“Where is Sam?” Lenora asked, breaking her silence. “You boys need to try breaking through.”
“Sam will be back in a couple of days,” Lauren answered her.
Nodding, Lenora spoke to Caius. “You will break through.”
Hope and shock took root as he met her confident stare. “You’ve remembered something?”
She sat in a chair and smiled, but it wasn’t one of joy, and Caius’ hope evaporated. “I have. You—” Her brows knit together. “Explode. Or something like it.”
The blood drained from his face at her foreboding words. “That doesn’t sound promising.”
Her lips moved as if having a conversation with herself. He didn’t know how or why she was remembering parts of her visions. Maybe theSeraphimwere helping them, or maybe without the assault of new visions, her mind could sort out the old ones stored within her memory.
“I can’t explain it,” she said finally. “But you get out.”
“Do I get out in time to save her?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know her answer.
“You can,” she replied, but her grim expression deepened his dread. “That doesn’t mean you will.”
The ominous response hung over their heads like a dark cloud. “Please, keep looking for anything that might help,” he told the women. “And thank you.”
They filed out of his office, and he retreated to his bedroom, praying sleep came easy tonight.
Caius stoodin the palace gym on a field of wildflowers. His heart beat fast at the prospect of seeing his mate. As if he conjured her with hope alone, Rory walked out of the shower room and looked around.
When her eyes landed on him, they were frozen in time. “You’re here,” she whispered.
He raked a hand through his already messy hair and tried to keep himself from smiling like a lunatic. “I’m always here, Miss Raven.”
“Why are we in a gym?” She pushed a punching bag as she walked by. “Have I been here before?”
“We have, many times.” He met her in the middle and traced his eyes down her body. She wore a sleep set, not much different from the ones she wore in Vincula. “We’ve used this room for many things.” Heat filled his eyes as they met hers. “Some were quite loud.”
Her breath hitched before she spun around to survey the room. “Were we loud often?”
She peeked over her shoulder at him, and he sauntered across the room, pressing his chest to her back. With a featherlight touch, he brushed her hair aside and kissed her neck tenderly, half expecting her to elbow him in the face.
She stopped moving, and he smiled against her skin. “We were.” On instinct alone, his hand snaked around her middle and pulled her body tighter against his. He closed his eyes, thankful to be close to her.
“We were together, then?” she mused, leaning her head back to rest on his shoulder.
Pressing his cheek against the side of her head, he nodded. “We were.”
“I wish I could remember,” she murmured. He did too.
The prospect of her memory returning lit him like a match. “Do you remember anything at all?”
She swung around until they were face to face, his hand now resting on her lower back. All he could think was,she’s letting me touch her.
“Sometimes I get this feeling.” She waved her hand around her head. “Like whatever I’m doing is familiar. The memory is on the edge of my mind, but I can’t reach it.” She tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “Does that make sense?”
“What things?” He assumed the magic affected her differently, but no one believed him.
A pensive mask fell over her face, and her mouth bunched. “I hate stairs now.”
Chuckling, he pushed her long hair over her shoulder, exposing her neck. “You didn’t have yourFeystrength in Vincula, and the stairs killed your legs when you first arrived.” Another memory made his face darken. “And someone pushed you down a stairwell. You almost died.”
Her lips parted. “Who pushed me?”
