And he fed on their fears and agony and took pride in the fact she had ended their lives. Shilah’s stomach cramped at his unapologetic brutality.
“We are at war.” His voice in her mind was a dark pulse of power. “In a time of war, we kill, and we do not show mercy.”
“Mercy is for the weak,” she replied, repeating his earlier lessons.
Yet her heart ached, and the fingers that pushed the tangled hair from her face trembled. Taking a deep breath, she lowered the firm hold she had on her psychic barriers and allowed the energy of those suffering to wash over her. The minds of those trapped under the mountain cried out their terror, those who lay dying, thought of their wives, and daughters, and sons. None thought of the war they were fighting for. “I have to save them.”
He studied her face, his eyes lingering on each of her features. Searching for weakness perhaps, and silently condemning her for her compassion. A blink, and then he was inches from her. A clawed fingertip lightly brushed against her lower lip.
“Is this your wish?”
His touch so gentle she could barely feel it, yet electricity crackled in the air between them.
“Yes. Do you think me weak?”
She knew it did, and it affected her t
hat he would think her a liability. Silly and outrageous for she did not want to be his mate. Yet it mattered, so much that her heart ached as she waited for his response.
“I think you are different from anyone I’ve ever known. Different is not weak.”
His hands framed her face, thumbs brushing her frantic pulse. His expression was one of stark desire and unrelenting hunger. And in the midst of the battlefield, he kissed her. For a dazzling moment, the world seemed to go up in flames. She saw the monster in him, the utter darkness and rage, but instead of fleeing, Shilah embraced it.
“You hold what is left of my tattered soul in the palms of your hands.”
With a whimper, she clung to him. She hadn’t known her body could be so alive. Lightning streaked from her breast to belly in a wicked caress. There was nothing else but his mouth claiming hers, whirling her into another world of agonizing pleasure she hadn’t known existed. Her skin crawled with need, her mind was chaos as the darkness mixed with her light and seduced the hunger in her soul.
“You are my queen. I will give you all that you dream of—retribution…power.”
She fought against the dark, seductive whisper of power sensing on a profound level what he offered. Shilah pulled her lips from his, and the darkness retreated to give her breathing room.
Then she burst into raw, ugly tears. She didn’t question the why of it, but when he hoisted her into his arms, she did not pull away. Instead, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and buried her face into the crook of his neck and cried, distantly wondering why she hadn’t run to Kala’s arms.
She breathed raggedly, feeling a little shaky, on unfamiliar ground. He walked with her toward the fleeing captives as they moved deeper into the forest. Shilah peeked over his shoulders at the decimated warriors. It looked as if a massacre had taken place. As far as she could see, corpses and the nearly dead littered the ground, blood and entrails strewed around them, their weapons broken and useless. Carrion birds hovered, smelling the feast that lay below them. She stared at the destruction and unable to bear the revulsion of how they suffered, she connected to the minds of those still living.
“Help each other to safety. Tend the wounded. Do not pursue the prisoners.”
Exhausted she disconnected from all the mental threads and rested against the warrior who carried her. They reached a clearing deep into the forest, and he lowered her to the ground. Several people were bent over a creek, greedily drinking water, while a few rested on the grass or trunks of the towering trees which seemed to rise to the sky itself. Her sister looked up from where she tended the wound of a man and gave her a weary smile. Shilah was shocked to see the witch, administering crushed herbs to the lips of the people they’d rescued. Shilah glanced up at Lachlan. “You rescued her.”
“I traveled with the shadows for her.”
She stepped from his side and made her way over to the small gathering. Songbirds fluttered above their heads, darting in and out of the tree canopy, calling sweetly and bringing a brief smile to few of their lips.
“We made it out, but we cannot rest here long,” Shilah said, looking from one weary but hopeful face to another. “Only a few minutes at best. For now, the battle has been won, but to escape the empire fully, you will need to continue fleeing. I…I do not believe those from Mevia can return. Surely the empire will re-hunt you.”
A few tired nods were given. A woman with wild blonde hair, blood and dirt-matting the thick strands together, and the greenest eyes Shilah had ever beheld stood. “I am forever in your debt Princess Shilah, and my house will repay.” Those untrusting eyes turned to the man behind her. “And yours Lachlan Ravenswood. I am Ivory Markham, and I am a high duchess of the house of Ellesmere from the kingdom of Caelum. I only need to travel to the waters which I can feel only a mile away, and I will escape to my realm.”
As Shilah understood it, Caelum—the kingdom of water was mostly under the vast oceans of Amagarie, with only a small portion of that kingdom above ground.
Ivory glanced at the people behind her. “Those of you who wish to escape Mevia are welcome to travel with me to my home. My holdings are vast, and there is ample space for everyone. I will try my best to offer protection to those who are weaker. Though the healing herbs from the witch helped, I am not at full strength. My kingdom also possesses the elixir of life, and with a sip, you will be restored to full health and powers if you’d possessed any. I will open my home to you for as long as needed.”
Several people stood and moved closer to the high duchess, their relief palpable. The witch stepped forward. “I will provide a cloaking spell for everyone. Returning to your family is dangerous. It is certain the empire’s warriors will be watching. But the cloaking spell will hide you from them, even if they are before you. It will only last for seven days, but it will give you the opportunity to visit your family and assure them of your safety or even convince them to flee the empire with you to another kingdom.”
Everyone surged toward the witch and the high duchess. Shilah almost wept at the profound hope shining through their auras. Amirah started her incantation, and the survivors’ aura begun vanishing under the cloaking spell. A stir came through her mind.
“You did this,” Kala said, pride evident in her tone. “You saved them.”
Shilah glanced toward the tree her sister leaned on, and then made her way over. She gathered her into her arms and hugged her. “I love you, Kala. How brave you’ve been.”