Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“I didn’t think, Pax—or maybe I did know it in my gut and I just didn’t have the choice—but I jumped in after her. I saw her sinking toward the bottom, so I swam after her. Only, when I finally got hold of her, her face shifted.”
Aria’s expression pinched in turmoil. “It was the man . . . The man from earlier today . . . The same man I’d thought I’d seen the first night after you rescued me from the facility. It was him. And it was her.”
Her pulse flew as fast as the words that poured from her tongue. “Their faces were flashing between the two of them, and when she opened her mouth, shadows began to flood from it. Wisps that curled and spun before they grew to take shape. Kruen.”
Ice slicked down my spine.
“They wound around me. They bound me the same as if I were bound in chains and kept me under. I tried to fight them. I tried so hard, but I couldn’t break free.”
Tears blurred those mesmerizing eyes. “I would have drowned if you hadn’t awakened me. If you hadn’t heard me.”
I shifted so I could pull her flush against me. My hand went to the back of her head and my fingers wound in the strands. My other arm looped around her waist as I crushed her in my hold. “I will always hear you, Aria. Feel you.”
“I think I’m running out of time, Pax.”
“No, Aria. No.” My voice croaked over the rejection.
She blinked up at me. “If they can get to me this way? Keep me from passing into Tearsith and instead drag me someplace else entirely? How can I anticipate an attack when they’re coming for me from every direction? Awake? Sleeping? And in the in-between?”
I edged back to put a foot between us, and both my hands flew out to frame her face as the water pounded into her back. I dipped down to make sure she was looking at the truth of what I said. “I won’t sleep. I won’t drink or eat or rest until I’ve ensured that you’re safe. Not until we end that Ghorl.”
Curling her hands around my wrists, she peered up at me. Trusting me. Loving me. All while a storm battered in the middle of us, raging against our shores.
Reverence filled her voice. “I want you to know, whatever happens or however this turns out, that tonight, with you? It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
I inhaled a shaky sound and crushed her against me, her cheek pressed to the ravaging of my heart.
Her fingertips dusted up and down my chest, over the designs that howled and the scars that wept. She peeked up at me. “Is it always like that?”
My lips pressed to the top of her head as I released a weighted sigh. “No, Aria. Not even close. There’s nothing that could compare to you. It was . . .”
How the hell did I put that into words?
“Otherworldly.” I figured it was the best I could do.
Her nails scratched a little deeper as she looked up at me. The softest smile teased the edges of those red lips, which were swollen from my kiss. “Magic?”
I tossed her a weak grin. “Something like that, considering the way my princess has me enchanted.”
Pink lit on her wet cheeks, and she clamped down on her bottom lip. For one second, the two of us gave ourselves over to the type of easiness that could never be ours.
Just simply flirting with someone who made our hearts go boom.
Then she sobered, and she brushed her lips over the organ that would always beat for her, no matter how many days it was given. “I think it was just us, Pax.”
I swayed her in my arms, the water pounding over us, my murmur barely breathing, “Yeah, it was just us.”
Lightly, she dragged her fingertips down my side and to my hip. I nearly lost myself all over again as she kept touching me.
“Do you regret it?” she asked.
The way my spirit reacted to the question was visceral. A rush of incredulity gushed from my nose. I’d been so sure all this time that I should. Shame striking me at the idea of having her this way. Worry that I was only going to make things worse. Put her in more danger.
It didn’t take much to discern the only regret I could ever find would be in hurting her in some way.
“Do you?” I asked instead of answering.
“No, I could never regret you.”
“Then no. Not even a little bit. You are the only good thing that’s ever happened to me. I fucking love you. I didn’t even know what that meant until I saw you in that room. I had no idea that every second of my life was adding up to bring me to that very spot. And I promise that every second I have left? Each of them belong to you.”