Page 75 of Silk and Sirens

Langdon stood rigid in the middle of the floor, eyes locked on Aeris, but he wasn’t really seeing her. His gaze was vacant, glassy, miles away.

Shit.

“He just … turned up,” Aeris explained, voice tight with panic. Langdon’s knees buckled and he dropped hard, the acrid stench of charred flesh clinging to the air.

Aeris knelt beside him instantly, reaching for his face with delicate hands. But he didn’t react. Langdon sometimes lost himself to his past, getting caught in the memories where he struggled to break free into reality.

His chest rose and fell in sharp, frantic bursts. Too fast, too shallow.

Fuck.

Langdon’s episodes had grown rarer, but when they hit, they hit hard.

I moved fast, sliding an arm under his shoulder and hauling him to his feet. His frame was rigid, muscles locked tight.

“Lang,” I said firmly. “You’re alright. I’ve got you.”

“Is he okay?” Aeris asked, eyes wide with worry as she hovered close.

I ignored her, snapping my fingers sharply in front of Langdon’s face. No flinch. Nothing. When he didn’t react to a harder hit, I pulled him tighter against my chest, one arm banded across his back, grounding him with pressure the way I’d learned worked best.

Except I was too warm. Too hot. Just like the fire that gave him those scars.

“Caden …”

“Get out,” I snapped, voice final.

She hesitated, glancing at Langdon whose breathing had turned even harsher, ragged, gasping and choking on smoke that wasn’t there.

“Aeris,” I growled in warning.

For once, she didn’t argue. She shot one last worried look at Langdon then turned and left without another word.

“Come on, mate. You’re okay,” I gritted out, half-dragging Langdon’s rigid body down the hallway and into the closest bathroom. “Breathe with me. In … and out.”

I didn’t waste time stripping either of us, I just slammed the shower on full cold and shoved us both under the brutal spray.

The icy water hit like needles, burning across my skin and seizing my muscles. But I held him tighter, arms locked around his chest, grounding him with every ounce of pressure I could give as the cold shock tried to yank him back to the present.

Chapter 32

Aeris

The warm water embraced me, and for those few precious minutes, everything else faded. Selene’s constant threats. Caden’s consuming intensity. No anger. No sorrow. No crushing weight of deception. Just the steady rhythm of my own heartbeat. Suspended. Weightless. Existing in nothing at all beneath the water.

Until my burning lungs dragged me back to the surface.

I came up slowly, the cooler air prickling against my wet skin.

Blinking my eyes open I found Caden leaning against the wall, his expression so callous it dropped the room’s temperature several degrees.

Shit.

“I’m sorry, you were in the main bathroom,” I explained. It probably didn’t look great with me casually using the en-suite attached to the first bedroom I’d found, but he was the one that demanded I stay the night. Besides, I needed to calm down, rebuild the walls he’d torn down so easily with nothing more than a look and a handful of precarious words.

He pushed off the wall and took a few slow steps forward. He’d changed into a pair of grey sweats and nothing else. My eyes betrayed me instantly, dragging across the bare, sculpted expanse of his chest.

He was a cold, devastating work of art.