Page 52 of Silent Lucidity

“Oh.” She withdrew her hand.

The disappointment he saw in her expression before she turned her face away struck him like a blow, but no matter how much he wanted her, she wasn’t ready for him yet. She wanted the choice. Tenthil would make sure he was theonlychoice worth making. That meant respecting her desires as best he could, even if he had to deny his own.

He took a step toward her, cupping her cheek to make her look at him again. “Promise you will be here when I am done.”

She loosely wrapped her fingers around his wrist and nodded. “I promise. I won’t run again.”

For a moment, he stared at her, lost in her beauty, caught in her magnetic pull. He was helpless when it came to Abella. He was not happy that his need for her was causing her distress, but he could not set it aside—and though she fought it, she seemed to feel a pull toward him, as well.

He brushed his thumb over her cheek and forced himself to lower his hand. “Go. Rest.”

She hesitated, her gaze flicking to his wound. After a moment, she nodded and exited the bathroom.

Tenthil gently closed the door. His yearning to be at her side flared immediately—he needed to have her within sight so heknew, without a doubt, that she was safe, she was here, she washis—but he shoved it aside.

Priorities. Clean myself, treat my wound.

There was so much he wanted to say to her, but he wasn’t sure how. She woke things within Tenthil for which he had no name.

Soul mates.

What they shared now—what they would share eventually—could not be fully conveyed with words. It was about action, aboutdoing. And he would do everything he could to make sure she was irrevocably his and eternally safe.

Ten

Abella’s eyelids fluttered open as she slowly woke. The room was dim; weak lights in the corners provided the only meager illumination, just enough to cast the room in shades of gray. Even four years in the Infinite City hadn’t helped her overcome the disorientation of never knowing whether it was night or day; there was no sun, no moon, no sky at all below the surface, just the distant, diffused glow of lights set in the metal and framework that was always overhead, which shone like lonely stars amidst swathes of darkness.

She’d always been forced onto Cullion’s schedule—when he’d been awake, it was her daytime; when he slept, it was her night. But now the passage of time seemed disjointed. She found it impossible to track, and it wasn’t merely because she and Tenthil spent most of their time running for their lives.

A soft, warm breath tickled her scalp, and Abella smiled. She lay tucked against Tenthil’s side, her head beneath his chin, her hand on his slowly rising and falling chest, and her leg tossed over his thigh. He had one arm around her, holding her close. His clawed fingers flexed slightly in response to her every little movement.

Abella traced small circles over his bare chest, marveling at the feel of his strong, steady heartbeat beneath her palm. The weak lighting made his skin appear brighter, especially compared to hers.

For a moment, she let everything fall away—the deadly assassins chasing them, the city full of people willing to sell her out, her years of enslavement, and the family waiting for her at home—and found herself at peace. A contentment she’d not felt in a long, long while settled over her.

If she’d met Tenthil under different circumstances, how could she have resisted him?

She could admit that his appearance was perhaps a bit eerie—at times, he looked downright scary—but the very traits that made him intimidating were the same traits she found dangerously attractive. He looked at her as though she were his everything.

And he could be mine.

His words from the day before resonated in her mind.

Something in me recognizes you. Something in me knows that you are mine. That I am yours. I cannot ignore it, cannot deny it. It is the deepest, most primal part of me.

Abella flattened her hand over his heart and closed her eyes, focusing on the steady thump of his heart.

What if she were to give it all up? Give up going home to have a life with Tenthil?

It was a frightening thought…but also a compelling one. She had been ripped away from all she’d known and thrust into a whole new world, a world of enslavement, humiliation, and pain. Tenthil represented the possibility of claiming this world as her own, of experiencing it as apersoninstead of a belonging.

But what would their shared life be like? Would they always be hunted?

Could she just…let goof her old life? Her family had likely moved on, but did they long for closure they’d never received? Had they already mourned for her?

She wasn’t sure if she could give up her dream of returning home to instead embrace a life alongside Tenthil. Though she was drawn to him, she hardly knew him.

Soul mates.

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