Page 27 of Leviathan's Song
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I know what a golem is,” he hedged, “but they don’t work here in the Void, and they can’t fly.” He gestured at the wasp in my hand with the end of his bat while eying it warily. His suspicion was kind of adorable. I bit my bottom lip.
“They’re not really flying. They’re levitating, which is pretty common among golem, really. We don’t actually make them support their own weight, so often their torsos and other body parts are floating instead of truly being attached.” I clicked my teeth shut because I was getting off in the weeds, answering questions he hadn’t asked.
He shifted his wary eyes to my face.
“Most constructs can’t function in the Void, that’s true. It just depends on the amount of magic and skill that a golemancer has,” I said, studying the shimmer of the heartstone mine carried. I lifted my eyes from the wasp in my hands to find him staring at me with something akin to fascination and could see the mental puzzle pieces finally snap into place.
“You made Void functioning golems!?”
“Ssssshh,” I chided him, glancing at his open doorway. “You’re going to wake your roommates.” And I didn’t really want knowledge of that skill set getting around.
“Jordan is avampire,and I’m not convinced Grim actually sleeps,” he hissed, but lowered his voice anyway. “Youmadethose?” He covered his mouth with his hand, but a spark danced in his eyes like he was trying not to laugh. I didn’t understand his reaction. His magic had shifted back to its natural lure, but this time it startled me with its intensity.
“Are you… upset?” I asked, eyeing the bat he’d seemed to have forgotten he was pointing at my little creation. Realizing he was still clutching it, he quickly dropped the bat and kicked it back under the bed, and then shook his head. He dragged his palm roughly down his mouth and chin, then glanced up at the ceiling and down at the floor, as if looking for answers.
“No, no. I’m just… kind of weirdly turned on right now, and I don’t even entirely understand it myself,” he said with laughter in his voice, before turning and closing himself in the bathroom.
I felt my eyebrows draw together in confusion as I looked down at the little magical device I held. Sometimes I wondered if I would ever understand people at all. I sighed to myself, set the constructs and popcorn on the nightstand, then pulled back the sheets and burrowed into Levi’s bedding. His bed smelled like his shirt, but with an added undertone of warm skin that seemed unique to him, and it made my heart stutter a little bit.
As I settled into his pillow, I fanned my damp hair out to dry and began to wonder if I’d made the right choice staying here tonight instead of chasing down Sidney. It was the kind of impulsive decision I would have shunned normally, but I blamed Levi’s constantly enchanted voice and charming kiss. I also admitted to myself that I felt safer here with Levi than I would alone in Sidney’s apartment.
I tried not to fret about how weird I felt being in someone else’s apartment, or how this was my first night away from my best friend in a week and I didn’t even know where she was.
Despite my best efforts, by the time Levi emerged from the bathroom, I’d talked myself around in circles multiple times. He emerged with his blond hair damp and tousled wildly, wearing loose shorts with his chest bare. He wasn’t overly cut or bulky, but his muscles looked strong and functional. The tattoo on his arm continued up to his shoulder and part of the way down his left pectoral, tentacles from the mighty kraken curling onto his chest.
When he turned to flip the light switch, I caught a glimpse of markings on his lower back, horizontal bars of a slightly darker color that faded to nothing across his sides. They reminded me of camouflage markings I’d seen on the fish that often hid among the reeds in streams back home.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked, stepping closer to the bed. His silhouette was dark against the lighted hallway. His hand twitched toward me, like he wanted to touch me, before he closed it and stuffed it in a pocket. I shook my head against the pillow before I realized he couldn’t see me in the dark, only he was already answering me before I could correct myself. “Okay, I’ll be on the couch if you need anything alright?”
This time he did touch me, reaching out and brushing his fingers through my damp hair to push a wayward strand off my face. Before he could turn to leave, I had a momentary flare of panic at the idea of sleeping in here by myself, and if I were honest with myself, him being down the hall just felt...wrong. I caught the tips of his fingers before he turned away.
“You don’t have to go.” If anyone should be sleeping on the couch it should be me, but I couldn’t bring myself to offer that with two other guys in the house who were barely acquaintances.
I heard him swallow, and he glanced toward the doorway again before turning back to face me. “Yeah, sure, if that’s what you want.” He seemed vaguely uneasy about it, but before I could tell him not to worry about it, he was already lifting the sheets and sliding into the double bed next to me, forcing me to skitter back closer to his wall.
While he got settled, I found an errant thread on his sheet to pick at. “I’m sorry. Should I not have said that? You don’t have to stay. I just feel a little strange about all this.” And even without touching him, I enjoyed the feel of his presence next to me.
Levi was on his side facing me, and he grabbed my busy hand and pulled it to his chest. “Shhh, you’re fine,” he murmured. His hand and the skin on his chest were startlingly chilly. I reached out with my other hand and felt his forehead and face, which felt cool but not cold, but when I moved my hand down to his neck and shoulder, his body was cold. I could feel his eyes on my face in the dark.
“Why are you so cold? Are you okay? Is something wrong?”
“Does it bother you?” His voice sounded sleepy, but his lure still beckoned.
“No?” I raised the end of the word like a question.
“Cold shower,” he mumbled into his pillow.
I gasped. “Did I use up all the hot water? I tried to be so fast!”
“You didn’t. Don’t worry so much. Hot water feels uncomfortable. I always prefer them cold.” His words were slurring together, but his enchantment stayed strong, beguiling and enticing. I couldn’t turn my mind off. This was one of our problems when Sidney stayed with me and didn’t shift into a bird. We stayed up way too late talking.
“Well, that’s got to be some kind of sacrilege,” I muttered. “What kind of weirdo doesn’t like hot showers?” I made a face in the dark.
He chuckled into his pillow, low and husky, and then wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. He tucked my head under his chin, completely uncaring about my damp hair, and I shivered slightly against his cool skin.
“This kind of weirdo doesn’t. Now go to sleep, little Empress.” We laid quietly for a beat before I heard him murmur, “The cold water feels like… home.” Then he was quiet again. His breathing became slow and even, and his arms loosened slightly around my shoulders.
Instead of pulling away like I thought I probably should have, I burrowed deeper under his covers and against his chest. I reveled in the feel of his heavy arm over me, his broad chest against my cheek. Could he feel me tucked against him in his sleep? Could he feel the care and affection I was beginning to feel for him, overtaking even the attraction I felt toward him?
