with possessive heat and electricity crackles between us.
“Faith.”
I love the way he says my name. “Yes?”
“You are not going to dinner tonight.”
That…wasn’t what I expected to hear him say. “Huh?”
Aron’s gaze moves over me in a heated caress. “I don’t want them looking at you. Thinking about having you. I want you up here and safe and mine alone.”
For some reason, that makes me feel…good. I don’t want to go down, either. “But you’ll still come to bed with me?”
He nods.
“And you won’t let them put some lady-candy on your lap just because you’re the lord of storms?” And I reach up and twine my fingers in his long, silky hair, holding him against me like he holds me against him.
“They will not dare, precisely because I am the lord of storms.” But he’s smiling.
“Good.” He doesn’t release my hair, so I don’t release his. Aron’s mouth is so close, I could close the distance and kiss him…but I won’t. So I just ask, “How much longer are we staying?”
“A day, maybe two. Ravens have been sent out to retrieve information. We’ll wait for their return, and then leave.”
Makes sense. “Are we taking any of their troops with us?” I think of how eager Lord Novoro was to volunteer his people, and how insulted he was when Aron didn’t take him up on it.
Aron snorts. “Absolutely not. Bad enough that we have these other fools.”
“Be nice.” I grin. “I like those fools.”
“I don’t, because we’re not alone.”
How can I be mad about that?
54
We end up staying in Novoro for a few more days to rest up our woales and to rebuild our supplies. The Novorans are totally fine with this. They want to continually celebrate Aron’s presence in their midst, so another banquet is thrown.
This time, Aron won’t let me leave his rooms. He makes Yulenna stay with me, and the three soldiers keep guard at our door. I’m not sad about it, because the last party was not exactly what I’d expected. In fact, I’m exceedingly nervous as Aron goes down to the party alone because I imagine all kinds of women throwing themselves at his godlike feet, but when he comes back up several hours later, he’s irritated and bored because all the Novorans want to do to “honor” him is have sex with each other and feast.
I’m a terrible person, because I’m secretly pleased at how disgusted he is at their idea of a good time. It just means he won’t be tempted. Not that we’re together…but in my mind, he belongs to me and the thought of him touching another woman makes me want to scratch her eyes out.
And then scratch his eyes out too, just for good measure.
After that evening, though, the Novorans wise up to the fact that Aron isn’t on board with their way of partying, and the celebrations change into a several-days-long fighting tournament. Again, not something I can really participate in, and Aron gets weird whenever someone looks at me, so I stay inside. I can see the fighting in the courtyard below and Aron is in the mix with the Novorans, clearly enjoying himself.
He always wins, too. I’m pretty sure they let him win—who wants to be the one to beat a god?—but he enjoys himself nevertheless and so we stay at Novoro for longer.
This means Yulenna and I spend a lot of time together. We work on sewing, since it’s what Yulenna does in her spare time. She sews embroidery onto the delicate edges of her gowns, and I sew pockets into my traveling tunics, because pockets are awesome. As we sew, we talk, and I learn that I like Yulenna quite a bit. She’s smarter than she lets on and knows a lot about this world that I don’t, so I try to pry information out of her without giving away how little I actually know. I think she suspects that I’m not from anywhere around here, but she’s smart enough to not ask.
Since we’re spending so much time in our room together, Markos, Solat, Kerren and Vitar spend a lot of time with us, too. They watch us in shifts, one man at Aron’s side at all times, two at our door, and one resting, so someone is always on guard.
I get to know them pretty well, too, and after a while it’s like spending time with old friends. Solat ends up being the life of the party, sitting with us, flirting with Yulenna and then telling