Stunning, but eerily abandoned, the emptiness like a warning?—
Her foot snagged a rock as one ofthosefeelings rose up. The kind where she went still to the core, frozen in a false settling before the shift.
Shite.
Naturally, Brand chose that moment to break away from the group, dropping back beside her while she urged her heart to slow. They walked in silence, the others inching further and further away, and she realized he was matching her strides.
Merciful Sisters, she could keep him just for that.
No. No, no. Head out of your arse.
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you,” he finally said, pulling a waterskin from his belt and offering it to her.
Lunara took a welcome sip to hide her nerves. The list of questions he could have ranged so widely that she wasn’t sure which possibility to panic about.
“Go on.” She handed the skin back, hoping he didn’t notice her trembling fingers.
Brand studied the leather pouch for a moment, lost in thought. When he finally raised it to his own lips, her mind emptied, worries forgotten when the corded column of his throat bobbed with each swallow. A bead of sweat trailed down his neck to disappear into the collar of his tunic, and she followed its path, mouth watering.
The desire to sink her fangs into him hit like a comet, and had little to do with a need to feed. Unfortunately, thatparticular intimacy had the potential to bring on a whole slew of complications she could not afford.
Look at you, using your brains for once.
Too bad, really, because—stars and arses—he was a fine male, and she was willing to bet he tasted as good as he looked.
Brand scrubbed a hand across his mouth, and she blinked rapidly, trying to dislodge the longing from her body.
“Caius has never mentioned my aunt’s death. Not once. One day, Meliora was there, vibrant as anything, and then...” He let out a slow breath. “Was it truly as bad as the rumors suggest?” he softly asked.
Ah.
She recalled Caius’s last words to her. “This is murky waters for me,” she admitted. “Strictly speaking, I’m bound to no oaths or promises, but your uncle didn’t want anyone to tarnish her name. I’m not sure what that means when it comes to her kin. Sharing information about my healings is not something I generally do.”
“I swear on Solyrian, it doesn’t leave my immediate family unless I find it to be a matter of absolute necessity.Safety.” He was so earnest, looking her right in the eyes.
“Are you sure you want to hear the answer?” Shite, she didn’t want to relive it, but she would. For him, she would. “I promise, you won’t like it. Some things are better left in darkness and silence, Brand.”
A little like you.
“It’s like a hole, not knowing the details,” he whispered, then stronger, “Like she just disappeared, without saying where she was going. Caius and Thad have never been the same, the rest of us left wondering and trying to come up with plausible scenarios.” His laugh was a soft and tragic sound. “The most powerful creatures in all of Bordoroth, and we don’t know whathappened to one of our own. But here you are, and you were there, and… Yes. I need to know.”
She wanted to save him from the grisly tale, let him keep thinking whatever he liked, because—no matter what he imagined—it couldn’t be nearly as awful as the truth.
But he just kept looking at her, waiting, hope written all over his face.
Lunara closed her eyes, resigned. “It was terrible,” she admitted. “All the years I’ve lived, all my healings, I’ve never seen anything like it. Before or since.”
Memories battered against her as if they happened yesterday.
Cordelia had showed up in the dead of night, begging for help. A last-ditch effort after all the other Elders had failed. Understandable, since Lunara was the only one left among their tier whose true gift was healing.
You don’t need to think about that to tell the story.
Right.
They’d stolen to Starkeep in secret—always in secret—so she could see for herself whether there was anything to be done before forcing a move on the ailing female. One look at Meliora, and Lunara had known she was fighting against something unknown. Something impossible. But she had tried.
Sisters, how she’d tried.
