Brave the Tempest (Cassandra Palmer #9) - Karen Chance Page 0,205

scream I’d promised myself.

It was lost in the storm outside, in the swirl of power around the bed, in the glow of satisfaction that suffused me along with his essence, because I’d earned this. All those terrifying days and sleepless nights, all the times I’d been so exhausted I couldn’t see straight, and muddy and bloody and scared almost literally to death, had been worth it. Because I’d won.

He spilled into my mouth, finally erasing the horrid taste of that potion, and I swallowed him down, staring into his eyes as I did so, and then licking up every drop.

I earned this, I thought again; I’d earned him, and however many obstacles stood in our way, I wasn’t giving him up. I’d find a way, just as I’d found all the others. I would, because—

There was a knock at the door.

I looked at Pritkin, who was lying there, dazed and drunk on the power we’d made together, even with just regular old sex. Which never seemed so regular with him. “You gonna get that?” I asked.

He looked blankly at me.

Guess not.

My body humming happily, I got up, grabbed a robe that somebody had thoughtfully left draped over a chair, and opened the door.

And heard a gasp from the young acolyte standing behind two hulking war mages. I glanced behind me. Damn; I’d forgotten about the coverlet, leaving Pritkin drugged out and sprawled on the bed in what was obviously a sexually satisfied stupor.

The war mages, who had looked menacing and dangerous a second ago, sized up the situation pretty fast. The younger of them blushed. The older raised an eyebrow at me.

“I suppose there’s no emergency?”

“Not so much.”

He nodded and tugged on his buddy’s sleeve. “We have other things to do.”

The two men moved off, leaving the girl—a blonde who was drinking in the sight of my boyfriend before I blocked the view—behind. “Is—is there anything you need?” she asked, like she hadn’t just pimped on us to the war mages.

“Yes. Mage Pri—the mage will need some clothes and toiletries. We both will. You can send them up to this room—tomorrow.”

She nodded, tried to see past the hanging, voluminous sleeve of my robe again, failed, and curtsied. I closed the door on her before she finished and rejoined Pritkin on the bed, who had managed to throw the coverlet over his lap, at least. I pulled it up and climbed underneath, after shedding the robe I didn’t need, because the room was now borderline hot. Or maybe that was me.

I snuggled close, and a strong arm went around me. We had a thousand things to talk about, to work out and to work through, but we didn’t say another word. Sleep was pulling at me hard, and there’d be time for that tomorrow. There’d be time for everything.

I’d make sure of it.

Chapter Forty-seven

A bolt of spell fire tore through the big room, and almost tore through me. But I shifted at the last second, leaving it to detonate against the wall, and reappeared behind my assailant. I spun, grabbed her long dark hair as a handle, and pulled out a knife.

Only to see Lizzie’s face suddenly in place of hers, causing me to let go and stagger back.

“Concentrate,” Gertie’s voice boomed. “This is no time to lose focus.”

I’m not losing focus, I thought savagely, and shifted, as half a dozen more dangers converged on me.

“Human weapons have their uses,” Gertie’s voice was saying, as I reappeared, panting, behind a column. “As do magical ones. Specifically, they are good for saving your strength, since they cost very little power to deploy.”

Another brunette threw a magical snare at me, but I shifted it out of the air and behind her, and the lariat-looking device grabbed hold of her torso and wrapped her up like a mummy. She could have shifted out of the trap, but it took her by surprise. Leaving me plenty of time to stab my dagger into her chest, only I didn’t.

I told myself that it was because two more adepts had just targeted me, but their spells flew through the air where I’d just been, not on the ground where I’d just hit. I’d slammed myself down beside the bound girl, who, like me, looked completely freaked out by all this. Her eyes were huge as she stared at the dagger in my hand, which was shaking along with it. I said a bad word and threw the damned thing away, then shifted the mummy girl into