“I’m sure. We’re good. I promise.”
“What’s going on?” Zarael said.
“Dodi had a vision,” C’ael said. “He saw Leela fall.” He frowned across at me. “You didn’t tell me that you fell.”
“I caught her so quickly, it was hardly much of a fall at all,” Zarael quipped. She smiled at Dodi. “If you have any more visions, you can tell me, and I’ll make sure that Leela is informed.”
He looked up at her, his eyes wide with awe.
“Come, love.” Falima gently steered him away toward the boat, misty gaze settling on me. “Thank you for everything.”
They climbed the ramp. The last to board the ship.
Kalani and the brothers disembarked.
“Is that everyone?” Zarael asked.
“Yes,” Kalani said.
Zarael turned to me. “You have the map to the nagrata?” I nodded. “Best to wait until daylight to make the trip. The nagrata live in an aerie high up in the mountains. It’s lethally cold at night. You’ll need the sun hours to survive it. Dress warm and do not be deceived by mild weather on approach.”
“We’ll stay here the night, then.”
She nodded curtly. “Be safe until we meet again, Leela. I would very much like to continue our friendship.”
Warmth bloomed in my chest. “Me too.”
“We will keep her alive,” Yudh said.
“We will guard her with our lives,” Dhoona added.
“My life is yours also,” C’ael said. “I vow it.”
Heat gathered behind my eyes, and I forced back the tears, lifting my chin. “Trust me, if I have my way, the only person dying will be the primordial evil.”
It wasstrange being in camp when everyone was gone. We didn’t want to be too far from the moona and the chaysavar just in case there was an attack, so we dragged pallets and blankets into the pillar room and slept beneath the stars. Yudh made a small fire to keep us warm, and Dhoona doled out dried meat and fruit.
The many hours of flying and lack of sleep hit me as I finally allowed my body to relax. I slipped into slumber easily, into dreams of blood-soaked battlefields and dark stormy skies laced with blue lightning, to the training ground in Prashikshan where the clang of metal on metal created a nostalgic symphony, to my shared quarters with Araz, to the night we finally became one in body. Yes, I wanted to stay in this dream.
I slipped deeper, surrendering to it.
Araz claimedmy lips in deep open-mouthed kisses that dragged my breath from my lungs, leaving me lightheaded. He kneaded and grasped at my thighs, opening me wide so he could fill me, stretch me, drawing strange guttural sounds up my throat. His hips kissed mine as he buried himself inside me, each thrust deeper, harder, as if he was making love to my soul.
“Mine.” His growl reverberated through me, settling at the nub of desire between my thighs. Oh gods. Oh, I didn’t want him to stop. Low, keening sounds climbed up my throat. Breathless. Tight. More.
“Yes, Leela. You want this.”
Needles danced across my scalp as he fisted my hair, yanking my head back to look down at me with eyes like flame.
I gasped, and he pushed his thumb into my mouth, forcing it open. “You love this, don’t you?”
My head spun, the world tipped, and I was on my front, his hand on the back of my head, holding me down as he spread me.
There was something off. Something.
He entered me, the angle deeper, hitting the spot that made my eyes roll.
“Yes…Please.”
