33. Soothing Luminescence
R ose rushed across the grass. The guard at the door to the stone building opened it after a nod from Lord Aldric, and Rose stopped just inside to let her eyes adjust. Once she could see in the dim, she walked down the long aisle, peering into the barred cells on either side.
Many unpleasant memories surfaced, but she fought them, rubbing her arms against the chill. The conditions were better than most—it was clean, there were toilets, there were beds , such as they were, and no critters scurried about.
Her respect for Lord Aldric grew. Though he imprisoned her Prince and his guards, he was not being cruel.
“Rose?” Prince Adrian called, his face appearing at the bars of a cell in the center of the row.
“Prince Adrian!” Rose rushed to cover his hands on the bars with her own. “Oh,” she cried, lifting a hand to his face, where there was dark bruising under his eyes from his broken nose and more along his jaw. He jerked away .
“Don’t.”
“My Prince,” she whispered, taking in the rest of him. In only cotton drawers and a blood-stained undershirt, the gashes on his arms, shoulders, and chest looked gruesome. He was a mess and looked not only to be in pain but more tired than she’d ever seen him.
The desire to touch, to soothe, was strong. But he didn’t want her to, so she rubbed his hands on the thick iron bars as she took in the others in the cell. All had bruising, cuts, and gashes.
But at least they were conscious.
“Where are the rest?” Rose asked, but she then spotted them in the cell next door. “Is everyone alright?”
Horace replied from the neighboring cell, “We are all fine, Miss Rose. Don’t worry about us.”
“You are alright?” Prince Adrian asked her.
“I am fine. I’ve talked to Lord Aldric, but he won’t let you out—”
“Not until I get an apology,” the alpha said from behind her in the aisle.
“Fuck you,” Prince Adrian spat. Expression hard, eyes cold, he met the equally harsh gaze of the werewolf, who stood with feet braced apart and arms folded.
“Then you and your fellows shall remain here until you learn respect.”
When Prince Adrian opened his mouth to retaliate, Rose covered it with her hand. Looking over her shoulder she asked, “May I have a moment please, Lord Aldric?”
“Nay.” Lord Aldric scowled at her hand on the Prince’s mouth. That heavy feeling in the air grew heavier, the oppression that willed her to submit. The vampires must have felt it, too, because they all roused, and Prince Adrian stiffened.
But she was curious, so she turned to face Lord Aldric. Studying him as he watched her Prince, part of her reached out, trying to decipher his aura. Lord Aldric’s eyes snapped to her, as if he sensed her, as if whatever was in him was responding to whatever was seeking in her.
In her mind’s eye, a massive black wolf with Lord Aldric’s deep blue eyes stood with hackles raised and teeth bared, growling against Prince Adrian. This was the alpha’s inner animal, she realized, the form he took when he shifted.
“He is beautiful,” she whispered. And then she shook her head, clearing the vision, and focused back on Lord Aldric, staring at her intensely. Blushing, she realized she’d just violated him most intimately. “I apologize. I did not mean to be so intrusive.”
Lord Aldric grinned. “You may intrude anytime, Lady Rose.”
“Umm . . .” Clearing her throat, she shifted her weight, trying to ignore the chuckles from down the hallway. Prince Adrian hissed, baring his fangs and glaring at Lord Aldric with lethal threat.
And then those eyes shifted to her and his expression morphed to contempt edged with hurt. “I see you’ve made friends.”
Her head bowed. “Lord Aldric has been very courteous to me.”
“Your courteous new friend is ever gracious to those he does not fear.”
“I do not fear you,” Lord Aldric said.
“Let me out then, you filthy coward.”
“Stop being foolish, and I will.” Black hair sprouted across Lord Aldric’s shoulders and chest as the wolf in him surfaced. His alpha aura grew heavier, pressing down as it spread, blanketing them in aggressive demand to submit.
The malice in his low growl raised the hair on Rose’s arms and neck.
“We came here to make amends,” she reminded everyone.
“We came here to put them in their place,” her Prince corrected.
Lord Aldric growled deeper and stepped forward, ignoring Rose as she set a hand on his chest to stop him. The guards flanked him, their wolves also rising as they growled. More wolves entered the building from both sides.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, he’s locked in your cell!” She gave Lord Aldric a little shove that did nothing to move him before looking back at Prince Adrian. “And you are a stubborn jackass.”
Prince Adrian leaned closer to her. “I will not submit.”
“It is not submission to be respectful. Compromise is not weakness. Put your pride aside or this will escalate to war.”
“So be it.”
Rose made a frustrated sound. “Conceited, arrogant, stubborn ass. You’re on the fast road to becoming a tyrant, you know that?”
“Bet his da’s so proud,” someone down the aisle said.
Rose rolled her eyes to who she thought had spoken. Tiernan grinned. “You’re not helping,” she told him. He shrugged.
Prince Adrian leaned closer, almost pressing against the bars of his cell. “Your new friends don’t want compromise. They want control. But I bow to no one.”
“It is not weak to listen to your subjects, even the ones you don’t like. Maybe what they say has merit. Be the bigger male. Do not be the cause of civil war.”
He seemed to deflate before her eyes, all the fight draining out of him as he blew out a breath. “He gets under my skin, Rose. I want out , and the asshole isn’t anywhere near allowing it.”
“Give him a reason to.” Bending slightly, she kissed his hand on the bar of the cell. The skin was torn, knuckles bruised. “I don’t like seeing you hurt.”
She kissed him again, keeping her mouth pressed there as she closed her eyes. Opening herself, she reached out to him as she had to Lord Aldric, following her instincts. She wanted him well, healthy and strong with a clear head.
There was a well inside her all but bursting with bright light. Tears stung her eyes as she lit from the inside, whole as she hadn’t been in so long.
How had she survived the years without the vital pulse of her magic? How had she forgotten?
Rose didn’t have the answer, but somehow, she remembered today. Lessons filled her head; some with her mother, some with Tatiana, some with an older lady whose name she couldn’t remember.
Remember, darling, slow and steady.
But slow and steady had been boring and hard. Rose had always rushed forward headlong into progress, wanting to grow her potential and be more . Sometimes she pushed too hard, like with the tree in the meadow, and ended up weak, dizzy, and faint.
But it had been exhilarating.
She wanted that again. She wanted it back .
Caution, child , another voice in her head warned. Not too fast or you can overwhelm, disorient, or shock. Gentleness, soothing relief, that is what we strive for.
Rose opened her eyes to stare deeply into her Prince’s. Surrounding him with her magic, she wrapped him in a comforting blanket, a lulling cloud, a dulling damper on his pain. Only when she was sure his focus was solely on her, relaxed in the subtle warmth of her light, did she slip inside. She could both see and feel his injuries, and she sought them one by one.
Healing had come naturally to her, she recalled. Making others feel better had been the most rewarding of her lessons.
Elves have a bit of every element. Sun God and Earth Mother bless us this way. Most have a natural inclination, a gift that eclipses and comes easier than other skills. That becomes the focus of one’s study. You, dear one, have an affinity for healing.
Trying to recall those lessons but mostly following instinct, Rose focused on Prince Adrian’s bruised knuckles. The injury was mostly superficial, and the sting was slight as she brushed over his skin and took the trauma into herself. Running her hand up his arm to a long and deep gash on his bicep, she knit the tissue back together from the inside out. His shoulder had a series of tears where teeth had dug in and ripped. After weaving the layers of muscle, blood vessels, and skin back together, she took the surrounding bruises and inflammation.
And she moved on, pulling on her power to keep him surrounded in her light, constantly bathed in her warmth. There was joy in reconnecting with this part of herself, and it was rewarding to flow it out, seep it in, and take in the damage.
Adrian stared at Rose, amazed by the way she surrounded him. She was everywhere, the very air around them shimmering with her essence. She glowed, her eyes an intense and radiant pink as the luminescence he loved made her glow like a star.
His star, shining for him.
He couldn’t look away, couldn’t move, so lost was he in her, in awe of her beauty, and wanted nothing more than to remain in her light.
This was where he belonged; with her always.
It made his chest ache as an integral truth was unlocked in him .
Your mate . . . your mate . . . your mate . . . She was his, made for him as he was for her. They belonged to each other in a way that few would ever know. The Gods did not bless many this way.
And certainly not vampires.
Why they had done so for him and Rose did not matter. He was hers; irrevocably, irreversibly, impossibly hers.
As his body was held in her light, so too did she hold the very essence of him in the palm of her hand. He sought the same in her, needing his perfect counterpart, begging to be joined, to find completion, never to be torn apart.