Page 89 of Wolfkissed
Unable to help myself, I guffaw. “Yes. That. Above our means. Are you sure we can afford to stay here?”
“Contacts, princess. Didn’t I say so?” He wags his brows. “Look what my contacts got me. The very best for you and me.”
Now we’re both laughing, and the sound of his mirth is like sweet and spicy wine, warm and intoxicating, making me drunk.
“This…” I gesture again at the decrepit inn. “This palace.”
“An architectural gem.” He wipes at his eyes. “The crowning jewel of this town.”
“Well, the town isn’t…” I have to stop and breathe. “Isn’t all that magnificent.”
“Careful now,” he retorts. “The level of culture in this town is hard to credit. Such wonderful people, like that ax-bearing man?—”
“That idiot?”
“—who was so eager to behead me for touching your sacrosanct body.” His laughter fades. “I appreciate that, though. That he would look out for you.”
“I don’t want his concern,” I mutter, my mirth fading, too. “He wanted to hurt you.”
“And since when do you care, Princess?”
“I…” I sigh and lift my hand to my locket. His gaze follows the movement, hardening. “I don’t know.”
“Is that your official answer?”
“Yes.” I frown at him. There’s that hot rage in his eyes again, making them glow like fires. “The question is, since when do you care about my answers?”
“I always have, from the very beginning,” he says, “didn’t you realize? I started caring from the very beginning.”
And grabbing my hand, he starts toward the inn, not waiting for me to say anything else at all.
The inn isn’t that terrible from the inside. The walled yard where the horses and carts are being taken care of isn’t all that filthy, and once we are inside the inn’s main hall with its roaring fire and the tables crowded with people, it feels almost cozy.
As we stand there, a curvy woman walks over to us, wiping her hand on a filthy apron. “What can I get you? Here to eat or sleep, or both?”
“Both,” I say.
“And a bath whenever possible,” Valen adds.
The woman’s gaze dips to our linked hands, and I remember Valen warning me not to hold his hand in public, but then the woman suddenly grins and claps. “My Lord Valerian. I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Mariella.” He smiles. “I’d appreciate it if you kept your voice down.”
“Oh. Are you in trouble? Or… I know, you’re having a secret tryst with this lady.”
“Oh, no.” I wince, try to pull my hand free, and Valen doesn’t let go. “He’s only my bodyguard.”
Mariella throws her head back and laughs. “Bodyguard? Hilarious.”
“Why?” Offended, I glower at her.
“He’s Lord Valerian Canagan. Of the Blue Star House. Alpha wolf and son of the late Blue Star priestess, Imethia Canagan. Ares’ disciple. The Lost Son with the white streak in his hair.”
“Returned? Wait, so… you’re a priest?” I gape at him.
But he shakes his head and chuckles. “Gods forbid. I’m the opposite of what a priest would be like.”
“He’s also the son of High Lord Eonnan, who defied his father to marry the Blue Star Priestess, once thought to be the prophesied Maiden, though she wasn’t. Quite the scandal, that was. And the temple was at a loss. Didn’t know what to do with them. They had to keep her, of course.”
