Chapter 779: Brida, I’ll Kill You! [Bonus - ]

Chapter 779: Brida, I’ll Kill You! [Bonus Chapter]

A soft electric jolt of heat shot straight through Tasmin’s skin.

It spread out from the spot his lips had touched and raced down the length of her spine like lightning.

Beside the bed, Aurelia gasped softly, her golden-amber eyes going wide as a bright rosy pink flared across her pale cheeks.

"L-Lord Silas...!" Aurelia stammered, her hands flying up to clutch the silver medallion resting against her chest.

Tasmin, meanwhile, felt her entire world grind to a halt.

Her breath locked tight in her lungs.

The cool detached composure of the feared Shadow Commander was wiped out in an instant, buried under a wave of scarlet that rushed up her neck, flooded her cheekbones and set the tips of her ears burning.

Her dark eyes darted up toward the ceiling, her lips parted in a silent stunned gasp, and her fingers curled so tightly into the fur blanket that the seams groaned.

Silas chuckled at the sight of her blush, completely unapologetic, and straightened back up to his full height.

"Well, as much as I’d love to stay and watch you two sleep off the bruises, I’ve got to get moving," Silas said, rolling his shoulders under his fur mantle. "Today’s the day I promised Aki we’d run that raid in her territory, and she’s probably pacing next to the runes waiting for us right now..."

Tasmin tried to sit up, her pride demanding that she go with him. "My Lord, if you need shadow support, I can—"

"You can lie right there and let Aurelia’s healing finish setting your bones," Silas cut in smoothly, raising a hand that left no room for argument. "I was planning to bring you along, Tas... You would’ve been perfect for scouting the dens around Aki’s Wonderland bBut you just put your core through a meat grinder. You need rest, food and sleep, in that order. I’ll leave plenty of monsters for you to take apart once you’re back on your feet."

Tasmin sank back into the pillows, her lips curving into a small defeated pout that was secretly pleased.

"Whatever you say, Lord Silas."

Silas turned and took two long strides toward the heavy timber door before he paused with his hand on the iron latch.

He glanced back over his shoulder at the flustered Saintess, who was still trying to calm herself down by smoothing out the white folds of her robe.

"Come on, Aurelia," Silas called, his voice carrying an unmistakable playful intent. "You’ve done more than enough healing for one morning... The rest of their recovery is just sleep and their mana filling back up on its own, You’re coming with me."

Aurelia blinked, her eyes darting up from her robe in startled confusion.

"I-I am?" Aurelia stammered, her cheeks flushing an even deeper shade of rose. "B-but Lord Silas, the wounded and my afternoon prayers to the Argent Flame... I have things that—"

She wasn’t actually busy, she was just surprised that he was suggesting it.

"Your duties can wait an hour," Silas said with a wicked teasing grin that made the Saintess’s heart skip three beats in a row. "We haven’t had any proper time together in a while. Come along, Saintess... Consider it an order from your Lord."

Aurelia’s mouth opened and closed without a sound, like a small pretty bird struggling for air.

She looked at Silas, then down at Tasmin, completely overwhelmed by how casually he’d said it.

"B-but you can’t just... oh dear..." Aurelia squeaked in total defeat, twisting the silver cords of her sash into nervous knots.

She gave Tasmin a hasty flustered curtsy, her head bowed so low that her hair hid her burning face, and scurried out the door after Silas like a startled dove.

CLICK!

The heavy oak door swung shut behind them, and the room settled into a warm quiet.

Tasmin lay back against the pillows and stared up at the dark timber rafters.

The heat on her forehead was still tingling, refusing to fade.

She raised one trembling hand and lightly brushed her fingertips over the exact spot his lips had touched, and a soft dazed look stole across her usually sharp features.

Another deep blush crept over her cheeks.

She turned her head and looked down at the heavy leather book resting on her lap.

’He brought this all the way back from the World Vault and gave it to me...’ Tasmin thought, a warm giddy rush swelling in her chest until her toes curled under the sheets. ’He didn’t give it to anyone else... He didn’t lock it away in the treasury... Hehe~ He carried me out of that arena in front of everyone, brought me into his own Keep and put the rarest book in the world right into my hands.’

Her pride, which had taken a beating in that draw, came back ten times over.

She was his Shadow Commander... He saw her strength, he saw her ambition, and he’d just kissed her in front of his Saintess.

A small satisfied smile curved her lips.

’I’m reading this right now,’ Tasmin thought. ’I’ll have the first Chapters down before the sun sets... When he gets back from Aki’s territory, I’ll show him he wasn’t wrong to trust me.’

She propped herself up against the headboard despite the dull protest from her ribs and reached down with both hands to open the heavy cover.

Before her fingers could even lift it, a thick calloused arm shot across the blanket like a striking python.

SNATCH!

The book was ripped clean out of Tasmin’s grip so fast that the blankets snapped against her thighs.

"Hey!" Tasmin hissed, her eyes snapping wide.

Sitting bolt upright on the right side of the bed, wide awake and grinning like a maniac, was Brida.

The brawler was holding the grimoire up to the candlelight with one hand and scratching the tangled mess of her auburn hair with the other.

The compressed density of her body was still unwinding... Her muscles were visibly shifting under the skin of her bare shoulders as they slowly thickened back to their normal bulk, though her limbs still looked tighter and leaner than usual.

She flipped the heavy front cover back and squinted down at the dense silver writing on the first page.

"What the hell is this junk...?" Brida muttered, her voice thick with sleep as she scratched the side of her bruised neck. "Looks like a bunch of drainage maps mixed with bad love poems... Did Lord Silas leave you a bedtime story to cry yourself to sleep with, shadow rat?"

Tasmin’s hands clenched into tight trembling fists on top of the blanket.

She didn’t lunge, and she didn’t shout either... a strange cold heavy silence settled over the left side of the bed instead.

Tasmin slowly sat up straight, ignoring the sharp twinge in her side, while her dark eyes narrowed into cold lethal crescents.

The first burst of blind fury faded and gave way to something sharper.

She watched Brida carelessly flick through the pages of the World Vault treatise, and then she leaned back against the headboard, crossed her arms over her chest and let a dangerous smirk curl the corners of her lips.

"Enjoy the book while you can," Tasmin purred, her voice smooth and dripping with cold confidence. "Because reading’s the only thing you’ll ever beat me at in this Keep."

Brida stopped turning the page and raised a skeptical eyebrow over the top of the cover.

"What are you babbling about now?"

"We both live in the Keep now," Tasmin said, her dark eyes flashing with challenge. "The barracks are behind us... There’s nothing separating our rooms from the Lord’s anymore. We walk the same halls, we eat at the same table and we breathe the same air."

She tilted her chin up and looked down her nose at Brida with pure aristocratic disdain.

"So let’s settle the only contest that really matters," Tasmin said, her voice dropping to a wicked whisper. "Let’s see who can seduce Lord Silas first. Me, or you?"

Brida stared at her.

Her jaw slowly dropped open, and her amber eyes went as wide as gold coins.

She was looking at the cold untouchable Shadow Commander, the woman who normally only spoke in curt reports, threatened to slit people’s throats for stepping on her cloak and acted like romance was beneath her and that same woman was looking back at her like she’d just declared total war.

’Since when did she get this feisty...?’ Brida thought, an incredulous and wildly entertained smirk spreading across her swollen face. ’She spends months acting like a block of glacier ice, and the second Silas kisses her on the forehead, she turns into a horny little shadow cat!’

The sheer audacity of it hit Brida’s competitive soul like a hammer hitting an anvil.

A broad toothy grin split her face, and her amber eyes lit up with the same fire that had carried her through the domain clash.

"You want a seduction war, shadow rat?" Brida barked with a booming delighted laugh, slamming the grimoire shut.

CLAP!

"You’re on!" Brida roared, puffing out her bruised chest under her torn tunic. "You might have that pretty silver in your hair, but Silas likes some real meat on the bone! When I walk into his room wearing nothing but a smile, he won’t even remember your name! I’ll have him pinned to the carpet before you figure out how to unlace your corset!"

"You’ve got all the grace of a charging swamp ox, Brida," Tasmin scoffed icily, reaching her bruised right hand across the blanket with haughty confidence. "Your idea of seduction’s going to end with a broken desk and a trip to the infirmary... Get ready to cry when I win."

"Keep talking, rat," Brida grinned, leaning forward over the tangled blankets and thrusting her thick calloused hand out to meet her. "Shake on it... Loser cleans the latrines for the whole Keep for a month!"

Tasmin’s fingers reached forward to clasp Brida’s palm and seal the deal.

Just as their skin was about to touch, a wicked spark flickered in Brida’s amber eyes.

SWISH!

Brida yanked her hand back, tucked the grimoire firmly under her left arm, threw the fur blanket off her legs and vaulted off the right side of the bed.

THUD!

Her bare feet slammed into the dark floorboards hard enough to rattle the candle sconces on the wall, and she bounded across the rug toward the door with terrifying speed.

"See ya later, shadow rat!" Brida bellowed over her shoulder as she tore the heavy door wide open.

BANG!

"I live in the Keep now!" Brida shouted, her obnoxious laughter echoing down the stone corridor. "I’m going to go look around my new house and grab the biggest room on the top floor before you can even limp out of bed! Thanks for the book!"

SLAP-SLAP-SLAP!

The heavy pounding of Brida’s bare feet echoed down the hallway, along with her howling triumphant cackles, as she sprinted toward the central stairwell with the World Vault grimoire tucked under her sweaty armpit.

Tasmin sat frozen in the middle of the bed.

Her right hand was still stretched out in the empty air with her fingers curled toward a palm that wasn’t there anymore.

’A-again...?’

A cold draft drifted in through the open doorway and fluttered the edge of the sheets.

Her jaw locked tight... Her pupils shrank to needle points, and the veins along her temples throbbed so hard her vision tinged red.

"You thieving backstabbing thick-skulled cow!" Tasmin shrieked at the empty doorway. "Get back here with my book!"

She threw the blankets off and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

’I’ll catch her before she reaches the stairs,’ Tasmin thought, her fury roaring. ’I’ll drag her back by that rat’s nest she calls hair and—’

The second her bare feet touched the floor and she pushed herself up off the mattress, her body simply stopped listening to her.

It was as though her thighs turned to wet cloth.

The heavy warmth of Aurelia’s healing was still soaked through every muscle, and her empty channels didn’t give her so much as a flicker to catch herself with.

For one long humiliating moment, she hung there in the air with her arms stretched toward the door then she went straight down.

THUMP!

Tasmin landed face-first on the rug with her arms sprawled out in front of her and her legs still tangled in the hem of the sheet that she’d dragged off the bed with her.

She lay there for a second with her cheek pressed into the soft wool and her hair fanned out over her face.

Down the corridor, Brida’s laughter was getting fainter.

"Brida..." Tasmin growled into the rug, her fingers clawing at the fibers. "You filthy oversized thieving pig... You walking slab of gravel... I swear the second I can stand, I’m going to hunt you down and use your skull as an inkwell!"

Her arms trembled as she tried to push herself up, and they gave out halfway.

THUMP!

Her face hit the rug again.

"I’m going to kill you!" Tasmin screamed at the ceiling. "Do you hear me, Brida?! I’m going to kill you!"

From somewhere far down the hall came Brida’s voice.

"Can’t hear you, rat!"