Lord of the Abyss - By Nalini Singh Page 0,77

Micah not been standing solid as a stone wall beside her.

"Now maybe," he said, a touch of wickedness to him, "the salamander doesn't look so bad."

"I wouldn't go that - " She broke off as a couple, their nightclothes flapping at their ankles, clattered out of the inn, torches held aloft. "Micah, if they do indeed have night-horses, I think we should rest here," she said to him before Esme's sister - and with those cheeks, it was surely her - and her husband came within earshot. "It'll be the only chance we have before Elden."

Micah gave a single nod as the couple reached them. Emmy proved not as stout of heart as Esme - she took one look at the Guardian of the Abyss and fell into a dead faint. Scowling, Micah bent down, picked her up without effort and glared at her gaping husband. "Take us inside."

"Yes, my lord!" The man hurried ahead, his torch bobbing wildly above a head covered by a long white nightcap.

"Yes," he said when Liliana asked about the nighthorses while Micah placed the man's wife on a table, "we host a pair. My Emmy is a healer of beasts - they come to see her, stay awhile, help the travelers they like. Magical creatures, you know, can't force them to do anything."

The inside of the inn explained why they'd caught the couple so unprepared - the place was empty but for the four of them. "We used to be busy as bees, we did," the innkeeper muttered, his long face mournful. "Then him came and now everyone's too scared to pass this way. He's got monsters guarding the roads into Elden, hasn't he? And most folks, they passed this way toward the kingdom, didn't they? Such a wonderful place it was - sad what's become of it. Sad indeed."

He continued to mutter away under his breath, not realizing he'd driven a spike of ice into Liliana's mind. She hadn't known about the monsters, hadn't prepared for them. What were they going to do? The time -

Fingers closing around the back of her neck, a small squeeze. "We will consider it in a few hours, Lily."

"Lord." The innkeeper bobbed his head. "Here we are. One room for the lady and one room for yo - "

"One room." Micah's tone left no room for argument.

The innkeeper's eyes swung to her, but instead of the scandalized reproach she expected, she saw only pity. Her first response was to ignore it, so used was she to that look...but then she caught the fear behind the pity and realized the poor man thought Micah was going to eat her alive or something else horrendous - after all, he was the Guardian of the Abyss.

Rather than disabusing the trembling man of his erroneous notions, she did her best to look fearful when the innkeeper gave her the keys and showed them to the simple but large room. The Guardian's reputation did as much to protect the Abyss from encroachment as the dangers of the badlands.

Kicking off her shoes and tights the instant they were inside, she pulled off her tunic, pushed down the sheet and crawled in. A naked Micah followed at almost the same moment, hauling her against him and throwing a heavy thigh over her own. Safe, she fell into darkness.
Chapter 24
Micah woke to the realization that dawn remained at least an hour away. Heading out into the dark wasn't an option - light would be their friend when facing the monsters the Blood Sorcerer had created. Which meant he'd have to use that hour some other way.

Glancing down at the woman curled up against his side, he told himself she was tired, that he should let her rest. It would be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, the good part of him was totally overwhelmed by the part that wanted to roll her onto her back, part her thighs and slide into her deep and hard.

Extricating his arm from under Liliana's head, he nudged her gently onto her back. She mumbled something but didn't wake. The depth of her trust in him made a quiet, fierce happiness hum through his blood. That trust, the wicked part of him murmured, should make removing her underthings so much easier.

Peeling down the sheet until it lay at her feet, he smiled in satisfaction as her tight, bitable breasts were exposed to his gaze. Warm and relaxed in sleep, one arm thrown over her head, and with only a whisper