Ghleanna finished sharpening the blades of her axes, her sword, and her knives. By the time she slid the last blade into her boot, the door to the bedroom her brothers slept in opened — followed by a nightmarish amount of snoring — and closed.
Yawning and rubbing his face with his hands, Addolgar dropped onto the stair right beneath Ghleanna. Unlike Bram, he’d never be able to sit next to her without his shoulders forcing her into the wall.
“Anything?” he asked around a yawn.
“Nope. Quiet.”
“Get some sleep. We have a few hours before the suns rise. I can take it from here.”
“You sure?”
“Aye. Go, sister. Because nothing is worse in the morning than you without enough sleep. Cranky cow that you are.”
“Thank you so much for that. The love of my kin simply overwhelms me.”
Addolgar motioned her away with a flick of his hand and Ghleanna walked up to the room she’d put the royal in.
“Oy,” her brother whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping with the royal. It’s just for a few hours.”
Her brother grinned. “Saucy wench.”
“I just mean I’m staying in the same room, you dirty bastard.” She pointed at the room her younger brothers slept in. “You can’t expect me to put up with that for the next few hours?”
“No, no. I really can’t.”
Ghleanna stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The royal slept fully clothed on his stomach, his long silver hair reaching down his back, his head resting on his crossed arms. And, except for his breathing, he was silent.
No. She’d not be sleeping in her brothers’ room this night. Not when she could sleep in wonderful silence without having to make herself deaf first with one of her blades.
Ghleanna carefully placed her two axes and her sword on the wood chest at the foot of the bed — she still had blades strategically placed in her boots and inside her chainmail shirt and leggings should something need to be killed during the night — and eased onto the mattress beside Bram. He didn’t even move or wake up and she realized how exhausted he must be.
Once she was stretched out on her back, one arm behind her head, the other at her side, Ghleanna let out a luxurious sigh. Now she’d be able to sleep like a baby.
That is until Bram wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her in tight against his body. Ghleanna froze. Was he awake? She didn’t think so.
She tried to remove his hand from her waist, but he only gripped her tighter. Then he moved closer, pushing into her side, resting his head on her shoulder, his face turned toward hers. His eyes were still closed and his breathing normal. He was asleep but. . still. He was awfully affectionate while he slept.
“Bram?” she whispered, loath to wake him up, but. .
He moved around a bit, sighed out, “More oil. Bring me more oil so we can see all those delicious scars.”
Good gods, what was he going on about? Or maybe she didn’t want to know.
Deciding there were worse ways she could be spending the night — like in a room with her brothers — Ghleanna stopped worrying and went to sleep.
It was the first good sleep she’d had without the help of ale in six bloody months.
Chapter 6
“Shut up, Addolgar,” another, sweeter voice said from beside him.
“Don’t have all day, sister. We need to get on the road. Many miles to go.”
“I am quite aware. Now
“Suit yourself.”
The door slammed shut and the body that sweet voice belonged to burrowed in deeper beside Bram.
“Uh. . Ghleanna?”
“Just another five minutes,” she softly begged. “Just another five.”
But in less than five minutes — more like ten seconds — Ghleanna jerked away from him, wide dark eyes gawking.
“What are you—” she began.
But Bram quickly cut in, “I was here first.”
“You. . oh. You were.” She closed her eyes, shook her head. “You got a bit clingy when I stretched out last night.”
“Did I?” Bram sat up, ran his hand through his hair. “Sorry about that.”
“No need to apologize. And you weren’t. . I mean, your hands didn’t go. . I mean. .” She let out another breath. “You were quite proper is what I mean to say.”
“Good. Good.” He threw his legs over the side of the bed. “Then we can forget it ever happened.”
“Right. Good idea. It never happened. We were both just. . tired.”
“And all that snoring.”
“Right! The snoring. How could anyone expect us to sleep with that lot snoring away? We
“Although,” Bram admitted after a moment, “it was quite lovely, wasn’t it?”
“Aye,” she replied, her voice soft. “It was.”
“Thank you for that.”
“And thank you. That’s the best I’ve slept in—”
The door swung open again, cutting off Ghleanna’s words. “Oy!” Cai yelled into the hallway. “Addolgar did see ’em in bed together! Who knew the little bastard had it in him?”
Hew stuck his head in. “They still have their clothes on. What’s the point of being human if you’re going to do it with your clothes on? Playing with the flesh is the best part.”
“Maybe they got dressed quick.”
“Nah. I bet they just slept.” Hew shook his head. “Boring.”
“Not everyone’s like you, Hew. Running around, fucking anything that moves.”
“Let’s go!” Adain yelled from out in the hallway. “I want to eat!”
The door slammed shut and Bram closed his eyes, trying to remember that this would all be over soon enough.
“That was a bit awkward,” Ghleanna sighed.
“Of course it wasn’t. We’re dragons. We don’t have all those weak sensibilities like humans.” He waved toward the door. “That was nothing.”
“Come on, you two whores!” Addolgar bellowed from the hallway, most likely waking up the entire building, and if not, the brothers’ laughter probably did the trick. “It’s time to eat! Let’s move, move, move!”
“Okay,” Bram told her. “Now
After a quick morning meal in the pub, they’d gotten on the road as the two suns rose, heading toward the ocean and the port where they’d meet the boat that would take them into the Desert Lands. As they walked, Ghleanna kept thinking about what had happened that morning. Waking up in Bram’s arms — even fully clothed —
