Disgusted, Valteri downed the spiced wine in one gulp, barely tasting it. And it did nothing to alleviate his chills from his wet clothes or the haunting nightmares of his past.
Not that anything ever did.
Tired and weary of it all, he headed for the door to give Ariel peace so that she could change.
“Valteri?”
He paused at his name on her lips, the sound cutting through him sharper than a dagger. “Aye, lady?”
She crossed the fathomless gulf that divided them with her endless grace and placed her delicate hand on his steel sleeve. “Thank you for listening to my ravings. And for your patience with me.”
As if showing her patience was hard for him.
Valteri swallowed, unsure of what to say to that. She stood so close to him that he could smell the sweet rose scent of her hair. She was so beautiful in the firelight. So warm and inviting. How he wanted something clever to say that would make her laugh.
But all he knew how to do was make people cry.
And curse him and his parentage.
“Warm yourself, Ariel. When you’re finished with your bath, you can tell me what you remember.”
She nodded, then frowned at him. Her eyes clouded as she staggered back. “I feel so strange suddenly.”
Valteri barely caught her as she crumpled. Swinging her up into his arms, he carried her toward the bed and laid her against the furs. She appeared so pale and fragile, lying there.
His harsh hand swallowed hers as he rubbed it, trying to warm her cold flesh. “Ariel?” A peculiar bluish tint came to her lips.
That wasn’t right.
Terrified she was dying, Valteri rose to get help, but before he could takethree steps, his stomach heaved. His vision dimmed. Unable to breathe, he tried to make it to the door.
Until his ears began to ring so loudly he couldn’t hear his frantic heartbeat.
As he reached out to steady himself, his knees buckled and sent him crashing to the floor. Valteri tried to force himself to rise.
He couldn’t. Instead, he lay there with one cheek to the cold stone, facing the fire.
Cecile ran out from under the bed to sniff at his cheeks. His throat dried to a burning thirst and felt as if it would ignite.
He must get help for Ariel.Get up, damn you, you worthless bastard! Move!Closing his eyes, he did his best to summon his strength.
Like everything else in his life, it abandoned him when he needed it most.
Suddenly, Cecile hissed, arching her back. Her tail bushed out. Valteri rolled over to see what had her so distressed. Again, he tried to rise and get help, yet all he could manage was to see a strange shape in the corner. One he’d seen before in his past.
A fleeting memory that was important and one he couldn’t remember.
Then everything fell to black.
Akantheus Leucious Forneus had been born for one purpose only—to be a thorn up the arse of his dark father. At least that was what his father had claimed since the day Thorn had cast down his father’s battle standard, pissed on it, and declared war on the old bastard.
He’d taken teenage rebellion to a whole new level. And who could blame him? Both of his fathers, natural and step, had ruthlessly used him as a tool in wars he’d wanted no part of, and then turned on him the moment he’d ceased to please them. The moment he’d voiced a single idea not theirs.
Fuck it.
They’d shown him no loyalty or love.
So why should they have expected loyalty from him in return? Their hypocrisy was mind-boggling. At what point in his life was he supposed to have learned such sentimentality as familial respect and bonding when all he’d ever known was bitter betrayal and hatred?
