Page 112 of A Dawn Of Blood

“Again.”

“I’m yours, Cain.”

“Mine,” he mumbles before he starts kissing me again.

And the kisses turn more and more lazy, but he can’t seem to stop. He only does once he starts drifting off, and I keep looking at him, gathered in his arms with my lips swollen and my heart swelling with all the love for him.

Chapter 76

Inhaling his scent, I start stirring from a deep, blissful sleep. All the tension in my muscles seems to be gone, replaced by a relaxed warmth that’s already lulling me back to sleep.

But as soon as I move to get closer to him, I freeze in place, my eyes flinging open.

I push myself up and look around the bed.

He’s not here.

An image flashes through my mind — that of my hands taking the collar off his neck.

And then there’s my wolf’s ominous silence.

It’s more than enough to make dread flood me from head to toe, but I don’t let myself jump to any conclusions.

He’s in the Main Hall. Yeah, that’s it. It has to be.

I spring from the bed, quickly pull some clothes on and fling the door open, only to find Dryden’s pale face staring at me, one fist raised in a move to knock on my door.

I don’t ask the question. I just blink at him with this sinking feeling in my stomach.

He lowers his arm to his side. “He’s gone,” he tells me. He hesitates for a second. “And so is the sword.”

In an effort to collect myself, I shut my eyes tight.

Then I open them and inhale deeply. It’s alright, I tell myself. It doesn’t mean anything except that I expected too much of him too soon.

Still…

“We need to find him,” I tell Dryden.

Because regardless of what it means for the two of us and our love, I did just take the collar off the most dangerous man in the world, and put a god-killing sword in his hands.

Chapter 77

Ican’t remember the last time I was this restless. I’m sitting in Dryden’s workshop, hunched over the desk in an effort to help him.

Please, just work already, I urge the useless thing I’ve been putting all my hope in since we stopped going out in search for him.

Things have been better around here. As soon as he heard we were back from Dryvein, Alaric showed up and went to Raven’s room to grovel. He’s still acting as our double agent, but he doesn’t seem so burdened by it anymore. And the two of them are back together, happier than ever despite all the chaos around them.

But it’s hard to truly enjoy your friends’ happiness when you have a gaping hole in your chest.

It’s a knock on the door that makes my head snap up. I look to my left and see Raven’s head pop through the crack. “Anna, Dryden, we need you in the Main Hall.”

It’s the apologetic look in her eyes that tells me exactly what I’m in for. So it’s like walking to my own execution that I show up in the Main Hall, Dryden following me closely.

“I know what you’re going to say,” I tell the Embers as soon as we walk through the archway, “but we only need a few more days.” The two of us take our seats. “It’s a bit tougher to make the compass work for a person, but—”

“It’s been two days,” Nuala interrupts me. “Even if you make the compass work, we all know what it’s going to tell us.”

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