Auring's Wrath (Leviathan Book 1) by Justin DePaoli

Author:Justin DePaoli [DePaoli, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Steam billowed from the tub, snaking upward and dissipating.

It’d been a while since Oskar had bathed in hot water. Or warm. Or anything that wasn’t cold creek water.

He lay back, putting his feet up on the rim of the copper tub. His head listed to the side, and his eyes climbed up to Lyra lying peacefully in the four-poster bed. After her own bath, she’d told him that she would only rest her eyes. That had been two hours ago. Now her feet twitched occasionally, and she’d snored a time or two.

“Sir,” Neph said, eating a brick of cheese in the corner of the room, “it is not kind to ogle without permission.”

Oskar smiled. “I’m not ogling, Neph.”

“No?”

“I’m… well, I can’t really find the word for it.”

She looks so peaceful, he thought. Blood no longer stained her hair. Her clothes were freshly laundered, courtesy of Brannis’s servants, who had offered them a wardrobe of attire from which to choose. She had on burgundy linen pants and a simple white tunic, her leather belt with sheathed daggers tight around her waist.

“Perhaps the word you are looking for, sir, is ‘admiring’.”

“I shouldn’t,” Oskar said. “She’s everything I hate in a person, you know? Authoritative, argumentative, forceful. Hell, Neph—she’s the antithesis of who I’m supposed to want.”

Neph broke his cheese—another gift from Brannis—in two. “She is difficult, sir. A woman whose behaviors are impossible to reel in, and who you cannot mold. Perhaps that is why you have fallen so hard. You enjoy the chase.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Neph. I haven’t fallen. Haven’t even tripped.”

I do feel something when I look at her, though, and it’s a feeling amplified by a thousand when her skin touches mine… even a gentle reassurance of her hand on my shoulder makes my heart thump stupidly. What’s that about? Never felt something like it before, but I’ve got to admit that I don’t want it to go away.

Oskar blinked away from her, glancing around the room. “Gotta give it to Brannis, Neph—he knows how to make someone feel comfortable. We’ve been to taverns that aren’t the size of this room.”

“The space is overly large, I think. It makes me feel quite small.”

“You are quite small. Are you really going to eat all that cheese?”

Neph went in for another bite, but stopped. “I’m sure the kind servants will bring more if you ask.”

“You’re—” A knock at the door made Oskar nearly jump out of the tub. Lyra jerked but didn’t wake. “Er, yes?” he answered, holding his racing heart.

“Lord Arenton wishes to see you in the gardens, sir.”

“Tell him we’ll be there soon.”

“Of course, sir.”

Oskar leaned forward and looked at Neph with raised brows. The Barrowin was equally surprised; neither had expected Brannis to keep his word. It seemed risky for him to do so, if it was true that Sight attunements littered the city. Oskar and Lyra figured they’d have to find a way to get into the secretion tunnel on their own.

Oskar stood, letting himself drip mostly dry before toweling the rest of the way off.

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