“Why?” she breathed incredulously.
Life was so much easier without the burden of all the pain and suffering. Without any guilt. Without any joy or love to be ripped away from him. “So I wouldn’t feel anything,” he responded simply. “So I wouldn’t feel love.” His voice turned harsh. “So when people like you came along, trying to manipulate me into loving them, I knew I wouldn’t fail.”
Adara’s expression hardened, no longer feeling sorry for him. He sensed the trepidation in her features as she discovered that she’d thrown herself into a war she never had a chance atwinning. He relished that feeling of someone’s fear skating along his bones, so palpable, so fragile. Dominic chuckled darkly.
“Now you’re getting it,” he said. “You can’t win a war of hearts against someone who doesn’t have one.”
Adara’s lips twitched, on the brink of a knowing smirk as the fire returned to her eyes, unyielding. “Yes, I can,” she countered. “The heart isn’t what holds all the emotions. It’s the head. That’s where all the memories and the feelings that come with them are stored. I don’t need you to have a heart to make you fall in love with me, so long as you haven’t lost your mind, too.”
Dominic smirked. Laughed bitterly, once again. “I not only freed myself of my heart but also a portion of my memories.” He’d rid his mind of all those emotions when he drank the elixir that erased some of his memories. Any part of his mind that was capable of love was utterly destroyed along with his heart. “I hate to break it to you, love, but I lost that a long time ago, as well.”
Chapter 16
Thebloodthatsoakedthrough their damp clothes drew many eyes as they returned to the crowded streets of Gierok. Adara sucked in air through her gritted teeth, trying to focus on its refreshing feel in her lungs, but she felt suffocated between the masses of people jostling against her and Dominic as they painstakingly made their way toward the port. Someone bumped into her. She blinked through the black stars that spurred across her vision, cradling her throbbing arm closer to her chest.
Dominic grunted as someone shoved past him. Adara looped her left arm around him, pulling him close, using her body as a shield to the gashes on the right side of his abdomen and a bolster for his staggering gait. Wary eyes tracked their every movement as the two of them tried—and failed—to hide the immense pain threatening to make them both collapse. They desperately needed to find the others, to get back to the ship where they could tend to their wounds.
“Should we call out for them?” Adara asked.
Dominic shook his head, eyes squeezed shut as his steps faltered. His arm wrapped around her waist, his hand clinging to her tunic to remain upright. His fingers brushed the bare skin above her waistband, a soft caress that sent tingles through her. “No,” he said. “We’ve already drawn enough attention to ourselves. They’ll find us.”
Adara didn’t know how much longer they could fight their way through the crowd, didn’t know how much longer they’d last before they’d faint from blood loss. As doubt began to creep in, familiar sounds of joyful howls sounded from behind, somewhere further down the street. Shouts rang out in a language Adara didn’t understand.
“Thieves! Stop them!” they repeated in Malrynese. The clanking of armor rattled through the city, telling Adara it was guards after the Andreilians. Citizens scurried out of the way as the cheerful shouts grew closer.
“Ash, catch!” Caleb’s voice rang through the air.
Asher emerged from the masses of people, jumping to catch a pouch, heavy with coins, flying above them.
His brown hair was mussed with the effort of running rampant through the alleys. Asher’s blue eyes met Adara’s, and his smile widened into a relieved grin. “You made it!” he exclaimed as he approached Adara and Dominic.
“What the Hel have you done?” Dominic chastised, his jaw clenched as he took another haggard step.
Adara suddenly felt dizzy beneath his weight she’d been supporting, feeling like she would be crushed beneath a boulder. She blinked through the haze of the spinning world, staggering away from Dominic. She took another step, stumbling blindly into someone’s arms.
Corded muscle strained beneath the olive skin Adara’s fingers clasped onto. She blinked again, tilting her head up to hazel irises curtained by dark, wavy hair.
Tobias’s eyes darted between her face and bloodied arm with concern. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got you.” He swept her into his arms with such ease.
“Caleb stole from a palace guard,” Asher responded through panting breaths.
“You’re supposed to keep him in line,” Dominic snapped. “I told you not to get caught!”
“Come on!” Caleb shouted.
Niran sprinted behind to catch up. “It’s only fun if you get caught!” He laughed as he ran by, the sound filled with immense glee.
Adara wanted to strangle him for putting them in danger yet again. His head of blond curls disappeared into the crowd before she got the chance. With the blood coating them, the guards pursuing them would assume Adara and Dominic had murdered someone and the Andreilians were a distraction. They’d be thrown in the dungeons of a foreign country. They’d be executed if the guards found out she and Dominic werePherra.
“Does your boyfriend ever think things through?” Adara seethed as Tobias carried her.
“Never,” he replied with a laugh.
Ace was suddenly at their side, hooking Dominic’s arm around his shoulder and guiding him forward. “Did you get the eye?” he asked.
Dominic nodded with a grunt as their group hurried on.
The sea appeared on the horizon, white canvases flapping in the wind. Adara rested her head against Tobias’s muscular chest, letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of the rest of the Andreilians already aboardThe Lykren, sails unfurled and prepared to depart the second they arrived. The docks creaked beneath their thundering footsteps as they ran, Adara’s body jostling in Tobias’s arms, Ace practically carrying Dominic, though he stubbornly insisted he was fine and could walk on his own.
