Hidden (House of Night #10)(39)

His grip on my shoulders turned into a giant, squashing bear hug. I felt his body relax. He let out a long breath that ended up being a chuckle. "You scared the bejezzus out of me, Z."

"Sorry," I mumbled against his chest, wrapping my arms around him again and squeezing him back. "Thanks for finding me and being totally ready to save me."

"You don't have to say sorry. I'm your Warrior-your Guardian-it's my job to save you. Even though you're usually pretty good at saving yourself."

I leaned back so I could see his eyes. "I'm a job?"

His lips tilted up in his cocky, half grin. "Full time. Totally. No benefits and no days off, either."

"Seriously?"

"Okay, no." His cocky grin got wider. "I do remember getting some sick days when an arrow burned me and a few more when a crazy Scotsman cut me up. So, I take that back. I get benefits. They're just crappy ones."

"You're so fired!" I would've smacked him, but I didn't want to take my arms away from around his shoulders.

"You can't fire me. I signed up for life." Stark's smile faded from his lips, but remained in his eyes. "You're my Priestess, my Queen, mo bann ri. I'll never leave you. I'll always protect you. I love you, Zoey Redbird." He bent and kissed me so tenderly that I felt the truth of his commitment deep in my soul.

When his lips finally left mine I looked up at him. "I love you, too," I said. "And you know you don't have to be jealous of a dead guy, right?"

He touched my cheek. "Right. Sorry 'bout that last night."

"That's okay. And, um, speaking of-there's something you need to know."

"What?"

I took a big breath and blurted, "Last night at the end of the ritual I looked through the Seer Stone at Aurox and I saw Heath. That's why I didn't let you and Darius hurt him."

I felt the tension level in Stark's body shoot back up to the Danger! Red Alert! range.

"Is that why you were calling Heath in your sleep last night?" He sounded more hurt than pissed.

"No. Yes. I don't know! I was telling you the truth. I don't remember what I was dreaming, but it makes sense that Heath was on my mind after seeing him when I looked at Aurox."

"That bull thing is not Heath. How can you even think that?"

"It's not that I'm thinking it. It's what I saw."

"Zoey, look, there has to be an explanation for what you saw." He took a step back. My arms slid down from around his shoulders.

"That's why Thanatos wants me to practice looking through the Seer Stone, so I can figure out how it works." I felt cold and alone without his arms around me. "Stark, I'm sorry. I didn't want to see Heath in Aurox. I don't want to see or say or do anything that would hurt you. Ever." I was blinking hard, trying to keep from bursting into tears.

Stark ran his hand through his hair. "Z, please don't cry."

"I'm not crying," I said, and then hiccupped a little sob and backhanded a tear that had somehow escaped from my eye.

Stark reached into his jeans' pocket and pulled out a crumpled tissue. He stepped close to me again, and wiped the second tear that had followed the first escapee. Then he kissed me, softly, handed me the tissue, and pulled me back into his arms.

"Don't worry, Z. Heath and I made peace in the Otherworld. I'd be glad to see him again."

"Really?" I had to step out of his arms long enough to blow my nose.

"Well, yeah. Glad to see him again, but not as glad for you to see him again." His honesty made both of us smile. "And I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose. But, Z, that bull thing is not Heath."

"Stark, I knew Aurox had something to do with old magick from the first time I saw him. He made me feel weird as hell." I hated telling him, but he deserved nothing less than honesty from me.

"Of course he made you feel weird. He's a creature of Darkness! And, yeah, he's old magick. He was created by the nastiest kind of that shit when Neferet killed your mom as a sacrifice. I'd worry about you if he didn't make you feel weird."

I let out a deep breath. "Well, I guess that does make sense."

"Yeah, and I'll bet if we work on it together we can figure out why that stone showed you Heath last night." When I just chewed my lip he kept on, like he was reasoning aloud. "Think about it, Z. What all have you seen through the stone?"

"Well, on Skye I saw those old sprites-the elementals."

"Were they like the things you saw today?"

I shuddered. "No, not at all. The elementals were unearthly, mysterious, strange, but in a good way. What I saw today was grotesque and terrifying."

"Okay, except for just now at the tree, and last night at the ritual, has the Seer Stone shown you anything else since we've been back from Italy?"

I met his gaze. "Yes. You."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Zoey

"Me? Z, you're not making any sense," Stark said.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. It's just that it kinda felt like I was creeping on you when I did it because you were sleeping, and I only did it because it was back when you were having trouble sleeping, and it was actually mostly an accident, so I never said anything to you, and now it seems like I could have made the whole thing up," I finished in a rush.