Chapter 12
Nelle
Heat soaked into my flesh, and a velvety softness cradled my limbs.
Each breath carried a whisper of cedar that soothed my lungs.
A breeze brushed across my cheekbones, lifting strands of hair that tickled my nose until I pushed them away with a sleepy huff.
Suspended in that hazy place between dreaming and waking, awareness rose slowly.
I sighed in contentment, curling my arm beneath something comforting, wishing to sleep longer.
Languid.
Content.
I was dimly aware that the light behind my eyelids had changed. It couldn’t be the soft glow of the recessed fixtures in my bedroom ceiling, it was far too sharp.
I peeled sticky lashes apart and met the harsh blaze of sunlight.
Slapping a palm across my eyes, I squinted to ease the sting. When my sight adjusted, I slowly slid my hand aside and stared up at the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
Blue.
Glorious blue.
Vivid marlin blue with a buttery-golden orb set into the apex of the sky. A trio of swallows darted overhead, twirling and diving and soaring upward.
Where the last week had been filled with oppressive silence, but for the soft whir of air-conditioning and the routine appearance of quiet Penn with her endless trays of meals, now I was surrounded by life.
The ringing of steel; the thumping of metal on wood; the splash of running water; a purr of engines. Some sounds were gentle and smooth, others more industrial and gruffer; footfall and conversation; clipped, hard voices shouting orders and eruptions of laughter.
Everyday life.
A glance around revealed I was outside and on a balcony circling the tower’s crown, its balustrades and thick railing carved from weatherworn stone.
I levered up with my elbows.
My thoughts were muddled, and it took a while to work out where I was and what had happened. As I drew in a surprised breath, it both sounded and felt a lot healthier than it had the day before. Or had it been several days? I’d lost track of time, of life, of everything.
I sat up slowly and found I’d slept on a leather couch. Soft cashmere blankets were tucked beneath my body, and a fluffy pillow wrapped in deep-blue silk had cradled my head. As I patted my hair, I knew it was a bird’s nest and would take forever to untangle. I needed a shower desperately…and food.
My stomach was practically gnawing itself with starvation.
Oh my gods, I was hungry.
Ravenous.
Thirsty too.
There was a small table set up beside the couch with a water pitcher and a tall tumbler already filled. Picking up the glass warmed by the sun, I sipped the gloriously refreshing liquid, almost sighing in pleasure.
I had no idea how I got out here. It had to be sometime in the afternoon, judging by the sun’s position in the sky.
My knotty hair slid over my shoulder as I propped a hand on the back of the couch and twisted around.
I blinked, astounded.
Half the walls of my jail cell were gone as if the stone had been cut away. Sunshine flooded the interior, turning the furniture golden and lightening the bleak colors that adorned the room into a more sun-bleached shade.
I turned back to face the wondrous outside world.
Past the fortress and its foreboding walls crowned by cruel spires and jagged parapets, I could see for miles.
A thick forest of murky greens, touched by fall with a dusting of yellow, rolled with gentle hills, and in the distance was a mountain range in dusky blues.
Testing my limbs, I stretched my arms and wiggled my toes, taking stock of my body and appraising my physical state. I felt refreshed. Recharged. Energized.
Rising, I padded the few steps it took to get to the railing and leaned over, gasping at the startling height.
Below a courtyard sat at the heart of the formidable fortress.
Men and women—soldiers and servants—were crossing the cobblestoned area from differing points; one was sluicing water from a vehicle, and the sound of clashing steel came from a training pit, and…
My fingers tightened on my glass as I heard something making a clipping noise on stone swiftly approach—
And spun about, my heart pounding.
Something that shimmered and trailed wisps of mist barreled around the balcony. 100 pounds of pure muscle hit me hard, knocking me off my feet and the glass from my hand. I collapsed flat on the couch with an oomph, the beast landing on top of me.
A tongue, wet and rough like sandpaper, licked my cheek.
And a whine mixed with excited yaps that were more puppyish than I’d ever heard my fully grown wraith-wolf make had pure joy bursting through my heart like sunshine.
“Sage!” Wrapping my arms around my best friend, my fingers slipped through his fur.
His tail thumped furiously with delighted wags while I nuzzled my face into his neck, and I started to cry.
I couldn’t help the fat tears that rolled down my cheeks.
I had never felt more elated to see my wraith-wolf.
Sage licked up my tears and nudged his moist nose under my chin.
“Ugh, gross,” I wailed, then laughed—a gods-honest laugh that croaked from my throat, and laughed some more as I pushed him away to scrub my saliva-slick face with a hand.
He landed on the balcony floor, and I swiftly followed.
My kneecaps met warm stone where I kneeled and patted Sage.
I laughed and tickled him, rubbed behind his ears and beneath his chin, and when he rolled over onto his back, his belly too.
He huffed with pleasure, and my broad grin was as wide as my mouth could stretch.
A shadow fell over me, banishing the sun and all its warmth.
I jerked around and looked up to see Graysen Crowther towering over me. In his hands was the glass of water Sage had knocked from my fingers. He’d obviously caught it before it could smash on the ground.
A low growl from Sage.
Beneath my palms, I felt him bristle, his muscles bunching taut. And so did I.
Graysen’s tall, broad figure was a blot of darkness against the rich blue sky.
Typically, he was wearing all black and dressed casually, which belied the abhorrent situation we both were in.
That traitorous feeling sparked against my skin like it always did when he was near.
Graysen—the Wyrm Tamer. I mentally scoffed at the title.
The touch of hyperawareness was detestable, and I dampened it down, forcing it away.
I hadn’t seen Graysen for a week. His bored, indifferent mask was gone, but his gaze was guarded as if bracing himself for my wrath.
He seemed exhausted, too. I felt it emanating from him under my skin, bone-weary exhaustion.
I wondered when he’d last slept and then caught myself with a sharp reminder that he was a bastard and I didn’t care. Couldn’t care.
Graysen offered me the glass of water, but I ignored the gesture. Instead, I tipped my chin toward Sage. “How did he get here?”
And then a desperate thought speared to the forefront of my mind. I shot to my feet, my heart fluttering wildly. “My family?” Maybe my family had brought Sage to me. Maybe they were still here… Worried for me… Waiting to see if I was alright. My gaze sliced straight to the door I couldn’t get past.
“No, not your family.”
I couldn’t help the disappointment, and my shoulders fell. “Oh.”
“Just one of them,” he amended quickly.
My curiosity piqued.
“Caidan helped me out. Well, twice actually.” Graysen frowned, dropping his gaze to the glass of water he held in his hand, tapping a forefinger against its curved surface.
“He helped get the things for your room.” He brought those dark eyes, with a cautious note shimmering in their depths, back to me just in time to see me roll mine petulantly.
I mentally shook my head at him—as if I should thank him for that tiny, little makeshift bedroom he’d made from his walk-in closet.
However, it was thoughtful for a deranged captor, I supposed.
At least I wasn’t forced to share with Graysen and had privacy if I needed it.
I turned to Sage, who shoved his snout against my thigh and made me rock off balance.
I rubbed the top of his head, enjoying how he pressed back against my touch, so I wasn’t looking at Graysen when he said, “And I knew…” He sighed.
A deep, weary sound. “You’d appreciate a friend.
So, he went to Evvie and asked for Sage. ”
Evvie. Just her name being uttered had desperation to see her again stabbing through my chest. My gaze whipped to him, unable to stop myself from moving toward his tall, imposing figure. “How is she? Is she alright?”
“She’s not exactly happy.”
“Does she know?” About the Witches Ball? But I couldn’t push those words out. “Have my parents told her everything?” How they’d betrayed his mother and set this iniquitous scheme of the Crowthers into motion, me here, to be used to find the Horned God who had stolen Tabitha Crowther.
“No, not then. Maybe now, I don’t know,” he said carefully. “She wanted to bring him to you herself.”
I pouted. “Caidan didn’t let her, I’m guessing.”
He shook his head slowly, his black hair ruffling with the swirl of wind coursing around the tower.
“I bet she was royally pissed off.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared.
“In a manner of speaking.” He moved inside, padding across the thick, soft carpet toward his dining table, and placed the glass of water down on a coaster, adjusting it to sit perfectly at its center.
I drifted out from behind the couch, following him indoors.
My shadow stretched ahead of me as I kept the sunshine at my back.
He turned to face me, and I arched my brows expectantly, waiting.
“She slapped him…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand, his eyes going a bit wide as he glanced away. “A couple of times.”