Page 103 of The Moon's Fury

“Layna beats me regularly. I’ve had a lot of practice.” She yawned, stretching her arms in the air.

Her gaze halted on the narrow bed.

Theonebed.

They’d slept beside each other every night for weeks, but that was out in the open, under the night sky and millions of stars.

Somehow, it seemed different in a bed behind a locked door.

Jamil must have sensed her thoughts because he said, “I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“You’re hurt,” she protested. “You take the bed.”

He shook his head. “We can argue all night and not sleep at all. Or you can take the bed.”

She was poised to argue, but he set his jaw and grabbed the blankets, laying them out on the floor as far from the bed as he could manage.

Soraya sighed.These stubborn, proud Medjai. She nestled into the bed and nearly sighed again. After weeks of sleeping on the hard ground, the mattress felt like a soft cloud.

She was asleep within minutes.

Her eyelids slowly fluttered open. The room was dark, moonlight casting shadows across the floor.

A low groan echoed in the air, followed by the rustling of blankets. Sleep, insistent and irresistible, coaxed her lids closed again, her breaths slowly evening. Another grunt sounded out, then a pained gasp.

She sat up. “Jamil?” she whispered, eyes bleary. “What is it?”

The rustling stopped.

“Nothing,” came his reply from the room’s farthest corner. His voice was crisp and sharp, not blurred at the edges by sleep like hers. “Go back to sleep.”

She rubbed her eyes. “Have you slept at all?”

“Yes.”

“You’re lying. I can hear you tossing and turning.”

He didn’t respond.

“Is your shoulder hurting?”

Silence.

Then, “It’s fine, Soraya. Go back to sleep.”

Irritation curled inside her. “I can’t sleep with you making so much noise. Let’s switch.”

A deep, exasperated sigh escaped him. “You’re not sleeping on the floor.”

“I slept on the ground for weeks while we were traveling.”

“That was different. There was no other choice. Go back—”

“If you tell me to ‘go back to sleep’ one more time, I’ll throw this candle at you,” she snapped, gesturing toward the bedside table. She wasn’t even sure if he could see her. “Is it against your moral code to let a woman sleep on the floor?”

Another long-suffering sigh. “Soraya, please.” He sounded tired.

“Just come up here, then.”