Page 60
Story: A Strange Hymn
Good thing I already stowed away my daggers; otherwise, Des’s little gifts would be long gone.
I glance below us, watching the shimmering fabric fall to Somnia. Already, we’re too high to see where it lands.
The night air caresses my bare skin. It feels like skinny-dipping, the sensation strange and new and not altogether unpleasant. I’d be embarrassed over the exposure, except we’re too high in the sky and the night is too dark for anyone to see us.
I turn back to Des, my flesh bare. Like me, his clothes have long since peeled away. I run a hand over his biceps, my thumb tracing one of his war cuffs.
We slip through a layer of wispy clouds, the mist prickling my flesh. It’s the clouds that remind me of the first time I flew. Des had pointed out the couples hidden in the darkness, each caught in a lover’s embrace.
I suck in a breath, realizing what Des means to do. Whatwemean to do.
Of course, the King of the Night, the man who rules over sex and sleep, violence and chaos, means to take me up here, where the stars and the great vastness of the universe are our audience.
“I told you I had many, many demands,” he says softly, his words harkening back to what he told me when he first reentered my life. Back then, his demands had made me nervous, but now, as he gazes at me with those expressive eyes, it’s clear hisdemandsaren’t anything but the wishes of a man who was kept away from his love for too long.
As the two of us hover in the heavens, our hair rustling in the gentle breeze, I can feel Des’s magic settling around us. It’s not pushy or uncomfortable like it sometimes can be. Rather, I feel as though I’m bathing in his essence—shadows and moonbeams.
Slowly, his hands slide down my back. They feel like a sculptor’s touch, molding me into some pleasing form. They slip under the backs of my thighs.
My hands are clasped loosely around Des’s neck, and I play with the soft ends of his hair.
“I thought you wanted me to follow your instructions,” I say, my breath a whisper.
He lifts my body a few inches, and then slides me onto him. My lips part as I stare at him, my skin beginning to glow. I look like just another star in the sky as our flesh meets.
“I do,” he says, nuzzling my cheek, “but I find I prefer you a bit untamed too.”
With that, the two of us begin to move, our bodies quickly turning feverish. And we spend the night as two more lovers hidden among the clouds.
Chapter 19
The next day, Des and I are back out in the training yard: me a little bedraggled from my evening, Des looking just as sharp as always.
If I thought that after the closeness of last night, the Bargainer would go easy on me today, then I thought wrong.
I clutch my brand-spanking-new daggers, feeling every inch the amateur as Des comes at me.
“Block—block,” he barks as he begins his attack.
My arms come up belatedly, barely holding him back.
“My flank is open, Callie,” he says.
“How am I—?”
He spins out of my grip, and then I feel the press of his blade against my neck.
“How many times have I killed you today?” he asks, his breath warm against my cheek.
“Twenty-three.” He’s been making me count. Like I don’t already feel supremely shitty about my combat skills.
He clicks his tongue. “You can do better.”
I don’twantto do better. I want to go back inside the palace, find the royal kitchens, pillage their pastries, and then take a nice long nap.
But wishes, I’ve decided, are little bastards that always bite you in the ass—at least if you have them around the Bargainer.
Des swipes out, knocking one of my blades from my grip, the metal clattering against the ground.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60 (Reading here)
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160