Page 67 of Shardless
When she was out of sight, he slumped down in his chair and reached for his ale. A deep frown creased his brow when he saw the imprint of a feminine set of lips on the rim. He set the glass down, choosing instead to reach for Taly’s abandoned mug beside him. He downed the contents in one gulp.
He needed to go find Taly. She was going to be irate—more than irate—but maybe he deserved that. He didn’t know why he felt that way. After all, he certainly hadn’t known that Adalet would reveal herself to be so vile, but that did little to alleviate the gnawing sense of guilt that was quickly taking root deep inside him.
“Might as well get this over with,” he muttered to no one in particular. Then, with a heavy sigh, he gathered up his things and set offin search of Taly.
Skye didn’t know how long he’d been standing outside the door at the end of the hall. He’d had to bribe the innkeeper to tell him which room Taly had taken—one of the cheaper units with one bed instead of two. It had taken even more coin to convince the bartender to sell him an unopened bottle of Arendryl brandy—Taly’s drink of choice.
Even through the door, he could still hear the staccato rhythm of her elevated pulse, accompanied by the dry scrape of quill against paper. Not for the first time, he wondered if he should go get his own room and wait until morning for her anger to cool. Years of experience had taught him that it would be far easier to convince her to forgive him after she’d slept it off.
But… that just wasn’t what he wanted to do. If he could turn back the clock, he would go upstairs with Taly. Shards, why hadn’t he just gone upstairs with Taly? True, he’d spent almost every night this past week with her, but he’d still been looking forward to spending another evening sitting around and doing next to nothing with her beside him.
“It’s just Taly,” he mumbled to himself. “She’ll forgive you. You’ve been a way bigger ass than this before, and she forgave you then.”
That made him feel marginally better.
Steeling himself, he raised his hand and knocked. All movement inside the room ceased, and for a brief moment, he thought she was going to ignore him. He released a harsh breath when he heard the creak of mattress springs followed by the soft padding of bare feet on planked wood.
The door opened and Taly stared at him owlishly. Her hair was wet, and she wore a loosely tied robe that poorly concealed the thin, slightly damp lace nightdress she wore underneath. She crossed her arms as she leaned against the doorframe. “I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again tonight. Do you need to borrow a pen or something?”
“What?” Skye’s brain had momentarily abandoned him when the fabric of her gown shifted, granting him a teasing glimpse of what lay beneath the nearly sheer fabric. It was always so easy to forget how feminine she could be when the mood suddenly struck her—especially when she spent all day tromping around in boyish clothes, waxing poetic about the merits of pistols over every other ranged weapon.
“You know,” she said, a smile hovering at the corners of her mouth, “for all the paperwork. That’s what you highborn do before you get down to business, right? C’mon,Skylen. You should never skip foreplay. Everyone knows that.”
“You’re such a brat,” Skye muttered, moving to walk past her. He stopped when she held out an arm, blocking his entry.
“I didn’t say you could come in. Go get your own room. Or better yet, go back to Jezebel.”
“You and your mortal fables,” Skye grumbled, refusing to break eye contact despite the heat of her glare. Since she didn’t have shoeson, he towered over her. “That’s not her name.”
“It is in my head,” Taly retorted blithely.
“Well, if that’s what you really want” —Skye shrugged as he pulled out the bottle of brandy from his pack— “I’m sure whatever-her-name-is will appreciate this rare bottle of Arendryl liquor I lifted from behind the bar. You know as well as I do how hard this stuff is to find right now.”
Taly’s eyes flicked to the bottle. Reaching out, she gave him a solid punch on the arm before moving aside. “Your offering pleases me.”
Skye followed her inside, closing the door behind him with a soft click. The room was small and unpretentious. There was a bed shoved into the corner and a washroom off to the side, but otherwise, there were very few furnishings.
“You’re not staying here,” Taly said as she started gathering the papers spread across the bed and stuffing them back into her journal. “Unless you plan to sleep on the floor.”
“I know, I know,” Skye conceded, dropping his pack. He took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders as he felt some of the tension release. “I’ll go down and rent another room later. It’s not like they were running short. In the meantime, care to tell me what I’ve done so I can apologize?”
“Fuck off.”
“Actually,” Skye said with a huffed laugh, “that’s exactly what I’mnotdoing right now, so—” He turned just in time to catch the pillow that had been hurled directly at his head. “Wow. You’re in a mood.”
“Sorry, Skye. I guess I’m having one of my… how did you put it? Moments?” When she turned around, angrily shoving her journal back into her pack, Skye finally noticed that her eyes were much redder than they should be.
“Shards, Tink.” He crossed the room in a few short strides, grabbing her by the shoulders and twisting her around to face him. “You know I have to act like that in front of other nobles.”
“That’s bullshit,” she spat, giving him a hard shove. “I’ve seen you in front of the nobles Ivain and Sarina hosted, but I’ve never seen you act like that. I didn’t like the person I saw down there.”
“You’re right,” he easily conceded. “I took it too far, and I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” That seemed to deflate some of her anger, and Skye took a tentative step forward. Although she didn’t return his embrace, she didn’t fight him when he wrapped his arms around her.
“That woman is horrible, you know,” she said, leaning her head against the hard leather of his breastplate. “You should hear the things people say about her.”
“I’m starting to get an idea,” Skye quietly muttered in reply. “Tell me how to make this better, Tink. You know how much I hate it when you cry.”
Taly stepped away, discreetly wiping at her cheeks. “I’m not crying, jerk. Your armor is dusty, and you have horse hair all over you. You’re a walking sneeze.”
