Whatever tomorrow might bring, we had this moment. We had now, and I would cherish it.
The world was gray,but a single square of golden light hovered in front of me. I drifted toward it, drawn by an inexorable force—warm and inviting. The light spread around me the closer I got, dispelling the gray, and a window formed, looking into an old-style tavern. People sat drinking and eating at wooden benches. But their faces were blurred, indistinct. The more I tried to decipher them, the blurrier they got, but a white gold beam of light illuminated a woman behind the bar at the far end of the room. She wiped at the counter, a soft smile on her face as she looked out at the patrons. My scalp prickled the more I stared at her. Those large brown eyes. That smile…I’d seen that smile before. So many times.
Nani? “Nani!”
She frowned and turned her head to look at me, but I was pulled into darkness before our gazes could catch.
I was dreaming.
I could go back.
Iwantedto get back to her.
The darkness melted, leaving me standing on cracked flagstones surrounded by crumbling pillars that held up nothing.The murky world beyond shifted and distorted as if the terrain was undecided.
Araz stepped out from between two pillars. “You escaped my winged beasts.”
Not Araz.
Evil wearing his skin.
Yeah, I needed to remind myself of that. To temper the flutter in my belly and the eagerness of my pulse. This was not my man.
I lifted my chin and asked the question that had been bugging me ever since we were attacked. “You have the throne, so why are you still after me?”
His eyes flinched. “I don’t like unfinished business.”
That didn’t ring true. “You left me alive at camp.”
He shrugged a muscle-rounded shoulder and walked closer. “I needed you alive then, but I planned to come back and end you. You were quicker to act than I anticipated.” He was so close now that if I reached out, I could touch him. I curled my hands into fists. “Where are the civilians?” he asked.
“Like I’d tell you that.”
He exhaled softly, his gaze darkening. Boring into me. “I could delve into your mind and find out.”
A spark of panic burst in my chest, but I quickly staunched it with logic and truth. If he had the power to read my mind, to truly see what I knew, then he wouldn’t be messing around. He’d just…do it.
I shrugged. “Go on then?”
His jaw flexed.
“I’m waiting.” I arched a brow as his topaz eyes flinched. “You can’t, can you? Because if you could have, you wouldn’t have needed to send ankh to spy for you, and you wouldn’t be wasting my time here either.”
He moved fast, his hand going to my throat, his lips so close that for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me. My mind revolted even as my body leaned into him.
His mouth curved cruelly. “You remember my touch. How I feltdeepinside you. Do you want that feeling again, Leela? If I give it to you, will you tell me where you are and allow me to slit your pretty throat?”
My pulse beat like a trapped bird beneath his thumb as his words conjured images I’d much rather forget. “Let go of me.”
He leaned in, lips coasting over mine, and I was thrown back to the dream of the other night—him deep inside me, his hands on my hips, gripping hard as he fucked me. My pussy throbbed at the memory, and bile stung my throat, but I’d be damned if I let him see how he was affecting me.
“Yes…there it is,” he whispered against my mouth. “Your arousal is written all over your face.”
I twisted, looking away, and caught sight of a figure by the pillars behind us.
Araz.
Dressed in a loose white tunic and dark pants, his dark hair twisted in a knot, topaz eyes bright with shock, it was him. The real him. His appearance landed like a fist to the gut.
