Page 233 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Rycon!” I gasped, slapping him in the shoulder. “You’re not supposed to tell people shit like that!” I felt my entire face flush, unsure if I was flattered or horrified that he had just told me he had been masturbating to me. He grinned at me, clearly not ashamed at all.

“Oh I’m going to tell you every time I beat off to you, Kasha.” He ran his finger over my lips gently, as if he were toying with the idea of pressing it all the way into my mouth. “You have no idea how good you looked, with your mouth wrapped around my - “

“Okay, okay, okay!” I was furiously blushing now. “I get it, I believe you. You were in the shower and she broke in and you stabbed her. She’s a crazy jealous ex.”

He scoffed. “Ex is a stretch. She never meant enough to me to deserve that title. But yes. That’s what happened. Can we go to bed now? And can I trust that you’re not going to pack a bag and try to slip off into the fucking night?”

I thought about it for a minute. His fingers were digging into my hips and he was watching me carefully, as if he were worried I might try to bolt at any moment. I knew if I ran, he would just hunt me down. I also knew that deep down, I didn’t want to run. I wanted to believe him. It would hurt too much if what he was saying wasn’t true. Finally, I gave in.

“Maybe if you give me another clue on where to find Alley Cat, I’ll think about staying.” I said with mock seriousness. He barked out a laugh and flipped me onto the bed, before getting up.

“I’ll do you one better.” He said as he shot out of the room. He was back a few moments later in those grey sweats I liked so much and holding the most tattered little cat plushy I had ever seen. It had clearly been made with love from someone out of wool socks, and was missing one of its button eyes.

My mouth dropped open at the dichotomy of a chiseled, deadly Rycon holding a little home-made stuffed animal.

“Is that…?” I gasped and Rycon grinned, handing it to me.

“Yup. This is Alley Cat. My mom made him for me, before she…you know.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable talking about his mom.

I looked down at the little stuffed cat, and suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion. It was like I was holding a part of Rycon that didn’t exist anymore. A little, innocent version of the assassin that stood before me had owned this cat, and he had clearly loved it to pieces. I was so touched that he had decided to share this with me.

I bet Anaya never got to hold Alley Cat… Origin spare me. I was so pathetic.

“You can sleep with him, if you want. I told you he’s a badass. He’s really good at fighting off nightmares.” Rycon said, clearing his throat. I looked up at him, pretending not to see the slight flush in his cheeks. He was so adorably cute and shy about this, I suddenly wanted to hug him.

“Thank you.” I whispered and he shrugged.

“Don’t mention it. Just… Promise me you wont leave.” His eyes darted to my half packed bag that he had thrown across the room when he had found me gathering my things.

“Fine. I won’t leave.” I promised.

He nodded, looking relieved. “Good. Now try to get some sleep. It’s late and we have to meet with everyone early as fuck tomorrow.” He turned on his heel and headed for the now thoroughly broken door. “I’ll have someone come fix that tomorrow.” He winced before stepping into the hall. Suddenly, I didn’t want him to go. He had told me I could snuggle the little stuffed cat but the plushie didn’t feel like enough. I wanted the real thing.

“Rycon?”

“Yeah?” He poked his head back into the room, looking concerned.

“Um…” I played with Alley Cat’s ears, feeling nervous. “Do you think you could, um… do you think you could stay in here with me tonight?” My voice was so soft that if he didn’t have shifter hearing, I doubted he would have even been able to hear me. I cringed, suddenly worried he would say no. I braced myself for the cold sting of rejection, when the scent of the rainforest enveloped me, followed by his warm, hard body. He crushed me into his chest and pulled me back into the pillows with him, tucking me into the nook under his arm.

“I thought you’d never ask.” He murmured against me, leaving feather light kisses where his lips rested against my throat.

Not knowing how to respond, I let myself relax into his embrace and found that falling asleep in Rycon’s arms felt so painfully right, I wasn’t sure how I would ever manage to fall asleep without him next to me again.

Rycon hadn’t been kidding. Alley Cat really was a badass when it came to nightmares. I didn’t have one bad dream that night.

Raven

‘Alexa play Every Color by Luca Fogale.’

The ship Balthion secured for us was a considerable improvement over trekking through the desert. Being at sea was incredible. The sun shone down on us and the crystal blue waters splashed seafoam through the balmy air as the bow broke through the salty waves. I might have actually enjoyed myself if the circumstances had been different.

I had only ever been on a boat once before and it was for a stuffy boring dinner party on Lake Ontario. It had been thrown by the Toronto OPP, and we had been invited to watch Jeremy receive an award for cracking one of the worst serial killer cases Toronto had ever seen.

I remembered picking at the catered meal next to Clair, feeling annoyed that the family that had meant to be seated at our table had taken one look at me and begged the hostess to be given a different table.

‘Their loss,’ Clair had smiled at me, patting my hand. She eyed up the frumpy old couple the family was placed next to instead. She had snorted into her hand. ‘That’s Sgt. Stringer, he’s going to talk their ears off about the Roman Empire. He cornered me once at a Christmas party and now I know more about the invention of plumbing than I ever cared to know.’ We had burst into giggles and I had forgotten all about the fact that no one ever seemed to want to sit with me. Clair did, and that was all that really mattered.

“What are you thinking about kiddo?” Jeremy asked, coming up to stand next to me. I was perched with my elbows on the wooden railing of the ship. The vessel looked like it had been plucked right out of a movie. It had four masts with billowing white sails. The largest of which had a minotaur on it, which I had learned was The Court of Wrath’s sigil.