Chapter 30 #4
It made him think of last night, when her immeasurable desire had enveloped him in fine silk, tasting like the most expensive champagne and sounding like his name whispered across wanton lips.
This new craving for her wasn’t going to dissipate. He was certain of that. She’d broken him yesterday, and he feared the damage was irreparable. How long would she let him have her?
Anna appeared with a basket in one hand and a book in the other, a tentative smile softening her features. He leaned one shoulder against the shelf next to him. “I was wondering who’d come looking for me. Did you draw the short straw?”
She held out the basket, filled with an assortment of cheeses and fruits. “I figured you’d be hungry.”
David took the basket and peered inside, surprised it contained most of his favorites.
“Sean called an emergency Council meeting. The ones who hurt you are being held for questioning.”
He almost laughed. “Do you think anything will happen to them?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never felt anger like what I sensed in Sean today. My skin still feels scalded. I think he’d punish them himself if he was allowed.” Stepping closer, she gazed into his eyes and lowered her voice. “It really scared me. You—you weren’t going to free yourself.”
“Showing them the magic only makes them trust me less.”
Anna hesitated. “Is that why you stopped me?”
His hand lifted like it couldn’t stand not touching her, and he brushed his thumb over her cheek.
A scarlet wave followed, and damn if he didn’t relish that.
“They can never find out about you, Anna. They fear me, and look what happened. Imagine what they would do to you. If someone hurt you, I’d have to kill them. ”
She swallowed, and her gaze dropped to his chest. “You know…I thought, when I woke up and you weren’t there, that maybe you…had regrets.”
He slid his fingers down the soft column of her throat, then dropped away. “Not for a second,” he said. “Just giving you space.”
A tiny smile curled her mouth.
“How’d you know where I was?” he asked.
Her voice softened. “Because I know you.”
At those words, David’s heart decided it needed to pump lava straight into his bloodstream. Difficult to make out in the gloom, her blue eyes lifted again to his.
“Do you?” he asked, setting the basket on a shelf beside him.
Anna nodded. “Which is why I found this.” She extended the book toward him, a slim volume, pale blue, faded.
Script letters decorated the front cover: On Soule Binding.
Sparkles appeared at the edges of his vision.
Breathe.
He had to breathe.
By sheer force, he willed away the panic. “Did you read it?” he asked, voice steady even though it wanted to shake.
She nodded. “Some of it.”
“Tell me the good parts.”
Anna took his wrist and pressed the book into his hand. “I don’t think it’s as bad as you’re imagining.”
“Are you lying?”
She bit her lip. “There are parts you won’t like.”
“Such as?”
“It says…you’ll become like one person in two bodies. If he hurts, you’ll hurt. If he’s sick, you’ll be sick. You’ll feel what he feels, think what he thinks.”
David stared numbly at the book in his hand. His thumb dragged across the ancient embossing. “When did you find this?”
“Just now. The librarian helped me.”
“There’s a librarian?”
She laughed. “On the top floor.”
“Ah.”
“It was hidden in the section on ancient and restricted magic upstairs, but I knew you’d need it.”
Glued to her blue eyes, David went speechless.
He tried to reason through her motives. She assisted him despite his reputation but when given the option, chose his mother to help her over him.
She defended him when she had no reason, accepted his dirty past, but was ashamed by her association with him.
She slept with him but didn’t want anyone to know. She found this book for him…why?
He remained quiet long enough that Anna turned to leave. “I’ll give you privacy.”
His hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. They both stared in surprise at his firm grip there, chaining her to him.
“David?” His name slid beautifully off her tongue.
He still couldn’t find words, which was strange because he always had words…rarely tactful, but always there. A strange sort of heat flooded his body—not desire, not anger. Something indefinable and foreign. And possessive.
Her emotions twisted and bent, and he couldn’t make heads or tails of them. A crease formed between her eyebrows. Summer-blue eyes swallowed him, open as the sky.
He was falling. Drowning.
He had never been speechless.
Her lips parted, and she drew breath, but it caught in her throat. His eyes dropped to her mouth.
Mine.
He stood frozen, torn with indecision. Did he want to shove her away or fuck her against these shelves until she was as speechless as him?
In the silence, she cupped his cheek and set a chaste kiss against his temple. “You will get through this, David, and if you need someone to help you, I’m here like always. Read the book.”
She disappeared without another word.
David stared at the place she’d vanished until his heart returned to a normal rhythm. He shook himself, then found the closest chair, pulling the book and basket of food close.