Page 54 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

SECRETS AND SHAME

D arian’s face is the first thing I see when I wake, his eyes still closed and breath slow as he slumbers. I glance down to the rest of him underneath the sheets. Still naked.

A knock sounds at the door and all my blood drains from my face at the same time Darian’s eyes flash open. I scramble off the bed, frantically pulling on a shirt and pants. Then gloves onto my hands. I flatten my hair on the sides of my head as the knock sounds again.

With a quick inhale and swallow, I inch the door open, positioning my body in the gap so no wandering eyes can glimpse a naked Darian sprawled out on my bed.

“Sethan is requesting you this morning for—” Melaina pauses, eyeing me up and down suspiciously. Her nose wrinkles. “You…umm…”

“Yes, we’ll be there shortly.” I slam the door quickly before she can finish, and before I give myself away by the rapid blush of my cheeks. I flinch as soon as the door is closed, mentally noting I’ll need to apologize for that later.

Darian snickers from the bed, propped up on his elbow with his hair a stupid mess of brown.

His other hand rests on his thigh, where the sheets just barely, barely cover everything I shouldn’t be looking at.

“You know, most women I’ve been with flaunted the fact they spent a night with the prince. And now you’ve spent two .”

I snag his clothes off the ground where we discarded them the night before and chuck them in his direction.

He continues, not reaching to clothe himself, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire town heard how loud you screamed last night. I’m surprised they didn’t come check in on you. They could have thought you were dying.”

Gods, I’m dying right now from embarrassment, a new heat rushing to my face. I avoid his eye contact, braiding my hair back out of my face and adjusting my clothes before pulling on my socks and boots.

“Last night was a mistake.” I glance over at him. “We’ll pretend it never happened.”

He gasps, pressing a hand to his chest in over-exaggeration and falls to the mattress with a smug grin. “How she wounds me so.”

He rips the sheet off and I look away, before remembering I’d unlocked his shackles and tossed the key on the bed.

Shit. He didn’t…he wouldn’t have grabbed it. Right?

I can’t figure out a way to ask or search without making it obvious—staring at him while he’s naked leans a tad too intimate. Besides…I don’t need to tempt myself. I already proved last night my own self-restraint is much weaker than I hoped.

Thankfully, he dresses himself quickly, slips his manacles back on, and stalks toward me before stopping a step away. “Here. You’ll probably want this.” He grabs my hand, opens my palm, and places the key there.

I don’t have time to mask my shock, our eyes locking for a split second before he brushes past me for the door.

“Are you coming or not? I wouldn’t keep a man like Sethan waiting for long,” he calls.

Sethan’s a bit wary of crossing the river twice to get from the eastern side of Silkwood to Pinepoint.

The Bayrock soldiers who’ve traveled in to escort us the rest of the way to Vitalis noted a surge in water dragons and suggest we avoid the waters where we can.

No one knows why they’re breaching so late into winter.

Water dragons are seasonal, with more activity during the warmer months.

So, the plan is to skirt the eastern part of the Forbidden Forest to avoid the rivers.

Sethan mentions earth dragons are easier to deal with since our entire thunder is fire dragons.

And given the fact the Forbidden Forest is teeming with earth dragons, it’s imperative we don’t fly overhead and disturb them. We have to walk.

Melaina pulls me to the side and out of earshot of the rest of the group.

I begin, tripping over my words, “Look, I’m sorry about this morning I swear I didn’t?—”

“Don’t bullshit me. I could see it all over your face.”

I blink. “See what all over my face?”

“The look of someone who just got laid or got damn near close to it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so embarrassed and flustered.

And I’ve seen the way Darian watches you.

Anyone can see his eyes follow you as a starved man would.

How he has the audacity not to care that anyone notices is beyond me. ”

I suck in a quick breath, unable and unsure how to respond as I shake my head.

Her brown eyes meet mine as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

My mouth parts, but the lie won’t come.

Luckily, she doesn’t let me suffer long. “Exactly. Don’t lie to me. You don’t have to be ashamed?—”

“I’m not ashamed…”

“Yes, you are. I’ve seen the way your cheeks redden when he’s near you. And the way you always cross your arms when he comes within your vicinity. You constantly dart your gaze away, but it always goes back to him.”

“Fine. He’s not bad to look at. Is that what you want me to admit, Melaina?” I grumble.

She smiles mischievously, and I roll my eyes, beginning to cross my arms before I stick them down. I can’t admit more than she might already think she knows.

She bites her lip. “If…I can give you one piece of advice, though. Don’t let that secret out. If someone finds out, they might use the information as a weapon.”

I blow out a breath, imagining all the potential scenarios if the Vitalan rebels discovered I was fraternizing with the heir to the Arterian throne.

While wearing a ring which could single-handedly take down the King if they killed me.

Yeah, she has a point. “Then that means you’ll keep it between us? ”

“Archie—”

I shake my head. “No. No, I’ll be the one to tell him. But…can you do me a favor in the meantime?” My cheeks heat, preparing for my next ask. “Is…there any way you can get me pennyroyal?”

She coughs, pounding her chest before looking up at me. “If my father finds out and thinks it’s for me…”

I grimace, realizing at the same time she does. “If he finds out…tell him it’s not for you. Tell him it’s for me and Cole.”

She shakes her head like she’s been slapped. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

Swallowing back the creeping fear, I answer, “He’ll understand. Cole’s not my brother. We’ve been lying to you all.”

Her jaw drops open, and I squeeze her arm gently as I eye our surroundings. Signaling her to hide her shock.

“Who else knows?” she whispers.

“Your father and Marge. That’s it.”

“Archie…?”

I sigh. “No. He doesn’t know. But I’ll have to let him in on that, too…it’s just…”

“How could you have gone on this long lying to all of us?”

“Because we didn’t want the truth to shake our group’s trust and confidence in us. There’s too much at stake and?—”

“And you couldn’t trust me or Archie to keep it a secret?” She takes a step out of my grasp. “We’re supposed to be your friends. ”

“You are! It has nothing to do with how I feel about either of you. I trust you.”

“Then why not tell us?”

I blink. Then shift my gaze to the floor as I consider an answer. “I’m…I’m not sure. Honestly, I just wanted there to be one less thing you had to worry about. And keeping a secret felt like piling more on top of everything else going on and…I don’t know…I’m sorry, Melaina.”

“You know what…fine. Your love life is really nobody’s business, anyway.”

I flinch, taken off guard by her response.

She continues, “I won’t say anything to anyone about it. You have my word.”

“That’s…kind of you?—”

“No. Don’t think it’s kind of me. You’re right.

Nolan already doesn’t trust you, and Gavin is too quiet for me to discern what he thinks.

But the fact of the matter is, if this prophecy really is about you, we need to make sure nothing else throws off our plans of getting to Vitalis and finding answers.

And if we do ever get back to Arterias…” her eyes narrow, “you’ll come to clean.

To everyone. And that includes Celeste.”

The words stick to my throat before I force them out, “Cole and I aren’t together, if that’s what you’re implying?—”

“No. It’s not about love. She was never in love with him.

But she was in love with the idea of him.

She gushed about how elated she was to have you as a sister, since Darian never loved her.

She has no one, and Cole was the answer to her prayers.

To having a family of her own. She deserves to know it’s no longer an option. ”

Before I can answer her, she brushes past me. “I’ll get you that pennyroyal.”