The Twice-Scorned Lady of Shadow (The Guild Codex: Unveiled #3)(18)

My eyes slowly opened, unfocused and distant. Absently, I ran my tongue across my lips, remembering the feel of Zak’s mouth—and how different it had felt from kissing him as a teenager. Then my hand moved to my pocket.

I slipped my fingers between the layers of fabric and brushed them across the rune-etched face of my river-stone pendant. I’d discovered it in my childhood home, only to lose it later. Zak had found it somehow and left it for me before vanishing for three days.

My thumb rubbed across the rune. As long as I didn’t put the pendant around my neck, its magic would remain dormant. Carrying it accomplished nothing, especially since I was done hiding my druid power from the world, but I’d been putting it in my pocket every day anyway.

Pulling my hand out of my pocket, I pivoted back to face Ríkr. “I’m going to help him.”

He nodded, unsurprised.

“Are you okay with that?” Uncertainty crept into my voice. “Is it what you would’ve decided?”

“Me?” An ancient, pitiless chill permeated his pale eyes. “I warned you before that I am not a benevolent being, dove. I would leave Lallakai to her doom, keep the Undying gift, and take her consort as mine alongside you.”

My eyes widened.

“However, if you gave me permission to devour him, that would also be acceptable.”

I swallowed a faint surge of nausea.

“It is your choice,” he concluded, lips curving up and eyes softening, “and I will thusly dedicate myself to fulfilling your desire.”

“You don’t mind?”

“Not in the slightest, dove.” A hint of that primeval chill lingered in his gaze. “My turn will come.”

Before I could ask what he meant, blue light swirled over him. With a burst of frosty air, he transformed into a hawk. Wings beating, he soared upward and passed through the roof like it was made of smoke.

A moment later, boots thumped on the concrete floor. Zak appeared, striding toward me. He wore clean jeans and a t-shirt that clung to his muscular torso. His hair was damp and towel-mussed from a recent shower, dark locks falling across his eyes.

A faint curl of heat awoke deep in my core at the sight of him, at the memory of his devouring kiss.

I didn’t know what I wanted from him. I didn’t know what existed between us, this strange relationship that had formed over the past weeks. My past was chaining me to a dark emptiness where I couldn’t see where to go next. How did I move forward? How did I let go?

And what should I let go of?

What I knew, without a doubt, was that I needed Zak right now. Whether that was because he was intrinsically bound to the past I had yet to face, or for some other reason, I wasn’t sure, but I needed him.

And he needed me.

He stopped a long step away, his green eyes searching mine. I could see the younger version of him overlapping the adult, past and present intertwined.

I let out a soft breath. “When do we leave?”





CHAPTER SEVEN





- ZAK -

Ten Years Ago





The cool mountain air was refreshing after the gross heat of the city. I hated downtown Vancouver and the miles of concrete that made me feel like I was suffocating. I sat with my back against a tree, my eyes half closed. It was too dark to see much, and I focused on my other senses as I waited.

Energy thrummed through the earth beneath me. The quiet power of the old forest would have felt nice if it hadn’t been threaded with a clammy, rotten chill that reminded me of a corpse. The foulness was Bane’s essence—his ruthless, insatiable desire for power and dominance. Some fae sensed that energy and altered their course to avoid it. Others came looking for the source.

I practiced aura reflection every waking moment, and my energy was almost undetectable. The last thing I wanted was attention from the fae drawn to Bane’s evil energy.

“Plotting, young druid?”

The throaty female voice purred in my ear, and my eyes flew open.

A fae stood just behind me on my left. She was bent at the waist, her long black hair falling over one shoulder, and when I turned, our faces almost touched. I leaned back, putting a few inches between our noses.

“Lallakai,” I murmured, hiding my irritation. I still hadn’t figured out how she could sneak up on me like that.

Straightening, she ran her fingers through her hair. I kept my gaze on her face, not allowing her to draw it down to all her bare skin. She used her body as a weapon, and I was determined to resist it.

Her full lips curved in a teasing smile as she crouched beside me. “You have the look of a scheming mind. Perhaps I can assist.”

Instead of answering, I stretched my mind toward Grenior, Keelar, Yardir, Rannor, and Dredir, checking that they were all in position.

A warm, smooth fingertip brushed down my cheek.

“So unfriendly, young druid,” Lallakai complained. “You have no response for me?”

Her tone wasn’t offended. We’d been playing this game once or twice a week for a few months now.

“What are you offering in exchange for an answer?” I asked her.

“Can we not partake in an amicable conversation between companions?” She looked up at me through her eyelashes. “Must everything be a bargain?”

I pushed to my feet, and she rose as well. I was two inches taller, but it didn’t feel like an advantage.