Page 43 of Joy Guardian
Maybe he could just leave me here? Then I would go back to sleep again. I couldn’t worry about what would happen next.
A gentle caress brushed a braid away from my face.
“Sweetheart… You have to try, please?” He cradled the back of my head in his hand. “Please…”
I nodded, drawing my legs under me. He practically lifted me to my feet and propped me in an upright position. But he couldn’t possibly move my feet for me every step of the way. I swayed, grabbing on to the wall. He caught me, not letting me fall, and I leaned against the wall instead.
“I’ll carry you,” he said determinedly.
“No.” I pushed away from the wall, swayed on my feet, and got caught by him again. “If you do… neither of us will make it.”
The night was ending. The sky had lightened on the edge with sunrise already. We’d have to walk during the day, under the scorching sun and likely through another sand storm. In addition to fighting the elements, Kurai would also be carrying me. With his energy already severely depleted, he wouldn’t be able to manage the added strain of my weight.
“You can’t carry me. We won’t make it,” I repeated, licking my dry lips with the equally dry tongue in vain.
“I won’t leave you.” His voice was hoarse from thirst.
“Then we’ll both die.” I leaned against him because my legs refused to hold me.
“You can’t die, Ciana.”
Indifference to my fate settled over me. It muffled fear, which was oddly liberating.
“Why not?” My lips cracked, stinging when I smiled.
“Because you can’t,” he repeated stubbornly. “I spared theentiresaraiand failed my mission because of you. I abandoned the purpose I thought I was born for to keep you alive, and I’ll keep protecting you for as long as I breathe. You can’t give up either. I won’t fucking let you.”
He heaved me into his arms.
With no fight left in me, I buried my face in the spot between his neck and his shoulder. Sadness gripped my heart. I wasn’t afraid to die. But it’d hurt me to lose him.
What had formed between us felt solid and real. For two months, I’d sensed the connection between us grow. I’d both cherished and feared it. And now, it meant more than life to me.
Wrapped in his tendrils and arms was the only place I wished to be.
Eleven
KURAI
We hadn’t made it far from the caves when the wind picked up. The storm caught us shortly after sunrise. The sun heated the sand, turning the desert into a scorching frying pan.
Ciana’s breathing grew more laborious. I felt her thirst, her hunger, and her exhaustion through my tendrils. They mixed with my own, making every step a strain.
My body was far stronger than hers. My life force was far more resilient. And that kept us both alive and moving. If I retrieved my tendrils, I feared she’d pass out. But even with me sharing my strength with her, she was rapidly deteriorating.
Usually chatty, even when tired and hungry, Ciana hadn’t said a word for the past hour. The numbness of her emotions terrified me. It was deeper than exhaustion. It rivaled the numbness of death.
We weren’t far from our new destination now. The black, tall rocks, common in the area of the temple, peppered the desert around us.
I had no idea what or who waited for us at the temple. Theguards might have come and left. Or they could’ve stayed to wait for me in case I returned.
If my calculations were correct, the last portal would’ve opened a day ago. The humans from Prince Rha’ssaraimight have been sent off to their world by now, unless something went wrong. But I couldn’t bring myself to care about any other humans but the one I held in my arms.
Ciana needed help. And the temple was the closest place where I could get it for her.
The wind raised sheets of sand up into the air. Its blasts pushed at me from all directions. The storm was relentless and growing in strength, and it wasn’t even noon yet. It’d get much worse as the day progressed. I had to find a shelter or risked having us buried alive in the sand.
I headed for a cluster of rocks, then climbed between them, and sat on the ground with my back leaning against a rock, placing Ciana on my lap.
