21
Hours later, Shilah jerked awake, startled to find she had fallen asleep without eating or taking a shower. The mating bond was quiet, the silver and darkness gently sliding against each other. She pushed from the bed, and stripped off the filthy clothes, removing the plait from her hair and allowed the long tresses to ripple unchecked to her waist. “Kala is all well?” Not that anyone could have breached their defenses with Arrow crewing the vessel.
“Yes. I am glad you’ve finally woke. Would you like to break your fast with me?”
An olive branch her sister was desperate for her to take. Shilah could read the guilt and the fear Kala endured and softened. “I will be there shortly. How long was I out for?”
“Almost fifteen hours.”
Shilah gasped. “Any word from Rah?”
“No. I’ve been watching the monitors over the city. All is silent. Too silent. It is as if our people are a shadow of themselves. The festival of lights is eight days away, and no preparations are being made. Prince Novar visited, and he’s summoned the Senate for an emergency meeting. He’s promised to join us in a few hours with updates.”
Shilah pulled from her sister’s mind and stepped into the shower chamber, the chromatic tiles cool under her bare feet. The glass compartment slid open, and she stood under the hot spray of water, instead of using the more efficient air-dry method.
Had Lachlan found the warlord? From the intent in him, she knew he planned to kill the man. Temptation rode her to open the link and spy on him once more. She fought it, and after several minutes of the hot water beating on her tense shoulders, she admitted it was a losing battle. Every single part of her, heart and soul, her logical mind, seemed to have an overwhelming desire to be with him. Unable to banish the need she opened her mind, dipping into the well of her powers and connected with him.
He was a swirling force of violent rage, one so icy she shivered. He fought somewhere unrecognizable and under the wash of sunlight. Even without his beast, Lachlan was a merciless machine as he shattered bones and tore out chunks of flesh, slicing through arteries and vocal cords and flesh. She pulled her mind from his, leaning against the walls of the shower.
The violence she’d just touched within him reaffirmed that she had made the right decision in leaving without making any promise to return after the unrest. Something sharp tugged at her chest. Their bond. She quickly snapped open her psychic eyes, fearful that he’d been hurt.
She frowned. He was no longer on the battlefield but within the Darkage surrounded by his friends, and the king.
She sensed the intent in him to consume the healing elixir from Boreas with the hope it would restore the psychic wall she’d shattered. Shilah pressed trembling fingers to her lips. He was ravaged with need of her. Memories of her scent and taste tormented him, and the only bloodlust soothed.
He tipped the gourde to his lips and consumed the powerful healing elixir. Bright blue energy washed from him, and then he stilled. Connected deep in his mind Shilah waited, her breath held.
“Does it work?” his friend Talon asked. “has your barrier returned?”
“No,” he growled, the bitterness in the sound struck at her heart, and unable to help herself, she lifted her hands and touched his face. It was a simple brush of psychic energy, but he stiffened, tipped his head to the sky, and inhaled deeply.
Shock tore through her. He had felt her touch.
A swirl of shadows and he disappeared from his friends. He stood atop their mountain looking north toward the portal. “Touch me again.”
The command burned along their link and she trembled.
“Did I imagine your touch? I am truly maddened by the loss of you?”
Every part of her ached for him, the giving lover, and the merciless monster.
He stood strong and powerful, but so lonely her throat ached. He stared unflinching toward the north, his familiar beside him, the beast’s head under his palm. Shilah Could see the river shining through the trees as he saw it, even hear the flow of it as it traveled to his ears, feel the cold bite of the wind as it kissed over his skin. Her body became so sensitive, so in tune with him, she could feel the breeze caressing his arms.
She closed her eyes under the hot wash of water, and it was as if she was transported to his side and connected to his soul. Shocking emotions poured from him. Sorrow lived in him, breathed in him. And it was all for her.
She touched his lips, and a snarl tore from his throat, for he had felt it. Snatching back her hand, she moved away. His turned his head, and it was as if he looked right at her. Their linked burned, flared with bright light and sinuous darkness.
“I feel your worry, my mate.”
And then he was inside her mind.
She felt him in her, just as if they were sharing the same skin, merged together so deep she didn’t know where he started, and she left off. She held her breath as his mouth drifted to her temple and then pressed his cool, firm lips to her ear. Then she reached for him, and the phantom disappeared.
“I miss you, Lachlan Ravenswood.”
His anguish roared across their link….and with a harsh sob, she tried to close their connection. He did not allow it, his raw power pouring through the thread. Shilah ignored him refusing to look at him, closing her eyes tightly as she completed her shower. She cupped a handful of water and watched it run through her fingers.
The feel of a phantom caress against her tender nipples, the press of a kiss against her lips, the stroke of his finger down her throat and lower to slip inside her body, was all in her mind, but she felt as if he was right there touch