who loves me. I didn’t—couldn’t, shouldn’t—speak those words, but he lifted his face again to meet my gaze. “Because I trust you.”
He grinned, his dimple flashing into existence, as it did only when he was relaxed and happy. “You are so fucking beautiful, Lia. I’m going to eat you alive.”
Surging to his feet, he lifted me in his arms and carried me to the bed.
With everything in me, I surrendered to him, letting the wolf finally and fully devour me.
10
While Lia met with Dearsley in the map tower, so she could see the damage, she said—Sondra and Ibolya acting as her escort—Vesno and I went to find Kara. He was down at the shipyard, still working on the repairs to the Last Resort. Boats of all kinds crowded the working harbor, unfortunately making the place look like a ship’s graveyard, given the sorry condition of most of them.
The dreadful fallout of the Battle at Cradysica continued to rain down, along with the more recent ravages to other parts of the island, and ever more broken boats had been towed to the busy shipyard near the palace. While we’d been off at Yekpehr on the rescue mission, the ship builders had triaged the wreckage. The most salvageable ships had been dry-docked and swarmed with workers—many of them my own people assisting the Calantheans—while other vessels had been drawn up on the long beach or floated nearby. I spotted only one of the three battleships we’d taken to Cradysica—not surprising, as the other two had seemed irredeemably sunk—and that one looked pretty beat up.
Another tier of boats that could still float were anchored a short distance out. Most of those had little left of the upper decks, and it looked like staying above the waterline was about all they could do.
Beyond that, on a long spit of flat rocks, hundreds of other boats of all sizes had been piled up, clearly junked and intended for salvage. The immensity of that pile loomed as large as my guilt.
You wrought this, they seemed to scream. All for your ego.
“Conrí!”
I started at the shout, for a moment hearing it as yet another accusation, then shook myself out of the daze, Vesno nudging his head under my hand. I was still running on far too little sleep, and while the mind-blowing sexual adventure with Lia the night before had been absolutely worth it, we hadn’t gone to sleep until very late. Or very early, more like. But we’d both slept hard and peacefully.
A blessing from Ejarat right there. I’d never imagined sex like that could be so cathartic. It had been for her, too. At least I’d done that right, given Lia what she needed. I’d never felt so powerful as when I’d had her trembling at my mercy. The way she’d looked at me when I finally carried her to our bed in the palace in the wee hours … She might not love me—Sawehl knew I’d given her no reason to—but she did trust me, and had some kind of affection for me. That could be enough. I hardly deserved more.
“Conrí.” Kara’s hand clapped my shoulder. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?” He narrowed his dark eyes. “You’re not drunk, are you?”
Drunk on fantastic sex, maybe. I shook him off. “Still catching up on sleep. How are repairs on the Last Resort?”
As we walked the short distance to the dry-docked yacht, a worker popped up from the deck and, seeing me, strode down the gangplank. Vesno dashed up to greet him like a friend. Realizing it must be Percy, I eyed him with some bemusement. He wore rough coveralls and thick-soled boots, and had his hair tied back in a functional club. With none of his usual finery, he looked efficient and almost plain—and when he stripped off his leather gloves, no jeweled nails graced his blunt fingers.
He raised a brow at my perusal. “Did you think I’d waste good clothes on the shipyard, or risk breaking a nail?”
I grinned at him. “I guess I did.”
He sniffed in disdain. “You’re such a brute, Conrí. Did you enjoy your adventure in the Night Court?”
Taken aback, I hesitated too long and Percy pounced.
“Oh,” he crooned. “You did. You’re blushing.”
No way was I blushing. Sawehl take me for an idiot.
“You went into the Night Court?” Kara asked. “The actual Night Court, itself—past the maze?”
“Yeah, what of it?” I made sure to sound absent about it, studying the Last Resort as Vesno charged ahead up the gangplank.
“Nothing, Conrí.