Page 71 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

“I don’t think that would be wise.” I pulled the plush bedding onto the floor, trying to keep from ruining it more than I already had just by touching it with my bloody hands. My mind kept trying to throw images of the Beyond back at me, but I pushed them away and focused on the still-weeping wound in Tallon’s side. The bloody mess should have made me hesitant if nothing else, but apparently, the sight of his naked torso and his tensed muscles overcame that just slightly, and I found my cheeks flushing again and my fists clenching to keep from reaching out to touch him. “You need stitches.”

He shook his head, reaching for me as I turned away to go fetch clean water. “No.”

“Tallon, there’s a stab wound in your side. I promise you, it does need stitches.” Did he not want me to touch him, to care for him this way? I tried to ignore the way my stomach knotted at that. This was about him and the fact that he’d thrown himself in front of a knife for me while I’d been frozen in shock. If he wanted someone else to care for him, I could do that much for him, at least. “I can find someone else to do it if you don’t want me to, but we need to stop the bleeding. I have done this before. I promise I won’t injure you further.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” he said, his brows furrowing. He took my hand in his, tugging me up to stand by his head. “It will heal on its own soon. I merely need to rest. You cleaned it, and that will be enough. Here, my powers are stronger. Trust me, please, Odyssa?”

I searched his face, but again, there was no sign of a lie, not like the first days at Castle Auretras. “Fine, but I am still going to bandage it. Your bedding might already be ruined, but it doesn’t need to get any worse.”

“I’m not bothered by a little blood.” He cocked his head. “Are you? I didn’t consider what memories this might bring?—”

“Don’t. I’m fine,” I said abruptly, moving away from the bed to collect the bandages from where they sat in the entryway floor. I hadn’t even considered it, the similarities between this and my mother, myself, and Talyssa. “Blood doesn’t bother me. Not anymore, not like this.”

“Whendoesit bother you?”

I returned to his side and chewed on my lip, debating how to answer. My voice was quiet when I spoke. “When I can taste it.”

He winced, closing his eyes. I berated myself; I should have been taking care of him, not making him feel guilty. I picked up the cloth to wipe away the lingering blood, but he grabbed my hand with such quickness I couldn’t stop the flinch. “Odyssa, you willnevertaste blood again. I swear to you.”

I couldn’t look at him, focusing instead on cleaning the wound and pressing the bandage into place. “You can’t promise that, Tallon.”

“I certainly can promise it will never beyours,” he said, the smirk much less of a grimace this time. He ducked his head, catching my eye and making a show of looking me over from head to toe. It ignited the heat back in my belly and my fingers itched to run over his skin. To feel his hands back on my skin. The smirk widened, mischief sparkling in the gray of his eyes. “Besides, I think I quite like you covered inmyblood.”

Of all the things I’d been waiting for him to say, that certainly hadn’t been anywhere on the list. My head spun, racing through the implications of his words, and I struggled to comprehend the feelings they sent through my body. “I don’t… What?”

He shrugged, trying—and failing—to hide the wince when it pulled at his side. “Perhaps it’s more knowing the bloody handprint around your neck is mine, but whatever it is, I quite like it.”

My breath caught in my throat, my thighs clenching together involuntarily. Apparently, I quite liked it too. It didn’t matter, though, because there was nothing either of us could do about it now, while he was bleeding still. If we made it through the rest of the day alive, perhaps I would explore this more on my own in bed. The heat thrumming through my veins dimmed some, knowing that living through the night wasn’t guaranteed.

“Can Eadric come after us here?”

“We are safe here in the Beyond. He cannot come here, but we cannot stay here indefinitely,” he said, reaching out to take my hand again. “If you want to bathe, you can use the tub here. After I rest, we can talk about what to do next.”

I didn’t want to do that. The last thing I wanted was to address how I’d failed and how despite thinking I had nothing left to lose, I had lost my chance at a family with Emyl. I focused on a different part of his sentences. “Do youwantme to bathe?”

His eyes darkened, and his grip on my hand tightened. “Don’t toy with me, my wolf.”

My heart lurched at the heat in his gaze. It felt so irrevocably similar to the heat in my blood. “You are hardly in a position to do anything about it if I did.”

“Would you want me to do something about it?” Hunger dripped from every word as his eyes searched mine.

“What would you do?”

“Would you like me to tell you?” He released his hold on my hand and raised his hand to my face. The marks on his forearm, the ones that spiraled up his arm and spilled down onto his chest, shifted, pulling away from the skin and reaching out to caress my cheek. Their touch was warm and left a trail of tingling energy in their wake. Tallon pushed himself up on his other hand and his hand moved to my throat, placing his fingers one at a time over top of the bloody handprint I knew was already there, gripping just firmly enough that I could feel my pulse pounding against his hand. “Or should I show you?”

My tongue darted out to wet my suddenly bone-dry lips, and my voice was a ragged whisper. Standing beside his bed, him holding me by the throat and clad in only his pants, it made mewant, but I saw when he shifted and a fresh trickle of blood oozed out of the wound on his side. “You said you needed to rest, Tallon.”

More of his marks pulled away from his skin, dancing across my collarbones. Electric warmth hit my shoulders, sending shivers down my arms into my fingers as I felt the straps of my dress snap, and then the fabric was falling. My body was frozen as his magic followed the silky fabric down my body until both puddled at my feet.

“Utterly devastating,” Tallon breathed. His eyes followed his magic’s path back up, taking in every inch of my body before him. His hand tightened minutely around my throat and he pulled, not aggressively, but a suggestion that I move closer towards him. It was a suggestion I gladly followed as I moved with him until he was lying flat on the pillows once more and I was leaning over him. His thumb stroked over my pulse. “You’re stunning, my wolf. Would you let me touch you?”

There were a dozen reasons I should have said no, should have backed away from him and retreated to the safety of the bathroom behind the locked door. But none of those reasons mattered when I looked at the swirling silver of his eyes staring at me as if I were the most delicious treat he’d ever laid eyes on. When he looked at me like that, after all we’d been through together now, there was only one answer I could give.

“Yes.”

Hands and magic surged. His lips crashed to mine as he pulled me over to straddle his hips; all in one movement that left my head spinning. He swallowed down my gasp and devoured me, claiming and exploring and leaving my mind empty of everything except for him.

I was aching for him by the time we separated, panting for breath. Blood still streaked both his torso and mine, stained from where it had soaked through the fabric of my dress and left smears across my skin, but it was hardly a deterrent for either of us. From the way Tallon’s eyes darkened as they roamed over my body and how his fingers dug into the skin of my thighs, I was more apt to call it an aphrodisiac instead.

---