Chapter 9 #2
Raana was on her feet, faster than consciously possible, and she turned towards the voice. Kai’s voice. “Isla.”
Her steps were rapid and hollow to her ears, her pulse hammering against her skull as she scaled the rock. Running, running, running until—
She was already there. Kneeling before a woman’s limp, broken body, her sallow skin covered in blood.
“Isla.”
She looked up for Kai—but he wasn’t there. Only a shadow, a figment of darkness amongst the swirling, ebony backdrop of this void. And Isla—
Light. That was all she’d become. Warm and rich and… fading. Those auras Raana had detected, how she’d help reunite the king and the lost queen, she’d traced through the world with her magic. Those pieces were there now. Light in dark, dark in light. Where they belonged to each other.
Something grabbed her. Something foreign from beyond the darkness. An icy grip that bit into her shoulder, that her shadows tried to fight away.
It had been there that night, too, something she hadn’t confessed. She wondered if either one of them could sense the threat, the danger that loomed. The thing that watched like a cat from the depths of the cavern.
“Raana.”
Binds tore through the void, wrapping around her, strangling her. Strangling Kai, Isla, who’d been reunited again, just as she’d seen them when Isla had awoken. But then they were ripped right from each other’s arms. All of them torn and pulled into oblivion.
“Raana!”
Light flared, and the world swirled to nothing but ash and blood, rot and rubble.
“Raana!”
She screamed.
With her chest heaving, body leaden yet trembling, Raana’s eyes cracked open. The room spun, tilted, and whorled before her.
And—Adrien.
Adrien was there, right before her face. His hands were warm on her shoulders, then brushing over her cheeks as he tore his gaze over her. “What happened?”
Panic flared in his eyes, dimming gold flames, and was equally present in his voice. And she could… sense him. An aura of power rippled through the world around them.
“What?” Her mind was swimming, and Spirits, her mouth was dry. An attempt to sit up had only been a thought before she gave up on it.
“Your nose is bleeding.” Adrien brushed his thumb over her upper lip, collecting the warmth that Raana now realized lingered there. He narrowly avoided her tongue as she darted to it, the taste of iron flooding her mouth.
What the hell?
She was still lying in bed and, with the slightest turn of her head, noticed some of it had dripped down onto the powder sheets, which were also soaked with sweat.
“A nightmare,” she breathed, the words grating her parched throat. She wasn’t sure if relief was the proper emotion. All of it had felt so real. She still sensed the darkness at her throat and wondered, despite herself, if Isla and Kai, in their distant palace, were okay.
She scanned the room, seeking any shifts of the furniture, searching for that unending cold. The chandelier above swayed, its little jewels tinkling and twinkling in the moonlight.
“Why can I scent you?” At Adrien’s gentle but warning question, she snapped her eyes back to him. Concern knitted his brows. “The enchantment’s gone.”
Raana’s eyes blinked impossibly wide.
Gone?
That concealment spell should’ve kept her hidden as long as she hadn’t performed any magic. Wielding shadows, her immortal power, was a fortunate exception. So, when had she—
Raana jolted, bringing a hand to her mouth. She suddenly found the strength to sit up. “I’m going to vomit.”
It was with a shifter’s quickness that Adrien retrieved a bucket from the washroom. Quickness Raana had to be grateful for as she retched the moment the little pail was placed in her lap. The bile stung, and the hollowness of her stomach made it fairly apparent that she’d barely eaten yesterday.
A soft tug at her head signaled Adrien gathering her fallen curls in a hand.
He wrapped them again in her tie before his touch pressed against her back.
He ran his hand soothingly up and down her spine.
Not too firm but enough to let her know he was there.
In a lull, he asked, “Does this always happen after nightmares?”
Raana spat and groaned, resting her forehead against the bucket’s edge. “Not this part.”
She couldn’t think of any time the nightmares had made her ill like this.
It felt like her body had been run over by a carriage, several carriages pulled by several mammoth-sized, ornery horses.
There was a brutal beat at the back of her skull in time with the heavy drum of her heart. Weak. She felt so weak.
Perhaps that was why the spell had worn away. Such a vehement reaction to the horror in her mind had drained her. It couldn’t do. No one could scent her. Hopefully, she had enough energy in her to execute one last spell.
“I need blood,” she choked out before blindly reaching out a hand to Adrien. “My blood. Freshly drawn.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him hesitate. He clearly understood but still asked, “Your nose?”
“Doesn’t count,” she exhaled, opening and closing her fist. “It’s okay. I’ll forgive you.”
Adrien sighed, and Raana could hear and feel more than see when he shifted, drawing one of his claws.
A shudder ran down her spine as the cool black tip pressed to the fragile skin of her palm.
One slight caress, and blood pooled. Adrien dragged only an inch, soft as a lover but still lethal, before pulling away.
It was enough to work with.
Raana grunted her thanks as she used the crimson to draw the rune over her skin, murmuring words in the First language.
Magic seared as she closed her fingers over her palm, and upon opening her fist, she watched the rune seep back into her skin.
Her small wound healed. A witch hidden once more, and hopefully—
Raana checked for her ring, still perched on her finger, and then lifted her hand to her ears. Still round. Thankfully, the exhaustion hadn’t tampered too much with that enchantment.
“Shit,” she cursed as the use of that final dreg of power caught up to her.
She heaved again, and this time, Adrien didn’t linger after she’d finished.
Head still hung over the basin, Raana heard the sounds of running water and the shuffling of fabric. The prince had left the room for Spirits knew how long. At least, by the time he’d returned, she’d stopped puking, and the room had, mercifully, stopped dancing.
“Here.”
Raana lifted her head to find Adrien had extended a glass of water. A wet washcloth, some wafers, and a new shirt and pants were also cradled in his muscled arms. Her own nursemaid.
An unbelievably attractive, half-nude nursemaid.
Raana allowed herself the gratuitous once-over of his body. The cut of it. The way his pants slung low on his hips, revealing the devious lines that cut down his stomach and disappeared beneath the waistband.
The corner of her lips rose, and she battled away the heat rising to her face.
She reached for the water, offering a thank you, along with, “Fussy.”
Adrien only hummed, a smirk playing on his mouth as he settled back down beside her. Had he caught her staring?
A few moments passed, and the only sounds were her swishing and spitting, before Adrien lifted the cloth. He didn’t ask or offer; he just began cleaning the dried blood from beneath her nose himself. She’d forgotten it had even been there.
“I won’t lie—you look pretty badass.” He chuckled.
Raana snorted, trying to ignore the way her heart fluttered at the care, the attention. “Bloodied from battles with my own dreams.”
Adrien pursed his lips, bringing the reddened towel down from her face. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Raana swallowed the next mouthful of water, then reached for one of the wafers, too, if only to give herself more time to think of an answer. But that contemplation only went so far. “No.”
Not her truth to share, and she didn’t have the energy for the full explanation.
She cleared her throat. “What happened with me?”
Adrien knew what she meant. He shrugged. “It was all pretty fast. I felt the cold first, then something like wind, and when I woke up and looked over, I couldn’t see you.”
“The shadows,” Raana breathed, lowering her head. “They’ve been doing that a lot lately when I’m sleeping, especially if I have a nightmare. They try to protect me, but—they can become too much.”
“Well, they let me through to you.”
She lifted her head. “They did?”
With a nod, Adrien reached a hand over her shoulder, past it to the darkness that had loomed there, a specter over her body. Raana watched with surprise as it unfurled and caressed his skin, dancing along it. Adrien smiled, almost smugly. “I think they like me.”
“I don’t think they can like anything,” she argued, though she wasn’t truly sure, given how they acted.
“Well, they obey you,” he met her eyes, “so, you must like me.”
Now, warmth flooded Raana’s cheeks. For what, she wasn’t sure. It was an innocent statement, a simple flirt and tease from someone who’d already been beyond, who’d seen the most intimate pieces of her. At least, physically.
She lowered her lashes and bit into another wafer, the food helping to rebuild her strength. With an extension of her fingers, the tendril of shadow coiled and tightened around Adrien’s wrist. “For now.”
A wider grin and devilish glint took to the prince’s eyes as he examined where the darkness held him, bound him. He tried to pull, flexing and clenching his fist as it kept him firmly where he was. “Interesting.”
A dark, dangerous word said with a glance her way. A glance that held reminders of times past and had the heat Raana felt drifting elsewhere…
In the throes of that night months ago, the shadows were present as they always were—but she’d never thought of… involving them.
The image she’d conjured then brought a proper deep flush of red to her cheeks. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Adrien, in all his half-bare glory, only sat a foot away from her on this too-big, too-cold bed.