“Is he alive?”
“Yes.” He kissed me on the mouth. He was hungry. His soul cried out for me to return his touch.
I gasped back a fraction. “Take me to him. I can heal him.”
“It’s taken care of. Someone is seeing to him.” He edged my jaw with kisses, and although my head angled back to allow him, I remained rigid with concern.
He wouldn’t shove what he’d done under some carpet and use euphoria to make things better.
“What you did was wrong,” I said.
“Niawen, please.” His tone said, “Not now. Stay with me.” I wouldn’t have access to the prisoner, to heal him or otherwise, even if I begged.
“Caedryn,” I struggled to keep a level head as his mouth descended on my neck.
“He’s been drugged. He’s resting,” he murmured as he hoisted me up, wrapped my legs around his waist, and carried me across the room to a bed.
I held on to his shoulders as he laid me down. I had no more willpower.
Dangerous.
Cruel.
He’s my husband.
A tear leaked from the corner of my eye.
“Is this safe for the babe,” Caedryn whispered as he leaned over me. He kissed the tear away.
“Yes.” I swallowed my concerns. We would work on his rage, on his fear. We had time. I could still help him.
He can have this one moment to forget.
Caedryn felt my concession. And as I caressed his cheek, I heard the door’s latch drop, locking us inside. I heard the curtain draw around us.
We were cocooned from the world. Alone.
SIXTY-THREE
Only after I was blissfully seduced did I realize an aura of dark magic filled the room. Caedryn had used the power to lock the door and move the drapes while he kissed me in his arms. How often did he use this?
I stroked his hair as his head lay on my chest. He was sleeping. His pulse, calmed. His fear, subdued. My love reassured him.
His fear over losing me bordered on possession. I knew this. I also knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
But Rapion had inadvertently threatened me, and he paid a price.
I slid away from Caedryn, settling him onto the bed, and pulled my dress on. I glanced around the room, wondering what I should do. What was this dark power? How did its trace still linger? I wished I had thought to talk to Caedryn about his darkness. I remembered something else that carried the same foreboding. It spoke of dark energy.
Feeling unease, I crept over to the desk and slid the drawer open.
I stared at the tome. The gold leaf was in straight lines, slanted lines, and dots. A few circles. I traced my fingers over the symbols and shuddered.
As I lifted the cover and flipped the pages, a heaviness fell over me. Each page I turned spelled out greater distress. I wasn’t sure what I was hunting for.
I came across the word dark energy. I skimmed the paragraph. Channel your dark energy. Feel the pressure build. Call to it. Chant the words to the spell. Allow the words to fill you as the power does. At the height of the pressure, at the apex of your emotion, release it!
The text expounded more, talking about the dark energy and about how to harness its full potential. Caedryn hadn’t chanted, but maybe he didn’t need to. The text’s words made the chanting sound as if it was solely to focus the power.
I didn’t chant with my light even though light required focus. Did darkness work in the same way? After practice, could it be harnessed without the words? What else did Caedryn use his darkness for? Maybe the book was his.
He was always warning me. Always trying to scare me away. I had a distinct feeling, once again, that he intentionally left the book as a way to ward me off. I had paid no attention to the volume and had forgotten about it until the strange aura had unsettled me.
Why couldn’t that man be honest about everything from the beginning? He was exasperating.
I flipped past the how-to chapter to the spells. Lightning, Thunder, Tempest. I passed the weather spells. Next came Levitating and Kinetics. Kinetics explained how Caedryn moved a latch and slid drapes. When I arrived at concealment spells, I stopped. Cloaking glared at me from the page’s top.
Cloaking is spiritual concealment. While an object is physically present, it cannot be spiritually detected. With Concealment, though the object is obscured from sight, the spiritual presence might still be felt. Both require a great degree of practice. To cast both spells at once is a sizable challenge, but not impossible.
Our conversation from weeks earlier in his study came back. How have you kept yourself from crying out before? I asked.
Cloaking. Niawen, you must understand. I use my darkness.
He hid his nightmares. He hid his light. What else did he hide?
He had tried to warn me.
SIXTY-FOUR
Niawen. Niawen.
My eyes shot open. I lay flat on my back, in our bed. Despite our afternoon nap, Caedryn seemed listless, so we’d retired early after supper. He settled next to me, with his head on my shoulder and his arm across my stomach. His steady breathing told me he was in deep slumber. He always slept blissfully when I was with him.
I wished I could have said the same for myself.
Niawen.
I swear the voice was Kenrik’s. He was calling for me.
NIAWEN.
The emotion in his voice made me realize something. We did have a bond. That was why I heard him cry out. An emotional connection was forged the day I
