Scorched Treachery (Imdalind, #3)(36)

I watched as she pulled the beautiful necklace my brother had given her from underneath her shirt, the jewel glimmering as she plunged her magic into it.

I could feel the power emanating from the immaculate stone, the strength of Ryland’s magic. The jewel sparkled as his heart stayed with her, his magic surging through her as he protected her.

It was dark magic, but dark magic used for something good, and it had turned into something beautiful.

He had given her a piece of his heart, enclosed inside the shimmering surface of a diamond.

I had never told her what it really was. I wasn’t sure she was ready to know the truth behind it.

She didn’t look at me as she pushed herself into my chest again, my arms wrapping around her instinctively. Her body was stiff against mine before she relaxed, her mind leaving to connect with that of her mate.

I ran my hand over her hair, the thick braid I had placed in it only the day before all ruffled and frizzy from a fitful sleep. Neklidny? No, that couldn’t be. Joclyn had said that she had had no nightmares and the few nights without them, she had always slept so still, so soundlessly. But her hair was far more mussed than I had seen lately.

I didn’t want to think that she might have lied to me; that she was hiding her pain. I wanted her to trust me enough to tell me everything.

I reached up to wind a thick strand that had come undone back into place, and her body shuddered against mine. The small movement was almost that of a sob. My chest froze at the thought of her crying again.

“Jos?” I pulled her limp body away from me, but her eyes were still closed, and she remained in the T?uha. I had almost pulled her back into me, when she shook again, this movement heavier. Her head jumped and lolled a bit before coming to rest on my arm.

She had never moved like this during a T?uha. It was always the nightmares that racked through her body and brought the seizures and agonizing movements. T?uhas were gentle. I had seen so many of my kind enter them through my life span. The gentle way their bodies lay, the glowing ethereal beauty that would overtake them as they visited such a pure eternal place.

Joclyn twitched again, and I brought her against me, my hands fanning against her back as her heartbeat fluttered inside her chest. It wasn’t an excited flutter of pleasure; it was the heavy, racking thumps of fear, of danger.

“Jos?” My back stiffened when she didn’t react, my hands moving to clench her to me, my muscles tensing against her.

Someone was hurting her. I could already feel my unbidden anger pulsing through me, the primitive need to protect her taking over my better judgment. She had only been gone a matter of minutes, but still, it was much longer then she had visited recently.

Now she was scared and trapped inside the T?uha, with a heartbeat of a drum. She was in danger.

Her body shook again, her chest heaving as she gasped and coughed into the skin of my chest. Warmth spread over me as her breath spread away from her over my skin, leaving behind a wetness that stuck against my chest. I froze as I smelled it, the earthy scent of blood and the smell of all my fears.

I pulled her away to reveal a bright red patch of her blood on my chest. Her mouth was covered with it. It continued to drizzle from her gaping mouth, and onto the sheet of the bed we lay in.

“Ne,” I gasped.

I stared at the blood that trickled down the side of her mouth, the bright red vivid against her pale skin. My fear flowed into my bloodstream, igniting my fury, my anger.

Someone was hurting her. Someone was going to pay.

My magic pulsed once through her, in search of the connecting thread of the T?uha, ready to get her out of there. But I felt nothing before she began to convulse.

Her body shook violently next to me, her voice moaning and gasping as if she was being strangled. Her rough movements grew as I watched, my hands reaching out to steady her, comfort her, but finding no footing. The harder my hands attempted to grab her, the more she writhed, sending my hands away from her.

“Joclyn!” My voice broke as I yelled at her in a foolish attempt to wake her up.

Her body continued to writhe and seize, the moans turning into agonizing yells. My magic pulsed through to the ?tít in desperation, trying to calm her, but her barrier pushed right up against it, denying me access.

I pushed with my full strength, knowing she could hold the power if the barrier broke, but nothing budged. There was no room to enter. She had somehow managed to lock me out in her most desperate time of need. The realization only fueled my alarm. It rocked through me in angry waves that grew the more they moved. My jaw locked in fear, my magic bubbling high above the power I normally held in reserve.

I moved myself over her, desperate to find a way to help her, when her movements threw me from the bunk, her magic pulsing into me and sending me skidding across the cold floor of the cave.

I stood in one jump, my feet immediately moving to take me back to her.

Joclyn lay on the bunk as she continued to hack up blood. She had bled when Ryland had hit her with a chair. The same thing was happening again, but this time, much worse.

I needed to find the connecting fiber of the T?uha. I needed to bring her back, but I couldn’t get close enough to do so. I yelled as I squared my shoulders, fully prepared to battle my way through her seizure and save her…until her hands began to glow.

If I wasn’t so focused on her, I would have missed it.

The magic exploded out of her, an electrical current so strong it would have buried us all in the mountain in a matter of seconds. My magic burst away from me in a shield that cocooned its way around Joclyn. The force of her magic pushed me away from her as the transparent shell I sent toward her surrounded her, trapping a lightning storm of energy.