Aras made a grumbling sound and got up to get dressed as well. “You are so childish.”
“Am not.”
He snorted a laugh. Then he paused. “What secret did that man tell you?”
“I promised not to share it.”
“Right,” Aras muttered.
I took his hand. “I promised him, Aras. And this secret could hurt his people if it got out. He's trusting me because I trusted them with ways to hurt my people. Do you understand?”
He paused, then nodded. “All right. Just don't go off alone with beautiful men anymore.”
“I'm the King. I'm needed in private meetings.”
Aras rolled his eyes. “Don't think that I don't know how you made sure that I knew you were going into one of those meetings with a handsome Eljaffna.”
“First, beautiful, and now, handsome,” I mused. “It sounds as if I should be jealous, not you.”
“You know he's not my type.”
“What? Handsome or beautiful?”
Aras shook his head. “Lyrandir, stop.”
Going serious, I said, “This is not the most fortunate time for us to come together. I am under a lot of stress and it's made me . . .”
“Short-tempered?” he offered. “Irrational? Brutish? An asshole?”
I chuckled. “Yes, perhaps all those things. If you could hold on a little longer, I know we can be great together.”
Aras lifted on his heels to press our foreheads together. “I believe that too.”
“So, you'll hold on?”
“Until you hack off my hands and cast me away.”
I pulled back to grimace at him. “Dear Gods, Aras! What terrible imagery. We were having a romantic moment.”
Aras burst out laughing. When he settled into a smile, he said, “All of our moments are unique and special to me. Even the terrible ones.”
His words hardened my resolve to do whatever I had to do to get the Eye. I wanted to protect my people and my throne, yes, but my main motivation had become Aras. I needed my mate to be truly mine. I needed to claim him before the world. And I especially needed him to know who he belonged to.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Breathe slowly,the Eye said.Deeply. Count to seven. Now exhale to seven. Good. Focus on your breath.
It was just before dawn and Aras was still asleep in our bed, his ebony hair clinging to the sleek fur of his face. I was sitting cross-legged on the rug beside the bed, and I couldn't help admiring him for a moment. I loved the sprawl of his big body and his scent soaking into my sheets. But I couldn't get lost in him. I needed to focus on letting a piece of the Goddess into me.
Relax the muscles of your scalp,the Eye said.Feel them smooth. Now, your forehead.
The Eye went down my body, telling me to relax each muscle group. Surprisingly, it worked. Simply focusing on the task helped me accomplish it. By the time she was done, I was so relaxed that I couldn't feel my body. In that relaxed state, the Eye's next words didn't shock or scare me. They fell into the calm pool of my mind like a pebble, barely causing a ripple.
I will enter now. Try not to resist,the Eye said.
I felt her presence gather. It felt as if it gained physical weight, growing heavy in my head. That heaviness spread. I felt it branch out like a web through my body and where it went, I came awake. But not to myself. I was still relaxed, sprawledin my mind much as Aras was in my bed. Prone. Watching as another took control of the thing that was most mine in this world—my body. But as the Eye's consciousness took over, I remained calm. The weight of my responsibilities was hers now. I hadn't considered how that would feel—how freeing it was.
And then the Eye gathered her power. I gasped. No, she did. My body did. Air entered my lungs along with magic. It shimmered through me. Fire, but as different from my Fire Magic as Earth was. This was magic beyond that which my body could hold. And yet, the Eye's consciousness made it possible. Because I did not truly hold the magic. She did. She merely channeled it through me, drawing it from the jewel to work harmoniously with the magic inside me.
