Page 160 of Unrivaled
La’Angi Keep
Her moans crept their way into my dreams.When something tried to wake me, I rolled over and pulled the covers higher.I deliberately inserted myself back into the dream, enriching it with memory.Her short, ragged breaths against my ear, her arms holding me like a vice.The way her hair spilled over my forearms.
In the dream we went from tangled up together to sleeping.Her breath was slow and steady.When I moved, she made a grumpy noise and burrowed closer, not awake enough to care she was taking the blankets or practically putting herself under me.It was what she wanted, and it felt good.We drifted.
The sound of the door woke me, but not properly.The lack of footsteps or noise made it clear who it was.Only Isolde and Audrey moved like that, and Audrey was safe in the tower.
I pulled the covers closer against the chill in the air and reached back into the sleep-filled fantasy.Isolde is late.Is it nearly morning?I enjoyed imaging Audrey in my arms again, the way her backside would fit into my hips and the way she trusted so completely.
Probably won’t make that mistake again.The thought crept into my fantasy.I rolled over again, trying to leave it behind.I’d done what I’d needed to.If that meant I lived with my own regret, and a hard-on at every dream I had about her, that was what I’d do.
With the memory of her moans surfacing and sleep slipping further away, I lay there wondering whether it was worth the cleanup and the cost of sleep to spend more time with those memories than the dream had allowed.Anticipation pooled low in my belly, but today was the sword event.I’d be on the field all day, and then at another ball late.Even if I couldn’t sleep, rest was wise.
The arch of her back when she bent over the bed, her thighs spread just a little, the way she’d look at me over her shoulder with her lips parted ever so slightly as if welcoming me everywhere?—
I closed my eyes and reached for my cock.
I hadn’t even got as far as my belly when I heard something from the other side of the door that sent ice through my veins.
Voices.
My heart started to roar.I lay with my eyes open, seeing nothing but the vague lumps of bedclothes beneath me.I strained but couldn’t make out words.The conversation was over.
That wasn’t Isolde.It wasn’t Audrey.
Luca.
I drew in a hard breath.
He’d been in her tower all night.
I’m going to kill him.The thought fit me as well as Thomas’ boots would’ve.I’m going to fuck him up.No, that didn’t work either.
The rage was in my chest, in my lungs, in my limbs.I breathed into it, sat with it.I’d known it was coming.Or I’d thought it might.
Had they beenrealmoans I’d heard last night?Had they crept into my dreams?
I suddenly felt dirty.She hadn’t known I was listening, and hadn’t invited me to participate.
I hoped she didn’t regret that.
Stop it, Chay.She can fuck who she wants.I hadn’t said anything about Elnyta’s long visits, had I?If I’d thought they would’ve worked together, I’d’ve nudgedKadantoward her, but the political complexities there would be a nightmare and the King would never allow it.I heard Kadan was excellent in bed, but he wasn’t a one-night kind of chap, much as his reputation stated otherwise.
Luca.
If theyhadn’tbeen her moans, I’d fuck him up.
That thought was more comfortable.I lay there and breathed as the anger started to ebb.What will he do to her?
She was in her tower, tangled up with him.I didn’t let myself imagine how they’d look.It didn’t matter.
Frustration swept through me, and I drew in another, harder, breath, held it behind my ribs and turned away from my empty bed.On the table to the side my tabard was laid out, waiting.The beautiful grey belt lay, coiled, waiting to clasp Audrey’s waist, to guard her strength and hold her weapons.
“Wild horses, Isolde, you really fucked that one up,” I said out loud, keeping the words soft.
I’d thought it might feel better to say it, though it wasn’t fair.
It didn’t.
