Page 6

Chapter 6

Aruan

T he notion of finally having her here with me is still unreal yet so potent that my power flares with enough force to set the water boiling if I’m not careful.

With effort, I rein it in.

The turmoil within me, however, refuses to abate. Her suffering is torture to my soul. I regret that I had to rip her from consciousness and submit her to the darkness of a dreamless sleep, but it’s better that she’s not cognizant for what’s to come.

Heart thudding, I study the delicate face that floats above the water on my palm. Her pale skin is black and blue in spots, her lips puffy and swollen, split in several places. Her sunset-colored hair is covered in mud and sand, and it’s strangely short, at most the length of my finger.

Did the Phaelix monsters do this to her? Cut her hair before they beat her?

My blood boils at the thought, and the water around us warms uncomfortably.

Gritting my teeth, I rein in my power once more. The torrid heat within me dissipates as I manage to somewhat calm my anguish. She’s safe now. I have her. Taking in a steadying breath, I position her so that her back is pressed against my chest and she’s propped up between my legs, unable to slip beneath the water.

Dozens of questions swirl in my mind, but I focus on what’s important right now—which is to repair the damage that’s been done to this wisp of a woman who, in the wink of an eye, eradicated the numbness that was slowly but surely turning my soul to stone.

“Bring Vitai and Kian here,” I instruct my sister in a clipped tone.

I don’t miss the hope that flashes in her eyes before she rushes toward the hallway, but her relief vanishes quickly when I use a fraction of my power to hold the wall together, preventing her from opening the entrance.

I’m not taking any chances. She’s not leaving my quarters until I say so. I have a very good reason for detaining her, and she knows it.

Her shoulders slump and then lift as she inhales deeply. A moment later, two portals open on either side of the room.

Kian steps through the one on the right, his mind already probing mine in search of answers as to why I summoned him.

“You called for me, brother?” he says as he fully materializes, his tall frame dwarfing the pillar at his back.

When he notices me with my clothes in the water holding a woman in my arms, he freezes.

Like Gaia, he knows immediately. Like her, he can feel it.

Panic washes over his usually stoic expression. He opens his mouth, but before he can question me, Vitai appears on the other side of the room.

Despite being the youngest of my siblings, Vitai displays the empathy and wisdom that normally only comes with very advanced age. Slender and leaner than Kian, he moves closer with eloquent and lithe agility, his expression guarded but his slate-gray eyes ablaze with alarm.

“What the dragon?” Kian mumbles.

I look at my miraculous find, making sure the opalescent water still covers her up to her chin. Just the thought that one of my brothers could catch a glimpse of her pearly naked skin is enough to unleash my wrath again.

As if sensing the pending catastrophe, Vitai stops a safe distance away.

The column of his throat ripples as he swallows. “Is that…?”

“Yes,” Kian says, both surprised and resigned. “It’s exactly what you think.”

Gaia comes forward, hovering at the far end of the bath. “How?”

How, indeed?

I’ll get my answers.

First, I need to tend to the injuries I feel so viscerally they may as well be my own. The pain in her mouth where the Phaelix knocked out her teeth throbs in mine. The cracks in her ribs mirror in my perfectly healthy bones. The rest of her vitals are normal.

The command I direct at Vitai is brusque. “Fix her.”

He’s an expert when it comes to dismantling and reassembling living matter. For that reason, we often use him as a healer.

Moved by his inborn need to repair anything that’s broken, Vitai is already inching toward the edge of the bath. The healing water has reviving as well as purifying properties, but it’s more suited for soothing aching muscles and disinfecting scrapes. Its most useful feature is its anesthetic property. I’d need a much stronger dose to knock me out cold, but the woman floating in my embrace is so tiny that the miniscule amount of medicinal salts added to the bath water was enough.

As Vitai heals her injuries, starting with her surface scrapes and bruises, I study her more closely. Throughout my life, even after I thought her dead, I’d see her in my dreams like this, all grown up and beautiful. Long after I could no longer sense her, I could still see her in my mind’s eye, the mysterious connection that exists between mates leading me to picture her first as a child, then as an adolescent, and then as a young woman.

And the bond proved true. Face-wise, she’s almost exactly the way my mind painted her for me, from the tip of her small, upturned nose to the long, reddish-brown lashes fanning over her pale cheeks. Her delicate chin is sharp and stubborn, her pouty lips pink and infinitely kissable. Her eyes are closed now, but their unique color, that of the tropical sea shimmering in the summer sun, is imprinted on my vision, as it has been for so many years.

What’s different is that she’s small and frail. Much smaller than she’d appeared in my dreams. More like a child than the fully grown adult she should be.

A blazing wave of protectiveness rolls through me, followed by a rush of uncontrollable tenderness. I’ll have to be careful with her. I can easily hurt her by forgetting my own strength.

Sweat runs down Vitai’s temples as he concentrates. Healing takes a lot of mental as well as physical energy. His body trembles by the time he’s done. He doesn’t have to tell me he’s succeeded. I can feel it. The throbbing pain and brokenness are gone. In their place, vitality and a healthy appetite beat in my chest.

A smile pulls at my mouth. The automatic gesture is foreign and stiff on my unpracticed lips. I can’t remember the last time I smiled spontaneously. My grin widens as I sense her hunger for food. Even unconscious, she’s demanding. I’ll take great joy in feeding her. Soon.

When I look up, Gaia and Vitai are staring at me with slack jaws.

I guess a smile on my face frightens them as much as a grimace or growl. Maybe more. And for good reason.

Only Kian observes me with a bland expression that gives nothing away.

“What do you need from me?” he asks, carefully studying me.

I don’t let him see much, only what I want him to see. My brother is powerful, but I can block him from sifting through my mind with his sharp, claw-like scrutiny.

Using my own power, I prevent him from digging around in my mate’s thoughts too. That would be as invasive as seeing her naked.

“She doesn’t speak our language,” I say.

He stares at me with a pinched brow.

I stare back at him coolly. I don’t have to dig through his mind to know what he’s thinking.

How is this possible?

How is any of this possible?

There’s only one guess I can venture.

“I believe she was brought here from Earth,” I say, my voice steady despite the rage flaring back to life inside me. “She was being held by slavers when I found her. There were other Earthlings there. She spoke to them in their language as I was carrying her away.”

Gaia gasps, and Vitai and Kian exchange a look.

They’re thinking what I’m thinking. My mate being on Earth would explain why I couldn’t sense her all these years, until I suddenly could. And like me, they know that at the time my mate vanished, only one person was powerful enough to create a portal to Earth, the forbidden world—and the realization, as well as its consequences, leaves them shaking in their boots.

“Do it,” I tell Kian grimly. “Make her understand.”

Vitai winces, but Kian doesn’t argue. He knows what’s at stake.

He steps closer and trains his eerily observant eyes that resemble the deep gray of cooling lava on the woman’s face. A long rush of air escapes his lips as he exercises the manipulation that will facilitate communication.

When that’s done, my brothers observe me quietly, waiting for my next instruction with the calmness of convicted men who’ve already accepted their sentence.

“You can go,” I say. “She needs to rest.”

“Me too?” Gaia asks, perking up.

I’ll confront my family soon enough. There’s no point in keeping my sister here any longer. Besides, I trust no one in a room alone with the woman who’s destined to be mine.

I wave toward the far wall. “Go.”

I release my hold on the stone particles, and the entrance opens.

The moment my siblings are gone, I make quick work of climbing from the bath with my mate in my arms. The purifying water has cleaned her body and hair. Not a mark or trace of dirt is left on her pale skin.

The sight of her does things to me, things I shouldn’t feel when she’s passed out. The heat starts deep in the pit of my stomach and travels to every extremity of my body. Flames scorch me from the inside out, erupting with a crackling of sparks over my skin.

I carry her to my bed and lay her down with the utmost care before using a small fraction of my power to evaporate the drops of water that cling to her body. I don’t want her to be cold. Seeing that I’m standing in a puddle of water and dripping over the bed and floor, I repeat the same exercise to dry my boots and clothes. Then I cover her with a sheet and leave her to sleep. Resting is vital for her full recovery.

After sealing the room so no one else can open it, I make my way to the royal quarters in the west wing to get my answers.