Page 46 of The Interdimensional Lord's Earthly Delight
Her dark eyes narrowed, unamused. “Blackworm escapedfrom prison. And he owes mercenaries money. That’s not going to be easy to get out from under by yourself.”
He shrugged one shoulder, not the one serving as her pillow. “I was by myself before.”
“And how’d that work out for you?”
He’d been lonely, full of himself, and he’d been killed.
He thought for a moment. “These trinkets and offerings—charming though they are—aren’t going to prove anything.”
She huffed out a breath that whispered across his throat. “Are yousureyou don’t have any godly powers besides blessings?”
He kissed her temple. “My loving was not enough for you?”
A grumble under her breath vibrated against him. “You want to try that on Raz and Nor?”
He gulped back a laugh. “I share blessings with all beloveds, but…I concede the point. We’ll explore tomorrow in the lightand see what remains.” He traced his fingertips down her spine to the dip of her waist and rested his palm on the full curve of her hips. He didn’t want to let her go, ever, but reluctantly, he said, “We’d probably be more comfortable”—he wouldn’t mention more secure—“back in the shuttle.”
With another grumble-breath, she pushed herself up onto one elbow, looking around. “It’s cold and dark andwet out there. We have food and drink here, so let’s just stay. Although I wouldn’t mind a more defensible bedroom.”
She was splendidandsensible.
They pulled on their various clothing pieces and gathered some comforts from the offerings—that had been left to the God of Beloveds, she explained, so it was all right that he was using them—before he led her to a smaller room behind the dais.
The spy room was hidden behind a false door that took both their muscle to force open after centuries of disuse. As the portal cracked open, a whiff of ancient air swirled out, still faintly scented of the sweet oils and incensed smoke that had once perfumed his hall. Or maybe that was his imagination. The longing that swept through him was more bitter than sweet, and suddenly he felt the weightof those centuries.
While he fastened a few of the solar lanterns to the frame of the doorway, Lishelle poked around the room, mostly empty except for the benches along the spying wall and the sidetable stock with decanters, some long evaporated, some still sealed. He’d never cared much for spying so he’d kept the room for, ah, entertaining.
Now, with the memories of those hundred angry maidensand the smell of sex clinging to him, he just wanted to rest.
He triggered one of the devices he’d brought from the wealth of gifts on the dais, and a lightweight temporary sleeping pad unfolded and began to rapidly inflate.
Lishelle arched one eyebrow. “We coulda had sex on a bed?”
“Somebody was obviously hoping the God of Beloveds would grant him luck with his lady.” He flashed her a grin.“But wasn’t being on the throne more subversive?”
She lifted her chin to an imperious angle. “I didn’t know we were being subversive. I thought we were just going for extra bruises.”
Instantly contrite, he gathered her into his arms. “Show me where you hurt. One of the offerings left behind is a bottle of massage oil.”
Which was how they ended up christening the unused mattress before theyfell into an exhausted tangle under the embroidered shawl. They snuggled together, tentatively fitting curve to hollow like pieces of an unfamiliar puzzle.
“Is it strange being home?” She was resting on his other shoulder this time, and he thought it felt even more right. “I’ve only been gone from my home for three years, and I think it would be very odd to return now.” She glanced up at him.“To be gone for a few thousand years…”
He held her a little tighter, partly so that she wasn’t looking at him so closely and partly to take comfort in her proximity. “It’s harder with every passing day,” he admitted. “At first I didn’t really remember, and with each day that Idoremember…” He nestled his face in the thicket of her hair, wilder now than when she’d first unveiled it, as if hecould hide from what he needed to say. “Everything I remember makes me think the goddesses were right to stop me.”
She stiffened, pulling a little away from him. “To slay you?” Her tone was incredulous. “Okay, you were a manwhore, and you broke some hearts—about a hundred of them, from what I hear—but ripping outyourheart seems a little extreme.”
He closed his eyes, wondering which lurid versionof his legend she’d read. Maybe all of them; Lady Lishelle excelled at her studies. “Murder might’ve been extreme,” he conceded. “But my days were…less nuanced than these times.”
She gusted a sigh across his chest. “We always think the past was simpler.” She traced some idle looping shapes over his belly. “When I was a kid, my home was…chaotic, so everyone thought it would be simpler if I wentand lived with my aunties. And itwassimpler. I told myself I’d never get caught up in that sort of chaos again. If I studied hard and excelled, I’d break free of the path everyone believed I was doomed to follow.” She flattened her palm on his chest, above his heart, her fingers pressing in as if she was holding herself fast. “But in the end it wasn’t as simple as that. I did everything I thoughtI was supposed to—better than—but when it all went bad, I realized I’d ended up right where I was most afraid: with nothing and no one. And then Blackworm took me, it seemed like the rotten cherry on the shit sundae.”
His universal translator struggled with the image and gave up. As she’d given up, apparently.
“I didn’t fight,” she whispered, giving voice to what he’d surmised. “After all thoseyears of fighting, when it most mattered, I didn’t even struggle.”
“You were overmatched,” he reminded her. “Frightened, drugged, not even on your planet anymore.”
Her spine was straight and stiff under his hand. “Is that what you would tell your troops, warlord?”