His eyes looked like the eyes of a stranger. The blue one was dark and unseeing, the red one ablaze and glowing with feral lust.
“Can you hear me?” I asked. “Are you still in there, Timur? Or have I already lost you?”
My heart ached with sorrow and fear.
Had the dragon won? Had it taken over my man completely?
He stiffened under me. His hands grabbed for me again. His mouth opened with a snarl, but no words came out.
“Timur, come back to me. Please,” I whimpered softly. “I need you. I…I love you.”
Pouring out my deepest emotion felt like opening my heart raw for him to see. He couldn’t feel me, he didn’t appear to even see me, but I needed him to know this one thing, even if it was the last thing he could comprehend.
I kissed him, swallowing his ragged breaths and breathing the three little words into him again, “I love you.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing him close.
“I love you, Timur. With all my heart. You can’t leave me. You can’teverleave me.”
His hands searched for me blindly, like he truly couldn’t see or even comprehend me being right there with him. His claws and fingers scraped against my back, finding no purchase.
Then I sensed a much softer touch. It tickled my upper arm, like a stroke of a feather. A single tendril emerged from his left arm, its unraveled shadowy end searching for an opening in myleilatha.
I didn’t ask him to feel me this time. I didn’t coax the tendril out. It came on its own, and since the dragons didn’t have tendrils, I believed it was Timur who released it, searching for me.
“I’m here. I’m right here, my darling.” I repositioned my arm, aligning theleilathawith the searching filaments of Timur’s magical shadows.
Finding its goal, the tendril slipped in promptly. The moment felt like grasping an outstretched hand. Once the connection happened, I could finally breathe again.
“There you are,” I exhaled, resting my head on Timur’s wide chest. “Stay with me. Just like this.”
Seventeen
Timur
Iwas drowning in the storm of sand, heat, and absolute darkness. I called for help but couldn’t hear my own voice. I reached for salvation but didn’t know where to find it.
And then…
It felt like the sand clouds parted, and I could draw in a breath of fresh air. Clean, sweet, and refreshingly gentle, I recognized her presence at once.
Elaine…
I tried to say her name out loud, but only growls painfully tore out of my dry throat. Pain was everywhere. My body no longer felt like my own. It moved, but not under my command. I wasn’t sure where I was or who I was now. Or whether I still existed at all.
I love you.
It was more than a phrase. Her confession came with a swell of warmth that washed away the darkness and melted the rigid cage trapping my mind.
“Stay with me…” the words fluttered by on a breeze of shimmer that chased away the storm. “Just like this…”
It was a simple invitation, easy to obey because it required nothing from me. Just to stay where I was. Just to be. To exist while the warmth of her love cradled me, protecting me from the storm.
So I did.
I lived. I breathed. Iwas.
From my mind, my awareness spread out into my body, reclaiming it breath by breath and limb by limb. I became aware of the heart beating in my chest and the blood rushing through my veins. My muscles flexed, then relaxed, following my orders. My fingers twitched. My eyes opened, focusing on the stone ceiling above dotted with glowing spots.
