For her.
He could think of nothing better. But even the thought of it felt like flying too close to the sun. Fate had been kind enough to bring them together.
But fate could be cruel, too. He knew that all too well.
27
Francine
Francine came to in painful increments. Each breath hurt in a different way. She wanted to curl up and whine like a kitten until it all went away.
“Don’t be afraid. You’re injured, but we’re safe.” A gentle hand rested on her shoulder; Julian’s scent wound around her, so much less tentative than his touch. Warmth surrounded her. “You can rest as long as you need.”
That made her eyes snap open.
She was lying on a huge bed festooned with luxurious furs and cloud-soft woolen blankets. Ignoring the pain, she sat up. Spine straight as she could make it, she swung her legs off the side of the bed and crossed her ankles neatly.A Delacourt is always elegant and in control.
Julian was in an armchair next to the bed, his eyes grave and weariness more deeply etched on his face than usual. Her eyes flicked over him, assessing. He appeared unhurt.
She knew better than to believe that. He could be all but dead and stillappear unhurt. It didn’t mean anything.
He was also dressed, in a long, robe-like garment of what looked like embroidered silk. The fabric was a midnight blue with a deep black shimmer over it. Against the dark fabric and his pale skin, his eyes stood out like emeralds. He looked like a cursed king, or some forgotten, lonely god.
She was completely naked.
In the microsecond it took her to realize that she had been modestly covered by the furs and blankets before she rose, she managed to keep her eyes level and her breathing steady. Shifters weren’t prudish. She had nothing to be ashamed of.
Besides, a contrary part of her whispered deep in her mind,let him look.
He didn’t. His eyes stayed fixed on her own.
“Where are we?” she demanded.
“The famed fortress of the shadow dragons,” he replied coolly, and it took all the elegance and self-control of the Delacourts not to sneer and groan and roll her eyes at the same time. Sheknewthat. She knew…
What did she remember? Fleeing the ship. Flying through an ice storm and landing somewhere out of the storm but no less cold. God, the cold. And then Julian had done something, and a door had appeared in the ice…
…and she was buck-ass naked in an enchanted fortress unknown miles beneath the surface of the world. Her hand flew to her neck and found the tiny, fragile scale that was the only thing keeping her from being entombed in solid stone.
Her pulse beat behind it, so fast the world spun around her.
“You’re safe,” Julian said quickly. He rose and came to her side. “My magic will keep you safe.”
“Unless you die in here.”
“I intend to stay alive.”
She forced herself to look him in the eye, and once she was, she couldn’t stop. Whatever guilty instinct had prevented herlooking directly at him when they first met was well and truly gone.
“That’s a change,” she said.
He met her gaze, his chilly eyes all she could see. “Yes.”
Was that it? She waited.
When it became clear he wasn’t going to say anything else, she cleared her throat and forced her eyes away.
“How long was I asleep?”
