“Ready to hit the forest?” Aethan asked. “I need to work off some of this shit riding me.”
Blaéz looked up. Dagan had gone, only the lingering scent of tobacco remained. Blaéz hadn’t even noticed Aethan wore their usual black Gi’s and tee, or remembered that he had a training session scheduled with the warrior.
Aethan’s gray eyes narrowed, he looked Blaéz over. “You look like you’ve been hit by a truck.”
“Is that what it is?” Blaéz swallowed some of his liquor, the burning glide down his throat fading too fast. “She loves me and I can’t say shit. I don’t even know what’s real anymore.”
“Speak to Lila,” Aethan said. “The Oracle will surely know something. Hell, she knew a damn sight more about Echo and me.”
Speak to Lila? Let her see exactly what he was? Through the millennia, wherever they’d been based, he’d never spoken to any of the Oracles that worked with them.
But for the chance of a normal life with Darci, he might have no choice.
Why did she affect him this way? Why only her in all these centuries?
What you seek is long gone. What you see is but a shadow of what once was.Damon’s words rolled around in his head again. The only thing he ever sought was his soul…so if that was long gone…then Maloch didn’t have it? No, it didn’t make sense. It was the only way Maloch could summon him.
Blaéz frowned…only with Darci did he feel. It was almost as if she…
Even with his fading emotion, it felt as if a tanker had dropped on him, then exploded. Shrapnel landing all over. He stumbled back.
No. Fucking. Way.
It was all a lie. A trick his mind played on him.
“You okay, man?” Aethan’s voice came to him from a distance.
Blaéz stared blankly at his friend and shook his head. Slowly, he set the glass down on the counter. “Raincheck on the fight.”
He needed space. Distance. He had to get away from the castle and work through this keg of dynamite logically. If Darci came looking for him, he would probably destroy everything around him if emotions touched him now.
He walked out onto the wet terrace. Moments later, he found himself on the edge of the cliff. Furious waves crashed against the rock-face and sprayed him with water.
Whoever was responsible for this sick fucking joke, using Darci in their games to taunt him, he’d find the prick and make him hurt. Then he’d make him long for death.
The rains came down heavier. Thunder crashed overhead. In a flurry of wings, the birds took flight. But some remained. The crows. The Morrigan’s shape-shifting warriors. It figured.
“I want her here.Now.” They would hear him even between the rustling rain and crashing waves. At the order, the birds took off with a harsh, discordant clicking sound.
Rain drenching him, Blaéz hunkered on the cold, damp, rugged surface, arms braced on his thighs and waited…
I know you guys—the gods—have a silvery-blue aura, the angels are silvery-white, and humans are a warm yellow…but Darci’s, hers is a pale green.Echo’s comment of so long ago came back to him.
Green? How could Darci’s be green? Humans were yellow and immortals were blue. There’s no such thing as green in the aura scheme. Or there shouldn’t be.
And yet he couldn’t doubt Echo.
He scanned the turbulent skies, blinking back the rain from his eyes. What was keeping The Morrigan when she’d been practically tripping on his heels recently? Only she could confirm his suspicion. And if it proved true, then the Fates had played a damn sick joke on him.
Chapter 24
Darci jerked upright in bed,her heart thudding at the harsh, dissonant sounds of crashing thunder. Lightning brightened the bedroom as rain drummed against the glass panes.
Blaéz’s side of the bed was empty. She wasn’t surprised, but just thinking about him and a smile curved her mouth. Pushing the covers aside, she raked back her tangled hair and found Blaéz’s discarded t-shirt on the bed. She blew out a tired breath as she pulled it on. Well, no surprise there, the man had kept her awake until early hours of the morning.
She padded to the half-open bedroom window to stare out at the gray miasma-covered garden.
A shiver raced over her skin. Darci rubbed her arms. About to close the window, a bird flew straight at her. She shrieked and leaped back.God!Pressing a hand to her pounding chest, she eyed the raven circling the room and hoped it would leave.
