Quickly, I scan the rock pools, seeking a place where thestone might jut out beneath the surface and enable me to gradually submerge her, bit by bit, do it slowly, while I help the blood back into her limbs…
A spot where she can access fluids, too. She needs clear and clean water…
As my thoughts churn, my focus lands on a section of rock near the waterfall at the back of the clearing.
Perfect. That water will be clean and fresh, and multiple sections of rock appear to create ledges that will enable me to step down into the warmth without shocking her body.
I veer to the right, around the front two pools, deftly evading the bones littering the ground.
We’re only a step away from the rear pond when my instincts prickle, and my back stiffens.
A shadow moves within the fog to my right. Quick. Furtive. But silent.
Damn. I was certain I’d hear the Alak-Teah before they got too close to us.
Soft clicks sound through the mist behind us. Then answering hisses come from the other side of the pool.
I count the differing tones of the clicks and hisses, identifying individual voices coming from three locations?—
No, make thatfive.Six. Seven…
I stop counting.
The mist suddenly swirls as dark forms dart within it, their movement too quick and the fog too opaque for me to make out their exact shape.
Coming from every direction, their now-angrytap-tappingjars my senses.
Fuck. Thyra’s so close to the water. But entering it now would only make us more vulnerable to attack. And any wayward use of my power could destroy the very warmthshe needs.
A snarl rises to my throat, fully throated.
No point in being quiet now.
As the shadows push toward the front of the mist, coming from every direction, seconds away from bursting out at us, I adjust my hold on Thyra to free up my right hand.
Steel rings sharply in the air as I pluck both blades from their scabbards at my back. At the same time, my icy power streams around my hand, the frost solidifying and keeping the two hilts encased in my fist. A deadly double-bladed extension of my arm once more.
But just as I step toward the danger, Thyra’s weight drops, her legs slipping away from my hips, her head heavier where I try to cradle it.
Plummeting to a knee so I don’t drop her, balancing her on my bent leg, I risk a glance at her face.
Her eyes have glazed over.
Fuck!Her mind must have drifted. And I fucking missed it.
A roar rises in my throat, dangerously loud. A perilously messy note thrums through my vocal cords, spearing out around us, becoming a command. “Thyra. Come back.”
But I’m out of time.
The shadowy, undefined forms tear through the mist, a blur of sharp edges and twisting limbs, an indescribable mass streaking toward us.
Hunched over Thyra like a feral wolf protecting its food, I have mere heartbeats to rage into the oncoming storm. “If you’re hungry, come feast on my blades!”
Chapter Fourteen
Thyra
Come back.
