Read Summoned and Bound (Summoned Series Romances Book 3) for Free Online Page B

was so tall his feet hung over the edge of the mattress.
    “Where are we?” Vamir asked, already looking around him with interest.
    “My quarters.”
    An impossibly smug smile turned up the corners of his mouth, and Gwyn’s pulse jumped. Even with his face bruised and swollen, his smile was enough to quicken her blood.
    “You just popped me into your bed without even buying me a drink first? What kind of man do you think I am?”
    “The kind legends are made of, guardian . Now, stop moving before you open those cuts up any further.” She turned away so he couldn’t see her blush.
    “Is that any way to talk to a legend?” He settled himself more comfortably, stretched out face down on her bed with his head pillowed on his forearms. “I assume we won’t be overheard?”
    “It’s safe to speak. The only one with permission to enter these quarters is the Magi, and he will be busy meting out punishments for what was done to you for quite some time.”
    Vamir had known exactly where he was from the moment they’d materialized, he wasn’t going to admit it. He had no intention of confessing that he recognized her scent in the room and guessed where she’d brought him.
    Her quarters were larger than his cell, but they were far from luxurious. It was warmer and cleaner than where he’d been living, but no one would ever mistake Gwyneth’s rooms for anything other than what they were, a prison. Even the barracks at the outpost offered more comforts than she had. A handful of robes and other garments were folded and placed on a wooden bench, with several pairs of soft shoes placed neatly on the floor below. There was little in the way of furnishings. Apart from the bed, there was a stand barely big enough to hold a washbasin and pitcher, and a stool placed close to the small hearth. The floor and walls were bare stone, and the only color he could see was in the faded patchwork quilt beneath him.
    “Yesterday you didn’t seem to know anything about me, and today you do. What changed?” he asked, finally breaking the silence.
    “I dreamed about you, well, about all the Garda, not just you. I think I remembered a pair of your kind that used to watch over me at night,”
    Gwyneth glanced over her shoulder to look at him, and he caught the hint of pink to her normally pale cheeks.
    Must have been a good dream…
    “What did you dream of, little one? Tell me.”
    She turned around, a strip of cloth in one hand and pair of shears in the other. Behind her lay the remains of what must have been one of her few garments. She’d destroyed it to make bandages for his wounds.
    “I dreamed about a great many things I haven’t let myself think about since I was summoned. Like my family and my home. There was a garden that I loved to play in…and two stone creatures with eyes like yours watching over me from the ledge outside my window when I went to bed.”
    “Do you remember their names?” Vamir asked. He knew their names. He also knew that the brothers had never forgiven themselves for letting Gwyneth be summoned, despite the fact there was no way they could’ve stopped it. They had come to him in the final days before the portal closed, requesting a place in his company so they could continue searching for Gwyneth. 
    Gwyn concentrated, and suddenly their names came back to her in a flash of insight. “Aztar and Akhal. I think I called them Az and Ak, though.”
    “I’m glad you remember them. They were your protectors. They’d say they still are.” Vamir patted the mattress beside him. “I have a lot to tell you.”
    “You can talk while I tend your injuries.” Gwyneth gathered up the makeshift bandages, the pitcher of water, and the ointment she’d found and joined him on the bed. It was strange having him in her quarters and stranger still to see him in her bed.
    “The others got in a few good shots near the end. I was tired enough I let my guard down.”
    From what Gwyn could see, he’d been hit more than