Page 106

The bloody traitor.

Was that intentional or was she just naturally seductive? Either way it bothered him.

“You’ve been working as hard as I have,” she said softly. “Today was rough for both of us. You deserve to have a good night’s rest.” She gave him a crooked smile that made his heart race. “Plus with all your tossing and turning on these creaky floorboards, you’re keeping me awake.”

All plausible, but did he trust it?

“Also, I’m freezing.” She shivered and pulled the blankets higher.

“If you wore more clothes, you wouldn’t be so cold.”

Her smile turned impish. “They’re itchy and I don’t like the way they feel against my scales.”

“Will your blade be sleeping with us as well?” he asked.

Mer bit her bottom lip and pulled the blade from beneath the pillow. She held it out on the flat of her palm. “You can keep it safe for the night.”

If he had been standing, he would have staggered.

She was showing trust. Perhaps he could as well.

Raziel slowly stood and ate up the distance between them. He stared down at her and curled her fingers around the pommel of the shell dagger. “Keep it. I want you to feel safe.”

Tears filled her eyes, and she held the dagger to her chest. Mer blinked them away and scooted back onto the left side of thebed. He walked around the bed to the bathtub and changed into a new pair of pants, keenly feeling his wife’s gaze.

Did she find him as appealing as he found her? He wiped the sand from his feet, adjusted their makeshift door, and fed the fire one more time. His nerves racked up a notch as he approached the bed. Mer watched him.

“Are you sure?”

“Get in the bloody bed.”

Raziel huffed and slid into the bed, facing Mer.

She squirmed until she got comfortable and then stared back.

“Are we going to talk about Coven?” he managed to ask, his grief rising.

“No. I can’t tonight.”

Some of the tension in his shoulders loosened. He didn’t think he could either. “I don’t know if I can sleep.” He feared the nightmares that would surely come.

Mer nodded in understanding. Her hand crept out from beneath her pillow and she laid it between them.

An offering.

Raziel slowly took her small hand in his own and she squeezed his fingers. “You’re not alone. Just match your breaths to mine and close your eyes.”

Raz didn’t want to look away from the stunning picture she made but he did as he was told. Mer began to hum, a sound so soothing it seemed to fill all the cracks inside his soul.

And Raz discovered that holding the hand of the woman you’re falling for was the perfect cure for insomnia.

Right before he fell asleep, he heard her whisper. “You once asked me what my trident meant. It’s a brand for those who betray the crown. Your tattoos mark you as a king, and nine as a traitor. What a pair we are.” He barely registered a kiss on his cheek, his eyelids too heavy to open. “Never trust me.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

MER

She woke with a gasp,her heart racing.