Page 106 of Tower of Tempest
Driscoll wrinkled his nose. “I saw you two sneaking off to the carriage last night and assumed that you were talking...” He trailed off, like something clicked in his brain, and he turned his wide brown eyes on me. “Blood and earth. You weren’t talking. Did you two have sex?” He gasped. “The handprint on the carriage.” He looked back at Poppy, then at me. “That’s scandalous!”
I groaned. Poppy and I had agreed we’d keep it a secret until after we completed this mission, not wanting any distractions.
“I knew it,” Driscoll said, not waiting for my confirmation. “I have a sense about these things. You know the six senses? I have a seventh. I can sense when two people have finally had sex.”
“Well, that’s weird,” I said, “and I don’t know if you should be bragging about it.”
“I can’t believe you two finally did it. Leoni’s going to owe me money. She didn’t think you guys would be able to figure your shit out, but I’ve seen two unlikely couples get together now, so I had a feeling you’d make it happen one way or another.” He frowned. “I wish it hadn’t been on the cushion I sat on this morning.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “But good for you. Someone should be having sex around here since I’m clearly not getting any. Wanna tell me the details?”
I removed his hand from my shoulder. “No, I don’t.”
“Fine, but at least tell me how she reacted to the other news? About your... condition?”
My jaw locked as we picked our way over pinecones that cracked beneath our boots. The trees protected us from the bulk of the wind, but a chilly blast swept through the forest, and I pulled my wool jacket tighter around me.
“Well?” Driscoll asked. “I mean she must’ve taken it well enough if you managed to get her naked afterward.”
“I didn’t tell her,” I admitted.
Driscoll’s mouth dropped open. “What? You didn’t tell her that your death is imminent if you don’t find your shadow?”
“When was I supposed to tell her?” I asked. “When she was stripping in front of me, when she was naked and straddling me, when I had her pinned up against the carriage door?”
That had happened much later in the night, the fourth—no, the third—time I’d taken her.
Driscoll fanned himself. “Keep going.” He shook his head. “No, focus, Driscoll.” He glared at me. “You should have told her. She deserves to know.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “I know. I know that. But how can I tell her something like that? She’ll worry for no reason.”
“No reason?” Driscoll echoed. “She should definitely be worried. You’re dying, Prince Lochlan!”
I shushed him and clapped a hand over his mouth, looking behind me to see Poppy slashing the sword across her body as Leoni talked her through the movement.
“Will you be quiet?” I hissed and slowly removed my hand from Driscoll’s mouth.
“I kind of liked that,” he said. “Could you do it again?” He groaned. “No, I’m focusing. How are your blue lines?” He arched his neck to peek at my chest, and I shoved him away.
“Just drop it. I will tell Poppy when this mission is over. When we’ve found her gran and gotten the answers we seek.”
When I knew she was safe, and she couldn’t be distracted, not by me, not by anyone. She needed to be at her best. I wouldn’t risk that by dropping huge news on her, especially not after everything she’d been through in the last few days. Guilt hammered at me, part of me wondering if withholding this was a betrayal of sorts—but no. I was keeping this from her for her own good. And I would tell her just as soon as we found her gran.
“Excuse me, did you just use a tone with me?” Driscoll asked.
My instinct was to apologize, but when it came to this, to keeping Poppy safe, I wouldn’t back down.
Driscoll looked at me with something like admiration in his eyes. “Thank the fuck. You’re finally willing to fight.” He paused. “The sex must’ve beenreallygood.”
“We’re staying quiet the rest of this walk,” I warned. “Not another word from you until we reach that tower.”
Driscoll rolled his eyes. “I’ll just go talk to Leoni and Poppy. I’ve got some good gossip I realized I never told Poppy about. It involves a stablehand and a horse... let your imagination run wild with that one.”
I didn’t want to. Driscoll fell behind, chattering away as Leoni huffed and Poppy laughed. We would be at the tower in less than an hour, and I only hoped Poppy’s gran was there. I opened my shirt to see the blue lines that stretched all the way down my chest, so close to my heart. Otherwise, we might be too late.
Chapter Forty-Four
POPPY
Ashort walk later, we finally arrived at the tower. All of us had grown silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts as we waded through the meadow, wildflowers and weeds brushing past us until there we stood: by my old garden, the plants now withering away without anyone here to care for them.
