Chapter 53 #2
He sprawled backward over the edge of the couch, hitting the floor hard with a startled grunt.
I scrambled to my feet as the ruined halves of my dress slipped from my shoulders and fell around my ankles. My fingers found the familiar curve of the bone hilt strapped to my thigh just as he pushed himself onto his knees.
I tore the knife free and thrust it between us, its point leveled at his throat. The hilt vibrated against my palm, warm as though it were still alive—as though it were urging me to finish him.
Thalassis stilled.
The softness in his features was gone. In its place was something cold and contemptuous, a smile that never reached his eyes.
"Think carefully, Elowen," he said evenly. "Imagine the consequences."
The Full Circle would come after me. I knew that well enough. I was already going to have to answer for what had happened in Illyra, but if I injured—or killed—Thalassis... there would be no coming back from that. Not even Aedric could save me from the Full Circle's wrath.
I edged backward toward the door.
Slowly, Thalassis rose to his feet. A savage gleam lit his eyes, a taunting smirk contorting his handsome face.
"Now where do you think you're going?"
"To... to Aedric," I whispered.
He let out a theatrical sigh. "Such a shame," he murmured. "To possess power like yours... and have so little command of it." His smile widened. "Lucky me."
He lifted one hand—and the air around me changed. It thickened at once, pressing against me with suffocating weight.
The enchantment. It was gone.
What moments before had behaved like air was simply water again.
It closed over my face, my hair, my skin. I clamped my mouth shut, terror seizing me. One instinctive breath—one panicked gasp—and seawater would pour into my lungs.
Thalassis tilted his head, cruel amusement curving his lips.
He was going to drown me.
"Did you really think you could threaten a High Lord in his own domain?" he asked with terrifying calm.
My vision blurred. My lungs screamed for air. I stumbled backward, but the magic followed me. My back struck the wall.
He took a step toward me. “This can all be over, Eidra,” he said. “Bond with me.”
The chamber burst inward.
The door tore from its hinges, slamming into the far wall with a deafening crack that shook the room.
Thalassis's magic shattered. The smothering force disappeared, and I collapsed, wracking coughs tearing through me as blessed air flooded my lungs.
A towering figure stood framed in the doorway.
Rìan.
His face was contorted with rage, silver blazing through his eyes with such ferocity that they seemed almost molten.
He stepped into the room. The air around him hummed with power, the very walls seeming to shiver beneath the force of his magic.
Then his gaze found me.
Huddled against the wall. One arm clutched protectively across my bare chest, the other held the bone knife in a trembling hand, its point still trained on Thalassis. Angry bruises were already blooming around my wrists where he'd grabbed me.
It was like watching an explosion that never reached the surface. Savage fury battered the walls of his control, its only evidence the terrible stillness that settled over him.
For one terrible heartbeat, all I saw was the Dark Prince. And he was terrifying.
Rìan strode straight to me, dropping to one knee before me. His eyes fixed on my face, never once straying to the bare skin I struggled to shield with my shaking arm.
“Are you hurt?” His voice was as dark as midnight.
"N-no."
His jaw tightened. Without a word, he caught the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head in one swift motion, exposing the smooth planes of his chest and the hard ridges of his abdomen. He held it out to me.
I took it from him, my fingers closing around the soft fabric, and pulled it over my head. It was still warm from his skin, carrying the familiar scent of worn leather and wild wind.
"Aedric," Thalassis stammered. "This isn't—this isn't what it looks like."
He took a defensive step toward us, and I flinched. Rìan saw.
His nostrils flared.
He rose, as powerful and inevitable as an avalanche. Whatever excuse Thalassis had been about to offer died in his throat.
One heartbeat, Rìan stood before me. The next, his hand was around Thalassis's throat. He ripped the High Lord off his feet and drove him into the wall with a crack that shook the chamber. Splintered coral rained to the floor.
Rìan's lips peeled back from his teeth in a vicious snarl. "You touched my woman."
Thalassis's sandaled feet kicked uselessly against the wall, both hands tearing at the iron grip crushing his throat. Panic replaced every trace of arrogance.
"Aed—" He choked violently. "Aedric... please..."
Rìan's fingers tightened.
"If... if I die..." Thalassis wheezed, his eyes bulging. "The barrier... Pelaga..."
My blood ran cold. If Thalassis died, the magic sustaining Pelaga would fail. The sea would reclaim the city.
"Let it drown," Rìan growled.
My stomach lurched.
"No!" His shoulders stiffened at the sound of my voice. "Innocent people... you can't. Please!"
He didn’t move, his hand locked around Thalassis’s neck.
Then, with the last shreds of his self-control, his fingers opened. Thalassis crumpled to the floor in a fit of violent coughs.
Rìan stood over him like a thunderhead. "You're fortunate the Eidra has mercy," he said, his voice as final as a death sentence. "Because I do not."
Thalassis stiffened as his fingers grazed the bruises darkening his neck. Slowly, his gaze lifted to Rìan, something unreadable passing across his face. His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. Whatever he saw, it made him go very still.
Unease curled in my stomach. I crossed to Rìan. Without taking his eyes off Thalassis, his arm came around my waist, drawing me against his side.
"We're leaving Pelaga."
Rìan flung the doors open. The servants inside looked up in alarm.
"Out." The single word cracked through the air.
They fled without another glance. A heartbeat later, the doors slammed shut behind the last of them.
Silence settled over the apartments. Rìan stood with his back to me for a long moment.
"Rìan—"
He spun to face me.
"What did he do to you?"
The gravel in his voice made my pulse jump. Fury radiated from him, filling the room as tangibly as his magic.
"N-Nothing," I stammered, my fingers still wrapped tightly around the bone knife. "You got there in time."
Those silver eyes slitted, honing in on me like a target.
"I'll ask you one more time." The words were quiet. Somehow, that made him all the more frightening. "What. Did. He. Do?"
My throat tightened.
"His magic." My cheeks flushed with shame as the memory crashed over me—the invasive brush of Thalassis’s power against mine. "He... he touched my magic."
Rìan's face drained of color, turning bone white with wrath. He turned on his heel at once, striding toward the door as though he meant to march straight back to Thalassis and finish what he'd started.
I threw myself after him, grabbing his arm, but it was like trying to hold back a hurricane. He barely seemed to notice, dragging me after him as though I weighed nothing.
"Rìan—stop!" I cried. "You can't kill him! Pelaga—"
"I don't give a fuck about Pelaga."
His hand closed around the handle.
"The Full Circle!" I dug my heels into the floor. "They’ll know it was you. They'll come after us!"
"Let them come."