I whimpered and tightened my grip on my ears, my nails digging into the sides of my cheeks hard enough to draw blood.
The voices in my head grew louder, a screaming chorus that tore through my mind. I shrieked, the sound lost to a sudden, violent gust of wind that slammed into me and brought me to my knees.
I forced my head up with a wince and my soul nearly withered at the sight.
The same white hair that had shone in the garden just moments ago was now standing directly behind Talon. She moved like a ghoul, a silver knife held in her hand with the tip aimed precisely for the hollow of his neck.
“No,” I screamed, my throat burning with the force of it.
Talon turned, Bater following his movements, and the shadows evaporated into thin air as his stare landed on me. His eyes widened, navy irises darkening with what I believe to be fear.
But I did not fear for me, but for him. For the moment she swung her arm and buried the dagger into the neck of the man I loved.
I tried to point, tried to warn him of the blade at his throat, but my body was a leaden weight. My forehead hit the damp soil, a shaky breath escaping me as the darkness finally rushed in to claim me.
* * *
The darkness did not lift so much as it thinned, peeling away in jagged layers to reveal a sky that was dulled by a sheet of clouds. A throbbing pulsed behind my eyes, each beat leaving a string of pain in its wake.
I was cradled in a heat so intense and familiar it could only belong to one person.
My head rested in Talon’s lap, his muscular thighs acting as a makeshift pillow while the distant roar of the river provided a churning lullaby.
A shadow fell over me, and I felt a rough, calloused hand move to press against my forehead.
I flinched as the contact sent a spike of pain through my skull and a low growl vibrated through the chest behind me in response. Talon’s hand snapped out, slapping the intrusion away with a sharp crack that echoed off the obsidian bars of the nearby gate.
“Do not touch her,” Talon hissed.
“I am trying to help her, Master,” Bater replied softly.
Talon’s chest heaved beneath me, his thick arm tightening around my waist.
“Get Leona prepared,” he grumbled. “I will bring her to the infirmary immediately.”
I winced, my neck feeling stiff and heavy as I tried to lift my head to find his face.
I needed to see him to ensure the woman with the silver knife had not carved the life from his throat.
Before I could move, a tender hand pressed down on the side of my head to stop my momentum. He guided me back down with a firm gentleness until my face was burrowed deep into the heat of his folded legs.
“Lay still, little flame,” he soothed.
My eyes teared up for no reason at all, the salt stinging my skin as the first sob broke through my lips.
I buried myself closer to him, my nose tucking into the crease of his clothed groin as I sought the scent of him, that intoxicating mix of smoke and ozone.
“I thought you were going to die,” I cried out, the words muffled by the fabric of his trousers.
“Shhh,” he whispered, using his fingers to push away the sweat-dampened hair clinging to my cheeks. “Rest my love, we will get you better.”
The terror began to recede, replaced by the grounding stroke of his thumb against my temple. I let my heavy eyelids fall once more, looking up one last time at the glittering lanterns that hung like dying stars from the erected posts.
With my face pressed against his warmth and his heartbeat steady beneath my palm, I let the world slip away and slept.
35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE