He came with me, his muffled roar vibrating against my flesh as the waves pulsed through us. Over and over and over—it was as though time didn’t exist. And as Riggs released the mating bite and began to lick the wounds closed, I basked in the sensations quivering through me. The sun baked us with an intense glow.
Then I realized it wasn’t the sun enveloping us with light.
It was the sword.
It lay on the stone a short distance away, but it shone so brightly that I almost couldn’t look at it. Energy pulsed from it to bathe us in a warmth that brought tears to my eyes.
Riggs touched my cheek with his fingers, so lightly I barely felt them.
I think it approves.
The words dropped into my mind, only they weren’t Caliel’s. They rumbled like a Dragon’s.
My eyes teemed with tears as I smiled down at him.
So do I,I said and reached for him.
34
Tez
I left the library just after dawn.
Over the course of the long night spent there, I’d squirreled away three references that would continue to help me once I’d blown this place. They weighed heavily in my pack as I stood on the beach in front of the fucking academy and watched the sun rise above the distant mountains.
It was early, so early that few students were out and about. I should have been long gone by now. The academy would soon be nothing but a distant and mildly interesting memory.
Yet here I was, dragging my heels. Even Nemi seemed reluctant to leave. She kept hovering in front of me, hampering my progress.
Or maybe it wasn’t Nemi at all. If I believed Cara, my grandmother glared out at me from those beady little eyes.
Was she hoping to stop me from leaving? What purpose would it serve? If I warned Bree of what was to come, it wouldn’t only destroy my hopes of being influential in Victor’s circle.
It would result in me being dead.
I couldn’t believe my grandmother would have wanted that. So maybe Nemi was just a hummingbird, reluctant to leave the nectar sources provided by the meadow wildflowers.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye—and froze. Bree was walking out of the forest. And she wasn’t alone. She was with Frankenbrawn.
Who, from what I’d heard, had been exiled from his people for screwing the wrong woman. He wasn’t good enough for her. Not that my opinion mattered.
She still carried the sword strapped to her back. And they walked in each other’s shadows, so close they touched with every stride.
Something had clearly changed between them, and I had a pretty good idea as to what. My heart twisted, and I suddenly had a hard time breathing.
My automatic response annoyed me. I’d sensed what lay between them. Why did it bother me that they’d finally got down and dirty? And what did it matter, considering what was to come?
Yet, dammit, it did. And then I realized why I hadn’t already left. It had nothing to do with the fucking library.
It was because what happened toBreemattered.
I didn’t need my grandmother, alive and standing next to me, to tell me I was in deep trouble. Slade had everything set up for tonight.
I could warn Bree.
Follow your heart, my son.
The words made no sense. My heart would just get me killed. There was only one way through this, and I was taking it.
