Chapter 2 Leila #2
“It’s a feeling. I can feel your injury.”
“You can feel the pain?”
Another ember sizzled beneath Leila’s palm, and She bit back a wince.
“Some of the damage . . . there’s no response.
Gone, beyond repair.” Naomi’s shoulders slumped, and Leila quickly continued.
“But a great deal of it . . . I can feel it stirring, begging to be rekindled. It drinks My light up like a sponge.”
“What does that mean?”
Leila thought for a moment, selecting Her words with care. “It’s a complex injury. I can’t make you the way you once were. But I can make you stronger than you are now, at least in some way.”
“I don’t have to walk again.”
“I know,” Leila said. “And I can’t guarantee particulars. But I promise, I’ll do everything in My power to help.”
“The pain—”
“Is My utmost priority. But I can’t treat it without treating the injury as a whole.”
Naomi nodded, releasing Leila from her gaze. Another pop burst beneath Leila’s palm. The pain had spiked, roused by Her touch, and She forced another surge of light.
“Do You know why it’s worse?” Naomi asked. “Can You tell?”
Leila hesitated, then deepened Her touch, setting Her jaw to fight past the torment. Tiny sparks erupted throughout Naomi’s body, and Leila followed them as they traveled down her back, her thighs, her feet.
“There’s a spider’s web inside you.”
Naomi laughed. “A spider’s web?”
“In everyone. Woven strings carrying every sensation we feel. Pain. Pleasure. All of it.” Leila focused on the flux of Her power, guiding its course. “When you broke your back, the web was torn. Those severed strings . . . it’s as if they’ve fallen into a deep sleep.”
“My legs.”
“Yes. But the web can repair itself, sometimes on its own, other times—”
“With a bit of help.”
“Right,” Leila said. “That means some of those strings are awakening. And they’re distraught. Confused.”
“They’re bloody assholes, is what they are.”
Leila chuckled. “They’re not entirely sure what they’re supposed to be doing, but they’ll figure it out, eventually.”
Naomi’s gaze panned to the woods. “So, You’re saying it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“Yes.”
Quiet stretched between them, until Naomi raised her chin and smiled. “Then I will relish the pain.”
“I’ll make you a masochist yet.” Leila met Naomi’s smile with Her own.
Naomi winced, stiffening beneath her torment. “You could see all that? Or feel it, I mean—the spider’s web, with Your magic?”
“Tutors taught Me of the web. There are more appropriate terms for it, I promise. My light just tells Me where I need to focus My efforts.”
Naomi nodded. “Apologies for prodding. It’s fascinating, is all. I’ve always been like that—dying to know how things worked. Anything, really. I just hope I’m not bothering You, Leila.”
Leila’s name on Naomi’s tongue sent warmth blooming in Her chest. She fought back a smile. “I don’t mind at all.”
Another bolt tore from Naomi’s spine, sharp enough to make Leila flinch. Naomi’s frame had shifted, her flesh and bones a shield; her back was rigid, her muscles taut, and her hands were curled into fists in her lap.
Ease the pain. The blessing repeated in Leila’s mind, and the fire languished per Her holy bidding. “We should stop for now. Give you some time to rest.”
Naomi exhaled. “If You insist,” she said, her words calm and casual, as if she was accustomed to misery. “But I’m fine. I promise.”
Leila took in Naomi’s gaze—dark, just like Tobias’s—then eyed the horizon. The sun had nearly finished its descent, painting the sky the shades of a fresh bruise. “It’s getting late. I should find your brother.”
She squeezed Naomi’s shoulder before heading off, venturing through the same shrubbery Tobias had disappeared into earlier.
She wasn’t supposed to leave his family, but they were starkly alone, and he couldn’t have gone too far.
Gnarled branches and stray twigs pulled at Her dress and cloak, and She found a new appreciation for the palace gardeners and the neat, crisp shape of the fortress trees.
It wasn’t long before the foliage became dense around Her, the sky darkening much quicker than She had anticipated.
Perhaps wandering through the woods hadn’t been the greatest idea.
She planted Her hand on the blade on Her thigh, Her worries easing if only slightly.
She lurched to a stop, then hurried toward the sound of swishing and panting to Her left.
A small clearing opened around Her, revealing a vast circle of tree stumps, a stack of logs and branches waist high, and Tobias’s back, hunched and wet with sweat.
He hacked at a tree, muscles flexed, each strike violent and intentional.
The air around him had filled with color—blood red, a vicious haze surging straight from his skin.
Another narrow tree tumbled, and he tossed it onto the massive pile, moving to his next target with murderous resolve.
“I don’t think we need that much,” Leila said.
Tobias flinched, spinning toward Her. “Apologies.” He dropped his axe. “I got a little overzealous.”
The red around him evaporated, but Leila could still taste it in the air, could feel the sting in Her nostrils. She picked at the frayed edge of Her cloak. “Our circumstances. They’re bothering you.”
“No, no, it’s just . . .” He snatched up his sleeveless tunic and threaded it over his head. “Brontes. The tournament. Things I’d rather forget.”
“You can come to Me, you know. You don’t have to hack away at trees.”
“I don’t want to burden You.”
“Burden Me. I want you to.” She came in closer, taking his hands. “I mean it. I want you to.”
Tobias avoided Her gaze. His tawny skin shone blue, and though the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones caught what little light remained, he looked one with the night, his black harem pants and deep green tunic melding him with the darkness.
He fussed with his hair, and when his hands settled, She took them once more.
“We take care of one another,” She said.
His lips parted, but he stopped short, frozen for some time before exhaling. “Right.” He shook himself. “You’re right.”
“You told Me no more secrets. That goes both ways.”
Sighing, his gaze met Hers. “A traitor to Thessen. That’s what he called me.”
“You know it isn’t true.”
“He’s speaking it throughout the realm, a message from the sovereign himself.” A vein bulged in his neck. “He had all those men slaughtered. He nearly killed both of us.” Tobias ground his teeth. “I hate him, Leila. It fills every part of me. I hate him so much.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t. You didn’t cause this.”
His eyes became distant—large, aching, and pitch black against the night.
She swept the curls from his forehead. “We’ll get through this.
I have the utmost faith.” She spun a singular strand of hair around Her finger, eyeing how it faded from a rich brown to gold at the tip.
She rested Her palm against his cheek. “I love you.”
Tobias covered Her hand with his own. Heat flooded Her touch, followed by color—swirls of pink and flecks of yellow washed over by rivers of a deep and mournful blue. She knew his grief well, but those bright sparks were encouraging, and She clung to them like a lifeline.
“Please,” She said. “If you need anything—”
“I’ll tell You. I promise. I’m sorry, I just . . .” He pressed his forehead to Hers. “I want to do right by You.”
“You are doing right by Me.”
“I can’t fail You.”
“We won’t fail. Do you hear Me? We won’t.”
She stood on Her toes and kissed him. One strong hand latched onto Her waist, the other climbing up the nape of Her neck, and She eased against Tobias, warming in his embrace. His lips were so full, so easy to linger on. She deepened the kiss, threading Her arms around him and massaging his scalp.
“Leila,” he whispered.
She pressed Her body into his, and his next kiss sent fuchsia beaming behind Her eyelids.
No more sadness—it had drifted away, and all that remained were the vibrant colors of his affection and the taste of sugar on his tongue.
They shared a soft smile before his mouth returned to Hers, and if the pink fog encircling them hadn’t been a fair indication of his lust, the hardening of his cock against Her stomach certainly was.
His arousal only fueled Her own, sending Her heartbeat racing, Her breath catching in Her throat.
She ran Her hands under the front of his tunic, tracing the firm lines of his abdomen up to his chest, then back down again.
With the slightest nip of his lip, She danced Her fingertips over the bulge in his pants.
“Leila?” Tobias half-groaned, half-choked.
“We’re alone,” She said. “This almost never happens.”
“We’re in the woods.”
“How long until we’re not in the woods?”
She searched his eyes for something—acknowledgment, permission.
Instead, he kissed Her hard, and color burst around them like paint splashed across walls.
His skin had turned hot, his breathing laborious, and She got caught up in the path of his voracious lips, melting into Herself when they traveled down Her throat.
Her hands were once again venturing up his shirt while his headed south and squeezed Her ass.
His desire was overwhelming and contagious, and She grabbed a fistful of his waistband, eager to unleash its contents.
“Wait!” a shrill voice called out. “Wait, stop, please.”
Tobias and Leila flew apart, Leila whipping Her blade from its sheath, Tobias snatching his axe. The trees rustled, and a man stumbled forth, cloaked in shadows.
“Apologies.” He raised his hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean . . . Just stop. Please.”
Leila peered through the blackness at the intruder, his features, much like his voice, becoming familiar. Glowering, Tobias stepped forward, fist tightening around his axe.
“Wait.” Leila grabbed his wrist, halting him. She squinted.
“Raphael?”