The Warlord by Gena Showalter (free ebook reader for pc .txt) 📕

and driving him mad. “The boner between your legs says yes.”

“I don’t want you eyeing my people with a mental fork and knife today.” Truth, in part.

She held her breath. “I get to see your people?”

“You do. There’s something I must do on the wall.” Last night, Roux returned from the Hall of Secrets. He’d been an incoherent mess, and Roc made the call to keep Ian in the dungeon, putting Roux outside with Halo.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Taliyah bounded up and tugged on his arm, dragging him to his feet. Pale hair tangled around an exquisite face lit with excitement. “Come on! We have a defense to mount? Soldiers to rally? Whatever! This is the most eventful day we’ve had.”

This shouldn’t surprise him. She enjoyed the intricacies of war, another fascinating facet of her personality he lo—liked.

He swiped up a dagger and marched into the shower stall to properly start his day.

When he finished, Taliyah took his place and he removed the metal. Just as before, she fought him when he appeared with her metal.

“I’m not going to run from you,” she snapped.

“I know. Because I won’t let you.” He dropped everything but the cuffs. They’d start with those. “Come here.”

“No.” She prepared for battle.

He almost couldn’t bring himself to mount an attack. The more he performed this act, prohibiting her freedoms, the faster the glow in her eyes dimmed. The more her shoulders slumped in disappointment when they interacted.

How could he hurt one like her? The woman who refused to surrender, no matter the odds stacked against her. Taliyah did nothing halfway and played games with him when drunk. As a phantom, she was the essence of death...yet she lived her life in ways he never dreamed possible. His snarpy had a thousand different moods he could never predict. She was a temptress. A warrior. A brat. An ice queen. A student. An assassin. The General. A goddess who twisted him into more and more knots. He liked each facet of her personality in different ways. Enjoyed each. She excited and tormented him. She taunted, defied, amused and confused him.

She reminded him that life beckoned outside of war.

The newest clash raged, all business, unlike yesterday’s skirmish with wandering hands. As he snapped the last piece of metal in place, he left smears of stardust on her skin.

He liked seeing it there. He wanted to spread more.

He hated himself. Because he knew. In that moment, he knew. The stardust was genuine. He produced it for Taliyah because she was his gravita. The very reason Erebus had targeted her.

Roc’s guilt surged with new life. My fault. Maybe she’d told the truth, and she didn’t work with or for the male. Unlike Erebus, a known liar, Taliyah delivered hard truths with a sharp edge. But what did her innocence change?

“I must speak with one of my men inside the tower,” he explained. “You’ll be surrounded by trinite.”

She glared at him. “I’ve been surrounded by trinite before, and I did just fine. Remember happy-shower time?”

He missed her good mood as much as a limb. “You were surrounded by poles, not walls.”

“And I’ll still be just fine.” She stood in front of him, winded but defiant. “Let’s go to work.”

The pink tank with matching shorts he’d selected today turned his warrior harpy into a young twentysomething ready for a day of fun in the sun. Golden light had left its mark, leaving her with a rosy glow and more of those adorable freckles.

The crack in his chest widened, a painful and unwelcome sensation as he drew Taliyah against him. He flashed her to the guard tower on the north side of the wall.

“Okay. Yeah,” she said, swaying. “I get it now. There’s a weird crackle of energy in the air. But guess what? I’m fine, as predicted.”

Despite the reappearance of the sun, yesterday’s storm had ushered in a cold front. Without thought, Roc spun his snarpy around, so that she faced his men, and wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the wind that poured in through the open windows. Her backside cradled the erection currently being strangled behind his zipper. Desire remained a fire in his blood.

“Commander?”

He slid his gaze to Roux and Halo, who stood at the window, once deep in conversation, now silent, watching him with astonishment.

He lifted his chin, saying nothing.

“Nice digs.” Taliyah shifted this way and that, examining the trinite more intently. “I would’ve gone with something a little more intimidating, but to each his own, right?”

Roc told himself not to do what he was about to do, but the words left him anyway. “Taliyah, this is Halo and Roux.”

Introductions were an honor he’d never bestowed upon another bride. His men graduated from astonishment, appearing shell-shocked.

“Aren’t they supposed to bow or something?” she asked. “I’m their queen.”

The corners of his mouth quirked before he had the presence of mind to blank his expression. “Explain what you learned in the Hall of Secrets,” he ordered Roux.

“Time-out.” Taliyah created a T with her hands. “What’s the Hall of Secrets? You never explained.”

He nuzzled his cheek against hers. “Our home realm, Nova, draws and collects whispers from other worlds. They are stored in a hallway of our palace. We have only to sift through them.” He nodded to Roux. “Go on.”

The male had recovered significantly from his trials. Though red-rimmed irises and strain added lines to his face, he had a steady gaze. “I heard whispers from a woman. She never mentioned her name, but she has a higher voice than your bride. Animated, even. As far from monotone as possible. She told someone she’s more than a harpy-snake, and she cannot accept him as consort until he knows the truth about her origins, that she’s also a phantom.”

“So there’s a second harpy-snake and phantom able to communicate with intelligence.” Did she operate independent of Erebus, as well?

Tension stole through Taliyah. Did she suspect the identity of the other female? Did they share a connection? They must.

“And?” he