To be left alone.
Time to get back into the right state of mind.
Cethin started to lower onto the sofa beside her, and she stiffened, her aching muscles screaming as they tensed again. He paused, and she saw the two males exchange a look. Oddly, all she could think about was that it only took her nightmares to make the two be civil with one another, even if it was fleeting.
Taking a seat on the sofa, Cethin left extra room between them. She watched his fingers drum on his thigh as he studied her. She let her brow fall back to her knees, willing the small spots in her vision to disappear.
“You know nothing?” Razik asked, his tone tight.
“Why would I know anything?” Cethin retorted.
When Razik didn’t answer, she peeked out at them again, catching another exchange of knowing looks.
“If you had summoned me sooner, I may have been able to help more,” Cethin finally answered, returning his attention toher. Everything about him softened when his eyes found hers, and he leaned a little closer. “Tell us how we can help.”
“There’s nothing to be done,” she answered, forcing herself to uncoil. “I think I’ll take a bath.”
Cethin scrambled to his feet as well. “You don’t want to talk about what happened?”
“Why would I do that?”
“I can’t help if I don’t know what we’re dealing with.”
“There’s nothing to help with,” she replied, each step unsteady as she made her way to the hall.
It took far longer than it should have to get into the tub. Probably because of the icy water she’d filled it with to cool her heated skin. Then she was freezing when she got out. Slipping on her usual dress, she grabbed a fur blanket from the bed, wrapping it around her shoulders.
She shouldn’t have been surprised to find both males waiting for her in the sitting room when she reappeared. The mess had been cleaned from the floor, and there was a small spread of food—breads, crackers, soup. Cethin had changed at some point, but Razik was still in his clothing from the day. It was dark, but not past midnight yet, and she sank back onto the sofa utterly exhausted, her wet braid making her dress damp where it draped over her shoulder.
“How are you feeling?” Cethin ventured, setting aside the glass of liquor he’d been nursing.
“I’ll be fine,” she replied.
“Can we talk about what happened?”
“There’s nothing to discuss.”
“There’s plenty to discuss,” he countered. “The tavern today. The dream. Why I suddenly can’t get near you without you flinching away.”
“We are trying to help,” Razik offered, and she glanced at him, thrown off by the unusual display of blatant concern.
“I already told you there’s nothing to help with,” she sighed, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.
“You were screaming, Kailia,” Cethin replied, the words sounding almost haunted. “You were screaming, and I— You were screaming like your soul was being tortured.”
“You can’t possibly know that,” she retorted weakly.
“I can,” he countered. “Because your screams of agony were the same as those I end slowly with my power. When I am…”
He trailed off, but she didn’t need him to finish.
Whenhewas the one doing the torturing.
But she recognized they weren’t going to let this go. That she needed to give them something so they would stop pushing for more.
“I was raised and trained to be in complete control of myself and my power at all times,” she said, both of the males going still and quiet. “When I couldn’t do that, I was punished.”
“How?” Cethin asked, his voice a low growl that rivaled Razik’s.
