Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

S onah’s eyes flew open. She turned onto her back and lay there, blinking up at the ceiling as she strained to hear whatever had awakened her. Only silence answered her for a few seconds. She frowned and turned back to facing the lone window in their room when she heard it again.

Was that… a moan?

Sonah sat up slowly, trying not to make a sound as she sought any movement in the room that could alert her to someone’s presence. She looked over at the mound in the other bed and stared while she waited.

Terena moaned. Longer and louder this time.

Sonah’s eyebrows shot up and her mouth dropped open as Terena shifted, moaning again, and this time she groaned out a name.

“Daris.”

Sonah’s mouth stretched into the biggest grin as she moved the sheets aside and crouched on the bed, looking over at her friend.

“Yes. Oh yes! Daris!”

Sonah’s hand flew to her mouth to stop the laugh bubbling up.

But this was too good.

Terena Luca sounded like she was having a sex dream !

She bit her lower lip, thinking. Should she wake her? Should she let her… finish? Oh gods, could she even be in the same room while?—

Terena thrashed violently, her legs kicking out beneath the sheets and her arms flailed out. The armoire beside her bed caved in on itself and Sonah jumped with a yelp as a chair from across the room flew to the door.

“Please! No, don’t?—”

Sonah flew off the bed and flopped onto Terena’s just as her right arm jerked out and slapped Sonah across the head. Stars burst behind her eyes and she shook her head once before she reached out to grab hold of Terena’s arm.

“Terena! You’re having a nightmare! It’s only a dream, Ren! Wake up!”

Terena grabbed hold of Sonah’s nightshirt at the neck and pulled her close to her face, a dagger raised in her other hand.

The door burst open. Sonah flinched but didn’t look up, fearing any movement might be her last.

“What the fuck?” Rydon gasped when he took in the scene. He strode in, Croak right behind him. Gabriol stood guard at the door.

“Terena, it’s all right,” Sonah squeaked. “It’s just a dream.”

Sonah watched as Terena’s eyes focused, blinking as she came back to awareness. She yanked up the sheet and let go of Sonah. Her hand trembled and she stared at the dagger in shock. Rydon moved and Terena jolted back on the bed, her eyes wild.

Rydon put up his hands after he sheathed his sword. “It’s me.”

“And me,” Croak said as he came out from behind Rydon, mimicking his stance.

Rydon shot Croak a look before turning to Sonah. “We heard something crashing in here. Are you all right?”

Sonah had her hand to her chest as she stood beside Terena’s bed. She nodded. “Aye, sorry. She was having a nightmare, I think, and I tried?—”

“I’m sorry, Sonah,” Terena said from the bed, her voice shaking, her legs pulled up so she rested her head on her knees. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Are you all right?” Sonah asked, taking a tentative step toward her.

Terena shook her head. Her sable hair slid forward to hide her face.

Sonah looked over at Rydon with a shrug, her hand out as if to ask what they should do next.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Croak asked, edging closer to the bed.

Terena shook her head again.

Rydon and Croak both looked at Sonah, who shrugged again, mouthing the words, “ What do you think?”

“Do you want us to go?” Croak asked, stretching out the last word.

Terena lifted her head, but only to push the heels of her hands against her eyes. Rydon took a step back, his chin dropping as he turned away, and Sonah noticed the flush rising on his neck.

Sonah looked back at Terena and saw she was all but naked at the same time Croak must have realized it because he began stuttering and shuffling back, one hand curved over his eyes. He grabbed Rydon’s tunic and started hauling him along.

“What happened to the armoire?” Rydon called, eyeing the ruined chest as he walked backwards.

“We’re next door if you need us!” Croak yelled out before slamming the door shut behind them.

Sonah put her hands to her face and shook her head once, then tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

She was silent for a few minutes, letting Terena have her space. She dipped her head and opened her eyes, then quickly averted her gaze as Terena let the bedsheet drop and leaned on the other side of the bed to grab her shirt. Sonah sat back on her own bed, then moved onto the middle of it and tucked her legs beneath her.

“Are you feeling any better?” she asked softly, in case Terena had fallen back asleep.

“Aye,” she said at last, and Sonah arched a brow. She settled further into the covers, the room annoyingly cool now she was wide awake .

“What… happened?” She ventured to ask. “When you started to moan… I thought it was, you know. A good dream.”

Terena lifted her head slowly, piercing Sonah with a narrowed gaze so sharp, Sonah’s face heated.

“I mean, good for you, right? If you were getting some in your dream,” she mumbled.

“I was not getting some ,” Terena bit out. “I was fighting for my fucking life!”

“Oh!” Sonah said, propping her pillows up and scooting further back against them. “Right. Of course you were. That would explain… the broken furniture.”

Terena stared at Sonah a second before she turned to look out over the rest of the room. When she saw the wreck of the armoire and the chair tossed near the door, she swore.

“Who’s Daris?” Sonah asked.

Terena whipped her head around so fast, Sonah moved back reflexively.

“Where did you hear that name?”

“Uh, heard it from you,” Sonah replied. She waved a hand in Terena’s direction. “You called out for him. Or her? Anyway, when you first said it, I thought… well, it sounded like a good thing. Like, ‘oh, Daris.’” Sonah’s voice was higher and breathy.

Terena choked. “I did not sound like that!”

Sonah nodded. And nodded some more, her left eyebrow arched so high it hurt. “Aye. You did. It sounded like?—”

Sonah had only a split second to put her hands up as Terena flung a pillow at her. When it fell, Sonah giggled. A few seconds later, she threw her head back and laughed harder, then looked across at Terena’s red face as she struggled to look mad.

“Stop!”

Sonah made a face and laughed even more, earning her another pillow to the face.

“Oh! Daris!”

“I’m going to kill you!” Terena growled as she launched across at Sonah, who shrieked as Terena landed on top of her, shoving her face into the pillows at her back.

The two women erupted into fresh peels of laughter, Sonah laughing so hard she had to wipe away tears. Terena’s face was red. Sonah wasn’t sure if it was the laughter or embarrassment.

When they finally calmed down, Sonah reached out to push back a lock of Terena’s dark hair from her face. “I was mortified there for a second,” she said, looking down at the bed. “I was like, oh, she’s having one of those dreams and I swear—” she grunted as Terena slapped at her hands, “I swear I was going to leave the room, but then the dream changed, I think.”

Sonah watched as Terena’s face fell, her eyes downcast. She worried she may have pushed too far.

“He tried to kill me. I think he did, or he was close to it when you woke me,” Terena said at last, her voice soft.

“Was it… was it that Daris person?”

Terena nodded, still not looking up.

Sonah had no response ready. She had no idea who he was, and she certainly wasn’t worldly enough to be giving out relationship advice, especially to someone as well-travelled—and beautiful, let’s face it—as Terena Luca. But if sitting here and listening while Terena talked helped her, Sonah was here for it.

“Maybe it was just seeing him today. I don’t know,” Terena said, mumbling more to herself than to Sonah.

Sonah tilted her head. “You saw him? When?”

Terena lifted her head, looking at Sonah as if she’d forgotten she was there. She puffed out a breath before setting her lips in a thin line. “He—well, he was with those soldiers coming through the city when we first arrived. I saw him again at the tavern where Rydon and I had dinner.”

Sonah perked up. “Really? They were going fast, but I did manage to get a look at a couple and—oh my goodness, Terena! Those were… men. ”

Terena’s lip curled up as she looked at Sonah fanning herself and nodding knowingly .

“Men?”

“Men,” Sonah agreed as she tilted her head. “I’ve been around boys enough to know the difference.”

“So the male nobles you’ve been around for the past seven years at the White Palace are not what you consider men?”

Sonah gave her a look. “Those are boys.”

Terena laughed.

“Aye, well. Daris Antonius isn’t only a… man. He’s the commander of that group of warriors.”

“Fancy,” Sonah said with a nod, earning her another grin and a slap on the hand from Terena.

“You have to set a high bar,” Sonah went on and Terena swore. “You’re a god, after all, you can’t have just any man in your b?—”

Whack.

Sonah grunted when the pillow hit her.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” Terena said after a while, her smile fading.

Sonah shrugged. “I’m sorry he tried to kill you.”

Terena groaned as she sat up, pushing herself off the bed to stand and stretch. “Well, there had to be a flaw, right?”

Sonah sat up. “But, before he tried to kill you….”

“Stop.”

“It—”

“Stop.”

“…sounded—”

“Seriously?”

“Tell me one thing,” Sonah said, holding up a finger as Terena grabbed one of the pillows she’d tossed at Sonah.

“Was the sex good?”

Sonah shrieked as the pillow landed on her face once more.