“Latin forshadowed nothingness?”
“Essentially.”
He fondled the cobalt gem of my necklace. “Hmm. Even this ornate gift from your mother is rooted in deception, a means to monitor your whereabouts.”
“No. It’s not like that.”
“Well, it certainly isn’t now. You’ve seen to it, haven’t you? Complex spellwork was required to neuter it.” He frowned. “Yet you still wear it, still hold your mother so dear to your heart.”
“Stop… stop… talking about my family.”
“If only that were possible. Alas, given the circumstances it is not.”
An involuntary moan escaped me when he slid his hand down the column of my throat and across my collarbone, heat radiating everywhere, then returning the areas he touched to my normal temperature—death-cold, as I called it.
The relief was… another level.
“I ensured I could do this for you when I discovered what they had created to harm you, Winter.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed through my memories, frantically trying to find one to hold on to through all of this—the madness, the violence of the world against me, this being’s manipulations… all of it.
It slammed into me—just like I needed it to.
“Why don’t we just head down to the Cafeteria?” Zayn’s eyes lit up. “Like a relationship unit.”
“Relationship unit?” Evira chuckled.
Zayn frowned, then looked to me. “What does your family call it again?”
“A foursome.”
He snapped his fingers. “That’s it, yeah.” He took us all in. “So, why don’t we head down there, kind of make this now established foursome thing between us known, and have it mark it for ourselves as well?”
“I believe last night marked it extremely well,” Vaxan pointed out.
Yes.
Evira. Vaxan. Zayn.
My loves.
I needed to be back with them. They were waiting for me. We were supposed to go riding and then—
Ruxnoth’s voice jarred me from it too soon, asking me in that deep, soothing tone, “Do you still wish me to get my hands off you, as you so eloquently put it?”
I swallowed thickly.
A tap to my cheek from him had my eyes snapping open.
His own were looking back at me, gentleness and understanding shining at me. “I can certainly take away theeffects ofNihilumbra. In fact, I am the only being alive who can. I can also do more than that.”
“More?”
“I can make you feel alive, deathborn darling.”
A shuddering breath escaped me. “Wh—what do you want from me?”
He smirked. “Mmm. Now we are truly getting somewhere.”
