and nearly killed in her own rooms. To prevent that happening again, they put in a door to ensure that when she was in her rooms and private, she was as safe as she should be.” Colm led her past the solid door. They shouldn’t need it now. The threat was from outside their Thent. Of course, he wouldn’t mind being locked into this part of the fortress with her.
“You know a lot about this place. Were you born here or were you chosen to rule here?” She licked her lips and turned her head to look at him.
It was the first personal question she’d asked of him and it did surprise him. He could tell that she hadn’t meant to ask that. “No, I heard that story from Linc. He was born here and we took over when the old Ardin died. They’d never found their mate and had no children from their marriage to one of the widowed Santir female.”
“Where’s your room?” The words were slower and more controlled now. He could tell she was choosing every word.
“Down here.” He led her past several doors and around the corner.
About halfway up the hall, he stopped and pushed a door on the right side open. He saw her glance in and wondered what she thought of the room. It never mattered before, but now he decided there needed to be a little more color in the room. As she slowly relaxed around them, she reminded him of a flower opening up to catch the light. She needed somewhere pretty and everything was brown or black in there.
“Will my room have a bath or is there one along the hall somewhere?” She looked pointedly down the hall at the other closed doors.
“There are two along the hallway, one back near the metal door and the other here.” He opened a door near the middle of the hall. “If you want, you can use the bath in our room. It’s much bigger than the one here.”
“This will work. The bath in my home was smaller than this.” She looked into the room and a smile curved her lips.
“I expected to find you two wandering around on the lower levels showing her all of the rooms.” Linc strode up the hallway.
“I thought that could wait. She’ll be here long enough to explore.” Colm shrugged. “I also thought that it would be better to show her around outside together. Inside, it could get a little tight and I didn’t want to put too much stress on her.”
Linc looked at her and nodded. “You might have a point. Cera and Darla are coming up the stairs now to get the room ready. Do you have a preference of which room they ready?”
She moved away and looked into a couple of rooms. “They seem to be much the same, so it doesn’t matter. Are we going to take that tour of the outside now?”
“As soon as the women get here, we’ll go. I don’t want them putting you in one of the rooms around the corner.” Colm gave her a direct look. He knew she wouldn’t mind the extra distance, but it would make him tense. Especially when he knew that she might be in pain one night and need help.
“You like to know everything that’s going on in this place? And I’d bet you know who’s doing what most of the time, don’t you?” She tilted her head and her eyes narrowed a little as she looked up at him.
Linc laughed. “You pegged him. He likes to know everything that’s happening and surprises can make him tense.”
Colm scowled at his bond brother. He didn’t have to agree so readily, but Colm admitted that he did tend to know what was happening around the Thent. Cera and Darla came around the corner at that moment.
“Ardin, we’re here to prepare a room for the woman, but we didn’t know where you wanted her. We thought maybe the first room on the center hall would be good for her.” Cera smiled as she walked up the hall. Her eyes slid quickly over Cami and then lingered on Linc’s thighs.
“No, she’ll stay in our section. Pick one of the rooms at this end of the hall and ready it for her.” Colm met the woman’s stare. Linc had been right. Looking for a woman in their Thent had been a mistake. He could see the possessiveness in Cera’s eyes.
“This is Cami. She’s going to be staying here.” Linc