“Reyva, get up. Now. Get UP,” Dommik's distorted voice demanded behind me.
The doors to the Hive were five feet away. Five feet to safety. Where were the guards? Even if they were at their post, I’m not sure what anyone could do against a phantom.
I was frozen in place, the crimson eyes hypnotizing me into physical submission.
“Comeeee toooo meeee.”
All of my sense of purpose, all of my desire to live another day, all of it, siphoned completely out of my being in the matter of seconds, leaving my body a cold, unfeeling husk.
Muscled arms scooped me from the stone steps, and I was moving away from the dark mist and into the Hive. But the deep, red eyes stayed locked on mine.
“I’llll findddd youuuu.”
Chapter 17
No Rush
“Incompetent IDIOTS! Where were you?!” Dommik scolded his subordinates while gently setting me down on a nearby bench. “A shade is loose on the grounds. Send for a priestess to seal the wards IMMEDIATELY.”
I gripped the seat as I struggled to take in air. The stare from that…thing… burned into my memory.
I was empty. Completely and utterly empty.
This was worse than the weight of Cova’s disappointment in me. This was worse than the loneliness of my loveless marriage. This was vast, unending, relentless, nothingness.
“I said IMMEDIATELY! GO!” Dommik repeated, his exposed fangs and volume garnering attention from party guests down the hall.
Guards scurried into action as Dommik turned his attention back to me. His wild eyes softened as he took me in.
I’m not hurt. I’m safe,I wanted to tell him. I wanted to believe it myself. Through each breath, I tried reaching for the words but they turned to ash in my throat.
He held my shoulders and even with the fabric of his jacket between us, the touch felt taboo. But I didn’t brush him away. The contact made me feel something besides the heavy void of nothingness.
Bring me back,I thought. I wanted to touch him and to tell him this was helping, but my limbs grew heavier by the second.
“Lovely, breathe with me. Breathe.” He demonstrated guided breaths and I followed his lead.
I closed my eyes—taking in a deep, measured breath—and I opened my eyes as I let out a synchronized exhale with Dommik. Pine, leather, and storm-filled eyes all grounded me back into reality.
A small smirk emerged across his square jaw. “There you go. Good girl.”
The touch. The praise.
He was doing a poor job of acting like I was ‘just an assignment’.
Dommik was reviving my breath for a second time when a tornadic wind shoved the commander aside. Rhazien’s was all fury and fangs. “Reyva. I’m here.”
Rhazien’s muscled arms and formal cloak created a cocoon around my body, enveloping me in his embrace, and I melted into the safety of the royal immortal.
“What happened?” He threw the question out to no one in particular as he inspected me.
Dommik responded with the bare minimum of information, but Rhazien was barely listening. He couldn’t be. Not with the way he was looking at me. His green eyes darted from cheek to cheek. Checking for harm. Or maybe traces from his commander.
“Enough. I’ll need a full report tomorrow. We’re done here.” His words were harsh and final to the vampires around us.
I buried myself into his shoulder and fixed my eyes on the stone floor. I couldn’t close them without conjuring the vision of the crimson glare from the phantom we’d encountered.
“Majesty, shall I disperse the party guests?” A new set of feet approached with a nimble gait.
