Scorched Treachery (Imdalind, #3)(86)

My hold on Joclyn loosened as I lifted my hand, the sun catching on the angry red burn that covered my palm and the inside of my fingers. The skin was red and raw, the moist flesh raised as if it had been partially eaten and cast aside.

It had taken centuries for the burns on my chest to heal, and the burn on my arm was still angry and red. This burn seemed much deeper than the others. The pain was definitely stronger and uncontrollable. I could already tell it would take much longer for this burn to heal, if it healed at all.

The connection that had been triggered by the touch of the Black Water had left me, leaving me feeling strangely empty. Even with the magic of a bonding, such intimate connections weren’t possible. To feel her heart, her body, within me, that wasn’t something that had ever happened.

I just wished I knew what that connection meant. With all my training, with all the knowledge that had been demanded of me, the Drak’s choice to keep this information hidden was one that would affect us in ways I didn’t think I could ever understand.

Without analyzing the thought, I pressed my scarred hand against her cheek, a gasp escaping my lips as the connection restored itself. With one touch, my awareness of her increased. Her heartbeat was strong within me, and I could feel the steady thrum of her soul moving through me.

I couldn’t help it. Even though I knew I shouldn’t and my brain begged me not to, I let my finger trail down her neck and onto the raised skin of her mark. As my finger connected, the jolt that I had always felt shot through me, supercharging my magic in a surge of energy. It buzzed through me like the most addictive medicine.

I was surprised when I felt her heart seize as her own jolt shot through her, the shock of our joining magic strong in her body as well as my own. Before she could panic, before her heart rate could increase much further, she controlled it. She forced the fear down, forced the beat of her heart to keep a steady beat, even without my help.

She was amazing.

I couldn’t keep the look of pure joy out of my eyes as I looked at her. She would never cease to amaze me. Everything that would be thrown at her she would overcome. I could tell that now. I was beyond honored to be the one to keep her safe, to be allowed to love her.

Her eyes looked into mine. Confusion and happiness intermingled with each other before she gasped and moved into me; her hot breath against my chest sent waves of energy shooting over my skin.

I pulled her into me, my hold tight against her. I wanted so much to stay like this, our arms locked in each other’s embrace, but it could not be. It was not right to dwell in a joy that was not yours, and sadly, that was just what I was doing.

“I’m going to go get you some Black Water. I’ll be right back,” I whispered in her ear before I pulled away, my muscles aching at the loss of her warmth.

Joclyn curled herself into a ball as I left, the loss of contact already affecting her. I needed to hurry. Clear my head and come right back.

I moved swiftly out the door, careful to close it silently so as not to trigger any more of her panic attacks. The last thing I wanted was for her to panic without anyone there to calm her.

My magic surged through her as I raced to Dramin’s room, grateful for his foresight in placing his chambers so close to my own.

Thom stood over Dramin, his hands on his head as he worked over him, healing his body and removing the burns that plagued his organs.

“Any change since last night?” I asked through the silence, but Thom only shook his head, a small sag in his shoulders telling me all I needed to know.

“Nothing.”

“Keep trying, Thom. We can’t lose him.” I grabbed one of the full mugs before turning back to the pair, Thom’s head hanging over his friend, his dreads making him look like he had been trapped in a cage.

“We can try to give him some Black Water later, perhaps it will help.” I raised the glass toward Thom, causing him to look toward me, his eyes shielded by his usual mask.

“At least that poison is good for something.” He forced a laugh, the sound causing the lingering tension in the room to grow.

I opened my mouth to reply when a flare of my magic moved away from me and into Joclyn. Her panic had pulled it to her and I could feel her clinging to it like a lifeline. As it filled her, I felt the erratic beat of her heart and the pressure in her joints. The fear I had worked so carefully to remove from her had come back tenfold. Someone was there in the room with her. Something was wrong.

I said nothing to Thom as I placed the mug back on the table, my feet carrying me out of the room before I could even place the thought in my mind. I ran toward her as the fear grew within her, the panic turning into a yell on her lips, a yell that echoed through the walls of my ancient home.

The sound vibrated around me as I turned the last corner to find Ovailia leaning against the large wooden door to my suite. She looked at me with her usual smug smile, her eyes flashing with a sheen of red I hadn’t seen for hundreds of years.

“So, brother. Are you going to tell me what happened to your hand?” It was such a normal question, I couldn’t believe that she would ask it here, in the hall, while she guarded a door to my own rooms that she had obviously let Ryland through.

“I cut it,” I lied, letting my feet take me closer to her, toward the door she leaned against and the girl I had to save.

Ovailia, however, didn’t move. She stayed where she was with her long frame leaning elegantly across the door. She looked at me with that wicked gleam she had perfected long ago, and I could tell at once that this would not go as planned.