Gritting my teeth, I stared at the fast-flowing river, rising from the rainstorm that wouldn’t relent.
Ilae appeared in the mist, his wings slicing the air as he swooped low. Long talons gouged deep marks into a nearby boulder as he settled atop it. His head twitched between me and the Seer crumpled on the ground at my back.
He pressed an image of another auravane into my mind,Ysolthe. A question hovered beneath it, as if through our connection, he sensed my new one.
A muscle feathered in my jaw. I rubbed my hand along the beard that had grown out during our game in the mountains.
Another throb from her injury needled my attention.
I pivoted to face her again.
Her eyes still closed, arms wrapped around her middle, lying among the rocks and rain, she looked pitiful. The center of my chest tugged me forward, begging me to go to her. To comfort her. To hold her. To heal her.
I strangled it into submission. Shook it like I couldn’t shake her.
Ilae hopped along the bank until he was inches away from her crumpled form. Yet when he crouched and nudged her with his beak, a beast—feral and frothing—reared inside me. In a blink, I was beside her, and my bird was flapping away.
No one and nothing can touch what is mine.
Sylaira glared up at me as I took his place. Her pink lips pressed into a thin line. But it didn’t hide the tremble in her chin. Whether it was from pain or cold, I didn’t know, but I wanted it to stop.
I raked my hands through my wet hair, leaving it even more of a mess than it had been. The leather strip tying it back barely held more than a few strands. I tugged it free and wrapped it around my wrist for later instead.
“We need to seek shelter and wait out the storm. Can you stand or do you need help?” I asked her, trying to keep the exasperation out of my tone and utterly failing.
“Do not touch me again,” she threatened, teeth clenched.
The ache from her side of our connection had lessened, and as I brushed against it, I realized she’d erected some sort of barrier. Though it was cracked, and the trickles of thoughts and feelings she let through were a clear result of her struggle.
A low growl vibrated in my chest. “Just because you are my mate doesn’t mean you’re not also my prisoner. This changes nothing. I still have to deliver you to Sivy. So tell me, little fugitive, do you need my help to move again?”
“Fuck you,” she spit out immediately. Ethereal strands slipped from beneath her, and she shoved her hands into the sand, attempting to push off the ground. Thin and pale against the mist, her power failed to aid her. She collapsed again with a curse.
Sick satisfaction bloomed inside me. I waited for her to admit she needed my help.
“I think my knee is shattered.”
A tear leaked down her cheek. I resisted the urge to reach out and swipe it away.
I wanted her broken…right?
And yet her sorrow felt so wrong.
Desire and duty were at war inside me, unable to reconcile their differences.
Flexing my hands, white unfurled, slinking between the stones upon which she rested and wrapping around her. The moment the tendrils brushed against her body, a shiver wound its way down my spine. It was like touching something sacred, and yet I knew it would never be mine.
Something I’d wanted more than air, something I’d risked my position for, knowing the consequences should the Goddess reveal a flicker of the truth.
This female was something that would destroy me in the end.
A small cry slipped past her lips as I eased her upright. With tender care, I added more magic, lifting under her shoulders and around her thighs to keep her off the ground. Sweat rolled down my back and gathered beneath my hair from the focus.
Then, I crafted a canopy over us, preventing further drenching.When I stepped forward, I angled my body to capture the backside of hers. “Which knee?” I asked, moments away from sticking my arm beneath her legs.
“Left,” she replied, her voice hoarse and strained.
I dragged in a deep breath. In one swift movement, I snatched her from the air, redirecting my magic to encase her left leg and keep it straight. Agony still etched her features as she collapsed against me.
