Rholker frowns but doesn’t offer any retort; he merely gestures toward my cage.
I press myself back further as Dahlia reaches the bars. The others fill the space behind her, making my only view their dark cloaks and absent faces.
My breath is ragged as it escapes my chest.
It surprises me when Rholker is the next one to speak.
“Give them your hand.” His command rumbles through mybeing—pure dissonance—and I am frozen in place. It strikes something so deep in my soul that I would be foolish to ignore it.
Apparently I am that foolish because I say, “No.”
A hissing sound comes from the shadows in front of me. I move until my back is flush against the cold bars.
“Do you think you can hide from us, little one?” Dahlia says. Her voice is heavy and ancient andfrozen, like the chunks of ice scattered along the way to the Enduar mountains.
I keep my mouth shut, but it doesn’t stop the thud on the ground or scales scraping against wood. My whole body starts to tremble as I look down at the viper in my path. Its muscular body coils to the left and right before reaching my foot.
Biting down on my lip hard enough to draw blood, I grasp onto the iron bar with one hand and pull myself up, all while wielding my weapon. The sudden movement agitates the snake, causing it to bare its fangs seconds before it lunges. I strike at it and miss. The second its teeth connect with my bare foot, a chill spreads. The ice crawls through my insides, icing over my muscles, stomach, lungs… heart.
“Stop. Fucking. Touching. ME!”I rage.
A blazing warmth spreads across my body as the Fuegorra fights against the darkness. The light grows bright enough to burn my eyes, and I squeeze them shut. There is a garbled sound from Rholker, and I expect the glow to scare away the damned serpent, but instead, the heat freezes over.
Black edges my vision, and I fall to the ground.
The sensationof Teo’s fingers trailing down my scarred back brings me back to my senses with a stinging, disorienting stabthrough my ribs. Even though the memory is sweet, something in it has been twisted—I shouldn’t be here right now.
I was… in Zlosa. With Rholker. The rest of the specific details fizzle out and lay in razor-sharp shards at my feet.
There is something dark in the shadows of the cave that didn’t exist before. Something that lurks behind the glow-glitter dusted stones and between the luminflor and lumicaps. It doesn’t speak or try to interfere—it watches. Studying every detail of my nude form, and memorizing the trail of my mate’s finger.
Suspended between time and thought, I am unable to resist the shudder of his rough fingers and gentle touch. The gasp that escapes my mouth is as loud as thunder. I see the scene from all angles, finally brave enough to tip my head over my shoulder as he takes in the scars representing my shame. It hurts to see the rage in his eyes. But… it melts away to sadness. Then resolution.
My Teo. Always analytical, so often disciplined. This memory is too private, so I try to tear it from before my eyes and lock it in some gilded box, never to be touched again.
I can’t.
He takes my hand again, squeezing and leading me into the pool. What comes next is burned into my mind with excruciating detail, like the stone artwork etched all across Enduvida. This should belong to me and him alone, but the lurking presence persists. I try to black out my mind to shield Teo from anyone seeing us in the water. Small, brilliantly colored particles of blue and green dance around us as we move.
This memory was pure heat and bliss, but I thrash against the intrusion my lover isn’t aware of. Far too late, I think of the windows in my mind that I used to keep Teo from reading my thoughts.
Teo’s teeth graze against my neck, and I grasp at the corners of those windows. My fingers slip as I fight for purchase. The memory continues in horrifying detail, prying apart the most sacred moments of my life.
I slam my fist against the shudders, closing them for good…
And wake up gasping for breath on the cold hard ground. The dryness in my throat causes the gasp to turn into a sputtering cough. Gods, it feels like I’ve swallowed stone shards and hacked them back up.
Clutching at my neck, my eyes focus on the tall, metal bars caging me in like a wicked, dark hand holding my body in place—as if I were no more than an insect. Near my head, a small, forked tongue flicks out and hisses. Every muscle in my body coils tight and then springs away from that spot.
I look up to see the six hooded women watching with hidden eyes while Rholker stands behind them. His face is hard, but a glimmer of concern flickers with a twitch of his lips.
My heart continues to race—did he see all of that? He’ll kill me. He’ll kill Teo?—
“Well?” he asks, clearly annoyed and clueless.
A splash of relief covers my innards.
“We found what you sought,” one of the women says. “She fucked the troll in a hot spring.”
