You couldn’t help comparing the two of them. Nolan stood around six two, but Amber topped him by at least a good four inches. Nolan was big, but Amber was even bigger.
As if a silent signal had been given, the others rushed down to me, and I was wrapped in teary embraces. I returned hugs, spoke reassuringly to Rosemary, Tersa, Jamie, and Thaddeus. Even apologized to Tomas for hanging up on him the way I had.
Daylight streamed softly over us, and while I enjoyed the feel of the sun’s warmth upon my skin, I knew that it had to be uncomfortable for the rest of them.
“Grab what you need,” I instructed Nolan and his family. “You’ll sleep here tonight until we can settle you into a place of your own.”
Hannah grabbed a satchel smelling of medicinal herbs, and a second light tote. Nolan and the boys each took two bags from the car. The heavier, longer one contained their weapons. The second, smaller bag was filled, no doubt, with lesser necessities like clothing. I mentally rolled my eyes and shooed everyone into the house.
If a house could give a sigh, Belle Vista did as we walked through her grand doors—of happiness, of contentment, of joy. I was back where I belonged with my people. And like a good Queen, I had brought back even more people to fill her hallways with.
EIGHT
I SLEPT IN Amber’s arms that day. No scolding, no questions. Just sweet, blessed sleep. As soon as he wrapped me in the comfort of his big embrace, with his slow-beating heart thudding gently beneath my ear blocking out all other sounds in the house, I drifted off to sleep.
My eyes fluttered open as dusk began to fall. Wide awake and refreshed, I left Amber still sleeping, drifted silently down the stairs, and slipped out the front door. A few last, lingering rays of sunlight still defiantly painted the remnants of the day, as if to say, Do not hasten me on my way. I walked across green grass so lush that it cushioned each footfall, drinking in the magnificent hues of sunset, the vibrant splashes of color thrown upon the rich canvas of the sky.
It wasn’t until he spoke that I became aware that another watched the ebbing day as I did. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” His voice came from the trees lining the eastern edge of the lawn.
“Dontaine,” I said with surprise and pleasure, and walked across the carpet of grass to where my master of arms sat against a tree, half-hidden in its shadows. Sunset’s last faint light fell across the leaves to dapple his skin with purple-pink hues.
“You can walk in daylight?” I asked.
“Like any other Monère,” Dontaine replied in a voice carefully devoid of emotion, his eyes lifted to the setting sun. “Not like you, without any pain, any burning. It stings my skin still.”
I sat on the ground beside him and said softly, “I’m sorry.”
“For what? That I did not receive your gift, your immunity from the sunlight through our mating? Or for walking so carelessly out of the house like this, without any guards? Without anyone aware of where you go. Or are you apologizing for doing that very same thing yesterday, twenty-four hours ago, allowing yourself to be snatched from us, leaving the entire household in a state of frenzied panic?”
His voice was deceptively calm. But his eyes…his eyes, when he turned them to me, were far from calm. He was furious in a way that was even more frightening than if he had screamed and yelled. Contained fury.
I flushed with shame, with guilt, with knowing that I was wrong. “Dontaine, I’m very sorry for that.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it, as you humans say!” He lashed out at me with the biting edge of his emotions unleashed, and I flinched, wisely shut up as he pressed his lips tightly together, holding back the hot torrent of words just waiting to spill out. Somehow he managed to swallow them down. His next words came out in a hoarse, strained whisper. “I promised him that I would guard you with my life.”
“Who?”
“Halcyon, your Demon Prince. Remember?”
His caustic tone made me wince. “Dontaine, please. Stop.”
“I can’t! It eats at me so. He entrusted you to me, to watch over you when he could not. And hours later, not even a day later, you are gone. Stolen from us while we slept.” He looked at me with tormented eyes, a painful mix of guilt and anguish filling them. “And I was not here. I do not live in this house. How can I watch over you if I do not even live here?”
“Dontaine…” My voice trailed away. What could I say after all?
“I am your master of arms by your decree. And your lover by the generosity of your heart. Let me stay here with you, Mona Lisa.”
The open vulnerability in that proud face hurt me more than any scalding anger ever could. I gave beneath the gentle force of it with a yielding sigh. “All right. Yes. You can stay here at the house.”
“In Gryphon’s room, next to yours,” he said. “I’ve spoken to Amber and have his agreement. He wishes it, too.”
Ah, so that was why Amber had held back on the tongue lashing. He knew Dontaine would deliver it to me with far more effective results. And that, loaded down with guilt, it would be hard for me to deny Dontaine this request.
My men were learning how to handle me.
But at the thought of someone moving into Gryphon’s quarters, my heart twinged painfully. He’s dead but not really gone, I told myself. Just moved to another realm. And it would hurt my new lover more were I not to let him use that empty room.
I nodded my consent.
“Thank you,” Dontaine said in a soft rush of relief, and brushed trembling lips across mine. I felt his weariness then, beating down upon him as we touched, as that electric spark of sensation jumped between us almost sluggishly.
“Did you sleep?” I asked, pulling back.
He shook his head and smiled sadly. “How could I when no one else was watching? When someone could lure you out? Or you could simply wake early, before others, and wander out as you just did.”
“I’m used to taking care of myself, Dontaine.”
“You did not even scan your surroundings. You were not aware I was outside with you until I spoke.”
I flushed. “Very careless of me, I know. I just feel…safe here.”
“And we can make it so, if you will allow us. With but a few simple measures.”
I’d refused it before when he had suggested it. “There’s no need, with three warriors living in the house. Four now with you.”
“There is every need when they are all sleeping and you are not.” Some of the bite leaked back into his voice. “Please, do not hinder me in my duty. A simple rotating watch, that is all I ask.”
“Not much, just moving into the house and setting up a watch guard,” I grumbled, but pecked a light, affectionate kiss on his lips. “Very well. Anything else you might want to ask for while I am in the mood to give in to any and all requests?”
“Not at the moment. But I’m sure I shall think of something later when I am less fatigued.”
“Silly me, then, for wanting you to get some rest. Come on.” I pulled my weary master of arms to his feet. “You need to sleep.”
“Lie with me?”
“Hah. See? You’ve already thought of something more to ask for,” I teased gently as we walked back to the house.
“Just rest beside me for a while. Until the others awake,” he asked softly as we made our way to the guest room on the lower floor.
“Sure.”
Of all the things he had asked for, that was the easiest to grant.
I LAY QUIETLY in Dontaine’s arms as he drifted off to sleep, finding a different sort of comfort with him. The comfort of bringing my warrior rest, easing his soul temporarily from the burden of my care entrusted to him by Halcyon and by his own heavy mantle of responsibility as my master of arms. He’d tiptoed around me. They all had these past few weeks after I’d returned to them once the storm of my grief over Gryphon’s death had broken and passed. But I was stronger now, less fragile, and they were treating me as such, making demands once more.