Page 35 of Kept

“Yes, but he’s in my head. Or, at the very least, he managed to make a connection with me.” Misery settled over me. During the flight from Lar Katerin and the long day seeing to the wounded, I hadn’t thought about Midian. But now that I was reasonably safe in Lar Budina, I had no choice but to acknowledge I’d acquired a new problem. It was the very last thing I needed.

Varick’s heart thumped under my ear. He and Laurent stayed silent. But what was there to say? We could speculate all we wanted, but there was no way to know when or if Midian would speak in my head again. All we could do was wait for the next time.

I breathed in Varick’s scent. Even in borrowed clothes, he still smelled of leather and forest. “Do you think the three of us having sex is making my magic unstable?”

“I don’t know, but I’m afraid to risk it now.” He sighed, and his breath stirred my hair. “I spent tonight trying to make you too angry with me to want to fuck me.”

I slapped a hand on his hard chest and pushed away. “That’s what you were doing?”

In the tub, Laurent chuckled.

Varick glowered at him before turning back to me. He had the good grace to look sheepish. “Laurent was too far gone to feed from anyone else. I knew I’d be hard as obsidian once he took my vein.” Varick brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “And if you’re in the room, halfling, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion the three of us are going to fuck.”

“I could have gone somewhere else.”

“Absolutely not.” Varick’s eyes went deadly serious. “From now on, you don’t leave my sight. Right now, my gift of Voice is the only thing we have to guide you back into your body.” His eyes darkened. “I’m not happy with you for farseeing today.”

“What?” Laurent asked sharply.

My cheeks heated. “I only went to the balcony.” I stepped away from Varick. “Why did you have to tell him?”

Varick raised a sandy brow.

“I would have found out eventually,” Laurent said testily. He extended a hand. “Come over here, my lady.”

“What are you going to do?”

He gave me a very Laurent-like look. “Right now, I’m going to continue sitting in this glacier water until my dick goes down or my balls freeze off.” When I went to him and took his hand, he dropped his arrogant expression and offered me a sad smile. “You’re safe from me at the moment, princess. I only wanted to know how you’re feeling after today.”

I sank to my knees beside the tub. Cold water quickly soaked my gown, but I didn’t care. “It’s not your fault about the Deepnight. Everything is connected, remember?”

“I remember. But I didn’t make you a queen for you to rule over a fallen city.”

On impulse, I lifted his hand to my cheek. Then I turned my head and pressed a kiss to his knuckles the way he often did to mine.

His sad smile turned tender. “So much more than I expected,” he said softly. He looked up as Varick approached the tub. Varick knelt beside me and took my other hand. The three of us sat that way, our clothes soaked and a hundred unspoken worries flowing between us.

Laurent let his head thunk against the back of the tub. His gaze wandered the room…and then settled on the chairs positioned before the fireplace. He sat up.

“What is it?” I asked, following his gaze. He stared at the vase on the table next to the chair Varick had sat in. The vase held night-blooming roses, but the vase itself was decorated with tiny white blossoms. They appeared to drift through the air over a clearing filled with tall grasses. My mouth went dry.

Everything is connected.

Laurent looked at Varick. “Is Jordan of Twyl in Lar Budina?”

“He’s staying in one of the guestrooms down the hall.”

A determined look entered Laurent’s eyes. “General, tell our friend the Archmage I wish to speak with him.”

Chapter Nine

VARICK

Jordan of Twyl wasn’t in his bedchamber. When I went looking for him, the secretive little shit was already in the manor’s small library. Waiting.

I’d turned on my heel and fetched Laurent and Given, and now the three of us watched Jordan stare at a painting of night-blooming roses that hung between two bookcases. He hadn’t changed position since I found him. Hands clasped behind his back, he studied the painting like it was a priceless work of art.

It wasn’t. I’d spent half my life in soldiers’ barracks. But I’d spent the other half in palaces, and I knew the difference between wealth and money. Wealth was quiet. Understated. Money shouted, getting in your face and making sure you knew it was there.

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