Page 81 of Joy Guardian

She screamed, punching my chest and arms, and I didn’t mind the pain.

“Ciana…” I exhaled, burying my face in the familiar pink braids.

Peace descended on me. Sorrow and injustice often reigned in the world, but for this one blissful moment, everything seemedsuddenly better. With Ciana back in my arms, I could face anything.

“Hush, sweetheart,” I murmured, comforting her in my embrace. “It’s me. You’re safe now.”

“Kurai?” She paused her fists mid-blow. “Is that really you? You’ve come for me?”

“Of course I have. I’d go to the end of the world and back if that’s what it took to find you.”

Affection warmed her gaze, and I knew exactly how wondrous it’d feel if I still had my tendrils connected to her emotions.

“Did you do all of this?” She tipped her head at the inferno consuming the camp. “Did you burn this whole thing down just to get me out?”

“Ciana, sweetheart, I’d burn down the whole world for you, many times over, just for a smile on your face.”

With a soft whimper, she pressed her forehead to my chest, going completely still, as if absorbing my presence with all her senses.

“You’re alive,” she exhaled, then splayed her fingers on my chest, moving them along my body to assess its condition. “How are you feeling?” She hovered her hands over the wounds in my arms. “I’m so, so sorry, I hurt you. I had to… I just didn’t know how else to save you from them…”

Her fingers touched my arms, and I sucked in a sharp breath at the contact.

“You’re in pain.” Her expression fell.

“I’m alive.” I mimicked one of the comforting smiles that she’d given me so often before. “And I have you.” I pressed my lips to hers in a quick kiss. “I love you.” I wanted to shout these words for all the world to hear. But she had to hear them first, murmured tenderly, just like this, for her alone. “I love you, Ciana. So, so much.”

My heart overflowed with the desperate need to have her close, to protect her, to ward off any harm that could ever comeher way.

We weren’t connected by my tendrils anymore, but I still believed my feelings echoed hers. Maybe because we had shared every emotion for so long, I thought that the longing and the tenderness filling my heart were hers as much as they were mine. I expected to hear the same three words from her any moment now.

But the silence stretched longer and longer, with not a single word from her in reply.

Her body stiffened in my arms. She pressed her hands in my chest, no longer caressing but pushing away.

“And who is this?” a female voice inquired brusquely, making me aware of people who had gathered around us.

The woman who had asked the question stood with her hands on her hips and her dark eyes narrowed at me.

“ Um…” Ciana stepped out of my arms, then even further away from me. “It’s Kurai. He came to rescue us. And this is Shyanne,” she introduced the woman to me, then gestured at the two other humans standing nearby. “And this is Maria and Peter. We all heard the explosion and got out, just in case.”

“He made the explosion.” Malis pointed at me. “Joy Guardian magic,” she explained casually, then turned to me. “So, this is the woman you were so eager to get back? You never mentioned that she was a Joy Vessel. That sure makes her expensive property, definitely worth hunting her down at all cost.”

Instead of coming to me for protection, Ciana stood back.

Did she also think I only valued her as a Joy Vessel?

“That’s not why I want her,” I snapped, annoyed.

These people knew nothing about Ciana and me. They had no idea what we shared or what she meant to me.

Gefred tilted his head with a flash of new interest in his eyes. “You said you only wanted her. Does it mean we can have the other three?”

Maria whimpered, tossing a desperate glance out into the desert, as if ready to bolt.

Shyanne frowned. “Some rescuers you are. But I’m notmaking it easy for you this time. I’d be damned if I let another bunch of dirty fae stuff me into a cage again.”

Raimus and Sakin sauntered our way, carrying a large bag and a wooden crate.

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