supplies, and Gideon has organised the weaponry and the men. And he's afraid of you gutting him alive if he knocks to wake us."

"Dramatic prick."

"You love him really."

Emara saw a shy smile tuck into Torin's lips, and his dark lashes swept down as he said, "I wouldn't go that far."

A rattle came from the door, causing Emara to leap from her skin.

"Did you get my letter?" a loud voice broke through the door.

"Are you not supposed to wait until we respond to the letter to knock on the door, Stryker?" Torin called. He stood, revealing that he was entirely naked under the sheets.

Emara's face must have revealed her surprise because he gave her a quick wink and one of his most wicked grins. "It's not like you haven't seen it before, angel."

By the Gods, why did this man make her feel like her heart had never been alive until him?

He paraded across the room and pressed his mouth to hers, claiming her lips. It stole her breath, and her stomach flipped as she melted against him. His hands caressed her face once and then he pulled back reluctantly.

"I couldn't have started my day without doing that." He rubbed his thumb on her chin and then passed her, leaving her robbed of more kisses, breath, and the heat of his body.

She swallowed, collecting herself as Torin opened the door, still entirely naked. "Good morning, Stryker."

"Well hello, sailor." Artem whistled and made his way into the room uninvited. "What a way to greet your best friend, Tori-boy."

Torin blinked. "You're not my best friend."

Artem's booming laugh could have been the alarm clock for the full Tower. "You have no other friends, Torin, which makes me your best one."

Emara sniggered, and Artem threw a wink her way as he tucked his inked hands into the groove of his weapon belt.

Torin turned and mouthed, " Traitor. " The look in his eyes told her that he would get her back for betraying him. But why did that look make her toes curl?

"What made you so chipper this early?" Torin asked as he strode across the room to find bottoms to pull on.

"I am ready to seize the day, Commander Blacksteel." His golden eyes glittered as he announced Torin's new title. "And by the looks of things, so are you two." His eyebrows wobbled suggestively. "Did you manage to get any sleep at all, you little love tigers?" He made a pawing action that almost sent Emara over the edge.

"We have a long journey ahead of us, Artem." Emara sighed. "Let's not make it painful."

"We have a long journey and a wedding." Artem grinned.

"Okay, Artem. I am fine with you just barging into our space, unannounced—"

"I did announce myself—by fireletter and by door. What more could you want from me?"

Emara's eyebrows rose. "Maybe a little privacy?"

"I don't think Stryker could spell privacy if he tried." Torin laughed.

"You guys are just…delicious." Artem beamed as he looked between Emara and Torin. "Aren't you glad the three best friends are back together again, the ultimate trio?"

"Fuck me." Torin sighed. "If I need to listen to this the full way to the Temple of the Gods, I will place you in the cells next to my father and leave you there until we return. And I will accept the wrath of the chief commander happily."

"Why do you pretend to have such a cruel heart, my beautiful, brooding friend?" Artem's lips turned up as he batted his eyelashes.

Torin looked at Emara as if to say, " You take care of this before I do. "

She stepped in. "You actually interrupted an important conversation between Commander Blacksteel and I."

The minute she announced the title, she could feel the burn of Torin's gaze on her, and it set her alight internally. He clearly liked hearing that from her lips, he had made that clear in the commander's office. "Artem, I need you to go and check in on Breighly. Get the news of what happened with her pack and then report it back to Commander Blacksteel and I," Emara commanded on Torin's behalf, and as she stole another look at his face, it seemed that her authority had set him on fire. She pushed out her hand, and Artem's huge mass started sliding backwards towards the door.

"I hate when you do this," Artem called as the wind pulled at his cheeks, his hair, his clothes.

"See you in the foyer, friend ." She smiled callously, slamming the door in his face.

"I am still keeping my hopes up that I am going to be your ring bearer at the wedding," Artem shouted from behind the door. "I am still your favourite guard, even if you don't want to admit it in front of Blacksteel. I know the truth."

She flipped him a rude gesture that she wished to the Gods he could have seen as she laughed her way to the bathing chamber to get ready for their journey.

Torin moved so quickly he was like a flash of lightning, and his hard body pressed against her spine. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked as his hands found her waist and then her hips. He tugged her against him so that she could feel his hard length at her rear.

Heat instantly pooled between her thighs at how he sounded, how he was ready for her.

"Do we not need to get ready to leave?" Emara tried her hardest to keep her tone unwavering. "We have a mission, remember?"

A squeal left her lips as he spun her to face him. His forehead bowed to hers. "I have never had an interest in being called Commander Blacksteel." One of his sinful dimples appeared. "Not until it left your lips." He walked her backwards, his hands still firmly flexed around her hips. "And now I am just wondering what it would sound like coming from your mouth as you moaned."

She panted in delight at what he was offering. "And how are you going to do that, Commander Blacksteel?" She smiled up at him.

"I am about to show you."

Torin pounced on her, and Emara's back hit the mattress before she could even blink.