Pushing my specter away, I did as she asked, bawling until my throat was raw and the Glaith glowed with unnatural light—and still, the tears continued to fall with no sign of stopping. When my breath came in staggered gasps, blackness dotting the edges of my vision, Belle called for the other Priestesses.
“We’re going to help you rest, Mila. We’re going to take the pain away.”
Lips curled back, I pulled away. “N-No. Feeling this”—I stabbed at my chest—“is the only thing that makes sense. I was with her wh-when, when he…” I staggered crumpling beneath a fresh wave of tears. “I couldn’t—I couldn’tdoanything! He’s dead! They’re a-all dead.”
“Sleep now, Mila,” she said, placing a gentle hand on the side of my face, great luminous eyes filled with sympathetic tears. “Let me take some of the hurt.”
Beautifully soft Priestess ki silenced any further argument.
Chapter 17
I woke with heat moving beneath my skin. Crawling through sinew, kissing aching, tired muscles with fresh strength. Renewing all that was depleted, and leaving behind the purest vitality that forced lucidity upon me before I’d completely left my foggy nightmares behind.
Asher.
I knew before my eyes flicked open. Before alien amusement teased at groggy edges and called me to continue our battle. Didn’t bother to hide the sinister, hungry twist pulling me awake.
Sweating, I let my senses flare out, expecting to find a battalion of soldiers lurking in the gloom. I tried to banish the Elite ki seething in my blood, to replace it with the ancient might of the forest before I succumbed to temptation.
To him.
But the wood was still. Silent, except for the night things going about their business.
Heavy.
Flushed with unnatural heat, I gathered myself, adjusting my tunic as I staggered into alertness. And for the first time since my ki had begun to flourish, I didn’t trust the story whispering through my blood.
He was here. Manipulating me from the shadows. Glutting himself on my power—feeding my pendant with Elite ki. Toying with the bond he’d left etched on my very bones, he helped himself. Drank deep of my every flitting, terrified emotion. Leaving nothing untouched.
Absolutelynothing.
I could feel the scratching sweep of calloused palms. Knew the strength of his hands, and the surety of his touch. That confidence found the peaks of my breasts and lingered there. Making the little nubs tighten and swell with something forbidden I’d only ever dared to explore when the hour was darkest. Something hot and sinful andnot meant for him.
But still, he took. Paying for it with a glimpse of that very samesomethingwrithing in him. Though it was hotter. Darker. More demanding and hungry than anything I’d ever known before.
Like molten steel. Somehow hard and hot and aching all at once.
I gasped, sweating freely in spite of the damp chill in the night breeze. Back arching against sticks and leaves, I unintentionally sent his hunger lurching south when I pressed my knees together and drew his attention to what was building between my thighs.
Ravenous. Starving to corrupt and take and claim.
To possess.
Clawing at the spot where my pendant had been, I tried to deny it. To denyhim. Rolled to hands and knees, then forced my eyes to open and see what was real, for Captain Asher Rawlings wasn’t the only one who’d found a new source of strength.
And mine waswilling.Goddess, the forest waseagerfor the exchange of primordial ambrosia for my paltry, Elite-tainted ki.
Hissing, I buried my fists in the rich loam that had been my pillow, connecting with the limitless network of root fibers and creatures thriving all around us.
The captain made no effort to hide. Turning toward the attention of so ancient a being, he dared to smile, as if to say,come on then, little Priestess. Let’s play.
And then I felt it.
My pendant. Pressed to the soil only half a night’s walk from the very spot where I knelt, the arrogant sadist!
He thought himself above me? Thought his precious control and Elite training could surpass what the forest had given me? I laughed, clapping the rich earth from my palms and took what the grandmother freely offered, using it to fuel my flight and reclaim what he’d stolen.
“Good evening, Triloth,” came a voice from the shadows—and I scrambled back with a barely contained scream. “Beautiful night, isn’t it—”
