City of the Sleeping Gods Read online

  In truth, she thought she would always be a maiden. She never thought she would ever have an opportunity to explore her sexuality. Especially not with a man such as Edric Axton, Commander of the Nighthelm castle guard. As her eyes drooped, sleep slowly taking her, her skin buzzed while she snuggled with him.

  As she drifted asleep, something deep inside of her thumped hard at his nearness. Was this the thunder that the oracles had told her to seek out? Was Edric the one?

  She held that thought close as her breathing softened and she drifted into bliss.

  EDRIC

  Edric lay next to Sophia, stroking her arm, until her breathing slowed and became steady, and he knew she was asleep. As gently as he could, without waking her, Edric slipped out from under her and rolled off the bed. She murmured once but didn’t open her eyes.

  He pulled the blanket over her shoulder and carefully tucked it around her body. He took in the sight of her, memorizing everything about her: the small dimple on the side of her luscious mouth, the way her forehead furrowed as if the worries of the world pressed on her as she slept, the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she slumbered.

  The sight of this woman in his bed nearly brought him to his knees. How could he have been this blessed?

  He busied himself around the room, cleaning up as she slept. He dumped the water, now cold, out of the window, and tossed away the cloth he used to wipe away the blood from her wound.

  Seeing her cut and bleeding like that had torn at his heart. It surprised him to no end how easily she had handled the injury. As if it had been nothing. Or, worse, that she had possibly faced deeper wounds in the past, and this was nothing to concern herself with. The thought of someone cutting her, of something injuring her in any way… it broke him.

  Nothing would harm his woman.

  While he had been patching her up, he had noticed another scar on her arm, close to her shoulder. It hadn’t looked like a knife or sword cut, it wasn’t straight and even. It had been ragged and curved, as if something jagged had ripped at her skin. A claw possibly?

  She was an enigma, his Sophia. His. He paused, hands on the edge of the basin as he lost himself in thought. When had he begun to think of her as his?

  Maybe from the start. Maybe from the first moment he spotted her from across the room, laughing with another girl, shoving pastries into her mouth as if she’d never tasted anything so delicious before in her whole life. The pure innocence on her face during that moment had instantly enamored him to her. He didn’t think he’d ever seen another woman quite like her. Both innocent and dynamic.

  Definitely not one who could fight like she did, not only with a sword but with a bow and arrow. Her precision and accuracy were phenomenal. Edric wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anyone shoot like that before. He was good with a bow, had trained for over ten years to be great, but he wasn’t sure he could’ve made those shots from the cover of the trees, and from that distance, amidst all that chaos.

  He moved toward the bed again, and stood over her, looking down at her beauty. Who are you? he whispered in his mind. Sophia didn’t sound or act like a young woman raised in high society. She wasn’t as rigid or reserved or composed as most of the young women he’d courted before. She had a wildness about her, that he adored.

  He thought about the sex they just had. She’d been a virgin, but she hadn’t seemed prim about it, or afraid. She’d let herself go, had opened up to him in a way he hadn’t experienced before. She’d given him a gift, and he couldn’t have been more beholden for it. He promised himself he would never squander that gift. He would protect and honor her.

  Leaning down, he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. Slowly one eye opened and she smiled. She reached a hand up and cupped his neck.

  “Edric,” she said, sleepily, her voice barely a whisper against his skin. It sounded like a plea for him.

  He pulled the blanket down, and slipped back into bed, nuzzling in beside her warm, pliant body. Without fully waking, she wrapped herself around him. Edric softly kissed her again on the head and then followed her down into sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sophia

  Night had fallen when Edric kissed her awake. Lamplight flickered over the hard planes of his face and body as he looked down at her from the side of the bed. Heat flared inside her again, but she knew there wasn’t enough time for them to go another round. Edric had a guard shift on the wall, and Sophia had to return to the woods before Grindel started asking questions.

  He kissed her again then nibbled on her chin and ear. “I could say I’m sick. One of my captains could cover my shift.”

  She nudged him away with a laugh. “You’d be the first commander in history to call in sick to work.”

  “But it would be for a good reason. I know the other men would completely understand.” He reached for her, intending to roll onto her. “Let me show you that thing I mentioned earlier. I promise, you’ll be thanking me.” But she shuffled off the bed in time and slapped at his bold hands.

  “Go and do your duty. We will see each other again soon.” She picked up her clothes from the floor and started to put them back on.

  Edric watched her dress, licking his lips. “Not soon enough.”

  She blushed, as she finished pulling on her tunic and lacing up her pants.

  Once they were both dressed, Edric pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly, then he opened the door to his quarters, peering out to make sure no one was around to see them sneak out. After he led her from his room, and through the barracks, he left her near the market so she could disappear into the crowd. He turned to look at her once more, a deep longing on his face that make her heart skip a beat, before he rushed toward the wall and his duty.

  As Sophia walked through market square, her body hummed with life and energy. It was like she’d been asleep before, but now was very wide awake. She wanted to dance with joy, and she laughed out loud at that notion. A few people nearby glanced her way, frowning at her outburst, and likely at her manner of dress. She looked like a combination of a vagabond and a bandit with her dirty, blood-stained shirt and leather pants. She didn’t care, her happiness was too jubilant to contain.

  She stared at the night sky as she weaved her way through the streets. The stars shone bright, as if they turned on just for her. So caught up in her joy, she didn’t realize she’d stumbled right into the oracle’s park. One of the great trees loomed near her, reminding her of her quest.

  Her smile faded a little as she thought about the dilemma she had on her hands: how to figure out which of the three men possessed the piece of her soul. Instead of getting easier to decipher, it proved more difficult with each passing day. Bliss or no, she had a mission to complete.

  She had hoped that the riddle the oracles bestowed on her would tell her everything she needed to know, but she needed more information on what she was in order to figure it all out. She looked up at the castle at the south end of the city, set in the mountain, and figured the castle library would surely have something about anima contritums. That was where all the very important and secret history of Nighthelm was kept, away from the general public, only available to those who meant to control that history. Over the years, she’d never been able to locate the library within the stone fortress, having only been allowed underneath the castle in the training caverns, but the clock was ticking, and she needed to double her efforts.

  She went around the park then ducked down a darkened alleyway out of eyesight of any city folk out on the streets. Thankful that she wore her usual clothes and not one of her dress disguises, Sophia climbed the side of the stone building to the roof top. It would be easier to reach the castle this way, instead of down on street level where the guards were trained to survey.

  After leaping from one building to the next, she was able to get on top of the second level of the castle, then using the stones as foot and hand holds, she climbed four stories to the very top. From there, she snuck along the sloping roof in the shado
ws, careful to make little noise.

  Hanging off one parapet, she looked down to see a solider nailing propaganda to a notice board. The large letters pronounced the dangers of the woods were getting worse. That the monsters in the forest were getting more and more dangerous, and staying in Nighthelm was the only choice. There were other warnings of the mountain’s magic and the woods beyond. Sophia frowned, wishing the duchess wouldn’t make the people live in such fear, but she continued on. There was nothing she could do about it, and her mission was more important than some flyers.

  About four feet below her, she spotted an open window. Thankfully, it was dark in the room beyond. Gripping the edge of the roof with her fingers, Sophia swung down in hopes to easily slide through the opening. Her feet slammed into stone as the window disappeared and morphed into a solid wall. Gasping, she fell.

  The ground six stories below came too fast. If she hit, her bones, along with her head, would certainly crack. Reaching out, she grabbed hold of a flag pole protruding from one wall and then swung herself into a dark crevice just under the roof’s eaves.

  Bells sounded from the tower nearby, nearly splitting her ear drums. There were four tolls indicating an attack on the castle. The window reappeared below, and light filled the room as silhouettes of guards entered. They were obviously looking for her. But how did they know? Did the castle itself actually sound the alarm in its defense?

  A guard stuck his head out of the window and surveyed the wall around it. When he turned to the left, she saw Edric’s stern face, looking fierce and ready to kill to defend his home. She leaned back into her hiding spot, trying to make her body smaller, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to see her. The shadows became her camouflage.

  She held her breath, waiting for him to retreat. Her heart raced, hammering hard in her throat. Finally, he withdrew his head, and she relaxed a little. How the hell had the castle changed? She’d heard rumors over the years that the castle had a life of its own, an energy and magic that couldn’t be beat, supposedly controlled by the acting ruler. Did the duchess have that kind of power? It didn’t seem possible. If only she could ask Grindel about this, and many other things. But she couldn’t, unless she wished to tell him what she was truly doing behind his back. She didn’t think he would appreciate it, and she didn’t think he would allow her to continue. So, no, Grindel wasn’t someone she could confide in.

  Could she risk asking Edric or Ezekiel about it? Surely, they would know, one being the commander of the guard, the other having access to the castle’s secrets and possibly its magic. But what explanation could she use for her interest? It was an impossible problem to have and she didn’t know the answer.

  She looked at the foreboding fortress as a shiver rushed down her spine. A sensation of being watched feathered over her, like spider legs on her skin. She swallowed the wariness down, and made her way down the castle wall to the ground. Before any of the guards could spill out of the castle to search for intruders, Sophia slipped into the shadows and disappeared.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Sophia

  Beneath the castle, in the great hall, Sophia ran through her sword handling techniques with Grindel. She’d been surprised that he’d suggested she train in the castle, especially with her magic growing restless inside her again. But he had his reasons, not that he would ever share them with her. And she wouldn’t dare ask.

  “Ox ward,” he called out, his voice echoing through the cavernous room.

  She dragged her left foot forward, the bottom of her boot scraping against the rough stone floor, and held her sword close to her face but aimed toward the upper region of her imagined opponent.

  “Plow ward,” he said next.

  Out came her right foot, and she held her sword near the knees, with the blade aimed at her opponent’s chest. The sword wobbled a little, her arm getting fatigued, and he frowned. She wouldn’t admit that she was a little tired from her nighttime activities in the city. And a whole lot distracted by thoughts of the three men in her life. She couldn’t erase Edric and the sex they had from her mind. Sometimes she could still feel his hands on her skin. She definitely could still smell him.

  “Oberhau!” he shouted at her.

  Sophia brought her sword down on her opponent’s head.

  “Zornhau!”

  This time she struck in a diagonal across the body from above.

  “Mittelhau!”

  A middle strike, she swung her sword from the right. But the blade tip dropped at the last moment, pulling her off balance.

  “No, no, no! You are not focused.” Grindel shook his head and slapped his fist into the palm of his other hand. “If you want to learn to control your powers, you must be a creature of habit, of discipline, of—,”

  Headmistress Mittle entered the hall, cutting off the rest of Grindel’s lecture, and surprising them both. She looked regal in a forest green, brocade dress with gold embroidering. She always seemed to appear more regal than even the duchess.

  “My apologies for interrupting.” She waved a bejeweled hand toward Sophia. “I’ll be watching during the rest of the training. Please, continue.”

  Still frowning, Grindel nodded to Sophia. “Do the attack moves again until they are perfect.”

  Sophia considered complaining. If they had been alone, she might have, but not with the headmistress in attendance. She couldn’t appear weak in front of her benefactor.

  She worked the four attack moves, one right after the other, until her arms shook with fatigue. She must’ve done them correctly, because Grindel nodded to her in approval then told her to pick up her bow. He instructed her to shoot the straw-filled dummy positioned on the wall across the room. At 100 feet, it was an easy shot, but Grindel had her running and shooting, shooting from up high and down low, and even after a forward roll on the ground. She hit every mark with precision. Heart and head. Sometimes, the groin when she was feeling cheeky.

  She risked a glance at the headmistress and saw an amused look on her face, which Sophia found surprising. She didn’t think the woman possessed a sense of humor. At least she’d never seen a whiff of it in all the years she’d known her. Not until now.

  After her weapon lessons, she moved on to her balance training. Grindel had set up an obstacle course consisting of a beam of one-inch thick wood resting precariously on stacked crates, and small rocks and crevices in the stone wall she had to climb to, then get back down again without falling. She figured it was better than her usual balance training in the woods, where she had to balance on one foot as Grindel threw rocks at her to try and knock her off. On those days, she usually ended up with bruises on every part of her body. But she never fell, not anymore at least.

  As she ran the balance course, Sophia glanced at the headmistress. She’d been pacing the room slowly, watching Sophia train. It was unnerving having her there, just observing without question or comment. What did she want? Sophia didn’t think for one minute that Headmistress Mittle came to just observe quietly in the background. There had to be another motive for her presence. The woman had never been this concerned and attentive to her training, not even at the beginning, when she was just a scared little girl.

  When Sophia had ran the balance course three times without a wobble in her step, the headmistress stepped forward to talk to Grindel.

  “Now I’d like for Sophia to test her magic.”

  Grindel shook his head. “No. Not beneath the school. It’s too dangerous.”

  “It will be fine,” the headmistress said. “You worry needlessly.”

  “Too much time has passed. Even with her dampening gloves, she’s too vulnerable for another episode. I do not think you would want to take that risk with so many lives in the castle.”

  Sophia bristled at that. Anger surged through her. Anger at herself for not having mastered her magic yet, after all these years. The headmistress was probably close to giving up on her completely. Would she stop funding Grindel’s efforts to train her, to control he
r magic? What would happen then? Would she end up homeless? Not that she couldn’t take care of herself. She could easily live off the land; the woods would provide for her even when others wouldn’t.

  “I’d like to try,” Sophia said, her voice a bit strangled by nerves.

  Both Grindel and the headmistress twisted around to look at her. The headmistress’s eyebrows came up and her lips tilted up in an almost smile. “You see, Grindel, she is ready.”

  Grindel’s frown deepened, the lines on his brow furrowed into trenches. “She’s telling you what you want to hear, not what is the truth.”

  Sophia went to speak again, but Grindel cut her off with a raised hand and a lethal look. She quickly shut her mouth. He had a range of looks that he often shot her, and this one was the most serious.

  “You entrusted me to train her, to care for her, and I’m telling you she is not ready for that kind of test in this environment. You risk the safety of everyone in this castle.” He lifted his head and regarded the headmistress. “I know as headmistress you wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the academy or the students who train within.”

  For a long tense moment, the two of them stared at each other. To Sophia, it appeared to be a standoff; a battle of wills.

  Eventually, Headmistress Mittle sighed. “Very well.” She walked toward Sophia. “Then I believe it’s time Sophia and I began private lessons.” She reached for Sophia’s hand. Wary, Sophia set her hand into the headmistress’s. The headmistress pulled off her glove, then rubbed her thumbs over Sophia’s knuckles, and then turned Sophia’s hand and ran her fingers over her palm. The touch sent cold uneasy ripples up Sophia’s arm.