“The witch must know how to control it. Find her!” Daric shouted.
She shook her head. The beast would chase them down and rip them to shreds before they’d run ten steps down the tunnel.
“Go!” he cried, sweeping his knife in a wide arc when themonster sprang forward.
Rain stopped and watched, her eyes narrowing. Daric’s blade should have swiped the creature’s muzzle. His was a long dagger, almost a short sword, and the beast had lunged right at it.
“Did you see that?” She looked harder. “It wavered.”
“What? Go!”
There it was again—an odd ripple when the creature moved quickly.
Rain jumped to the left, drawing the monster with her.Daric’s shouts turned frantic, but Rain jumped back again almost as swiftly. The beast followed her movement, confirming her suspicion. It had flickered from one position to another and then back again. There was no in between, no solid movement.
“It’s not real,” she said, her panic subsiding. The ancient-looking monster hadn’t touched them, despite the cold murder in its lizard-like eyes andits ferocious jaws snapping at them. Itcouldn’t. “It’s an illusion. It’s a guardian, not an executioner.”
Sure of herself, Rain lunged forward, rolled, and thrust her knife upward just as she landed between the front legs of the deception. Her blade sliced into nothing instead of hitting a scaly breast and muscle. The illusion disappeared from her vision, gone, as though it had never existed.The bloodstone lay on the ground beside her.
Triumphant, she turned to Daric and saw his face turn ashen with grief-stricken panic. Her smile died.What happened?
“Rain! Rain!” His eyes wild, his voice raw and terrible, he let out a bloodcurdling howl. He sprang forward, plunging his dagger toward her.
Daric’s arm came down like a hammer. Rain threw her weight to the side, but his blade stillsliced a burning cut across the back of her shoulder.
“Daric! Stop!” She twisted to look at him.
His hand went slack. His knife clattered to the floor of the cavern, and he stared at her in abject horror. “Rain? My darling, what have I done?” He dropped to his knees beside her. “Your shoulder.” His cautious touch was shakier than a dead leaf in autumn.
“It’s nothing.” The wound throbbed, butthat was all. “I’m fine.”
“It’s bleeding.” He flinched, and she knew her pain was his. “You attacked the beast. You rolled right under it. I saw it rip you apart. I saw it kill you.” Daric’s voice veered toward guttural, and a sheen coated his eyes, turning them glassy in the dimness.
“It was a deception. Trickery.” Rain picked up the bloodstone that Daric had dropped and showed him. “I sawthrough the illusion. And once I proved to myself that the monster wasn’t there, it disappeared entirely.”
“You mean you weren’tsure?” he choked out.
Rain shrugged, although it hurt her shoulder. “Thisisa place of sorcery.”
“I swung at the beast and felt nothing until I grazed you.” Daric glanced at the bloodstone. “That broke the illusion for me, too?”
Rain nodded.
He swallowed, and thevision of her gruesome death was still there for her to see in his eyes—as well as the fear that he’d hurt her.
She touched his cheek, pressing her hand against the beard that had grown while they traveled. “It’s just a scratch, Daric, and now we have what we came for.”
The crease between his eyebrows deepened. “I’m sorry.”
I love you.“I know,” she answered.
Rain’s heart turned over heavily,churning with a mix of hope and despair about their future. She stroked his furrowed brow, smoothing a thick lock of hair back from his forehead. She let her fingers slide over one strong cheekbone and then traced the curve of his jaw, rough with whiskers. Her hand moved to his mouth. It was full and soft even though his lips were pressed together. Daric’s eyes heated. His lips parted, and hisbreathing accelerated.
She’d never touched him like this before, the way she’d always wanted to, exploring the textures of his skin and the slopes of his features. The contrasts thrilled her and made her want to touch him everywhere. And to feel him touch her.
Heat spread through Rain. Tension gathered low inside her. Deep down, she ached for things she’d never experienced.
Daric’s lids grewheavy. The low, vermillion light turned his blue irises wine-red, and Rain found herself wholly intoxicated. Her pulse beat hard enough to make her unusually aware of it. At her throat. In her thudding veins. Between her legs, where her body called to Daric.
