Page 41 of Ecliptic

“I don’t think I can do that,” he replied with a strangled expression, and something in my heart shattered. My sympathy and anger warred. He looked so broken, so alone, but then I remembered what he did to me. The fear I felt as his phantom fingers pulled my mind apart.

Hatred blistered inside of me. “If I ever see you again, I will kill you.”

With that, I spun away from him, wondering if I had the guts to follow through with my threat.

Now that’s Madds was gone, Rowen and I continued our journey in peace.

“Do you really think you could kill him?” he asked, breaking the monotonous sound of our crunching footsteps. “I don’t think he is following us anymore, but he seems adamant about being nearus.”

“If he would just be honest, I might go easier on him. I know he’s hiding something.”

“I believe you’re right. But he appears sincere in wanting to make sure you’re safe.”

“That makes me even more nervous,” I said, brushing my knotted hair out of my face. “But even if he told the truth, I’m not sure I could forgive him for what he did to me. The terror I felt as he overtook my body. The fear that I would never get to see you again, or worse, that I would, but I’d be trapped so deep within my mind that I couldn’t speak. Silently screaming inside that it wasn’t really me. I don’t know if I can ever forgive that.”

Rowen’s nostrils flared, and his jaw flexed to the point of cracking. “The only thing stopping my blade from carving him up for you is Nepta. It’s taking all of my self-control not to beat him to a bloody pulp, but my restraint is hanging by a thread.”

“I don’t want to talk about him anymore. Let’s focus on getting water back to the village. A nice hot bath sounds exquisite."

“I agree,” he said, and I reveled in that dangerous grin of his. “That does sound exquisite.”

After another hour of walking and sensing no more rustling in the bushes, Rowen said, “Here is the well. It was once filled to the brim with water.”

Rowen’s knowledge of the land was invaluable, and I thanked the Spirits I had him here with me. I just wished I could lay my fingers upon his beautiful face and feel the coarse scruff on his jaw and the soft press of his lips. His expression turned to steam as his thoughts ventured to where mine lay as well.

Clearing my throat, I realized what Rowen referred to wasn’t a well so much as it was a small opening in the ground. I knelt beside it, peering into the massive sinkhole. It was hard to believe this chasm was once filled with water. The land was dry as a bone.

Nepta described me as a gravitational force, much like how the moon compels the tides.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to center myself. I focused inward, seeking the water flowing within my own body. Somehow, I knew that to find water in this arid expanse, I would first have to connect with the well inside myself.

Once I latched onto the feeling, I expanded my senses outward, stretching the familiar call across the barren landscape. I concentrated on the elemental beats as a soft light emanated from my fingertips.

I searched for the hidden streams that once nourished the land, but after several attempts, there wasn’t even the slightest rumble of water.

My eyes lifted to Rowen. “I need to go deeper. I can’t feel anything up here.”

His eyes narrowed with apprehension. “I can help lower you, but I am unable to fit through after you,” he said, clearly not appreciating the words coming out of his mouth. He may have a narrow waist, but his massive shoulders would never fit through that slight opening. I would barely fit myself.

“Good thing I’m not claustrophobic,” I said as Rowen inspected a curtain of drying vines. Finding a rope that met his specifications, he yanked it free and began wrapping it around my hips like a harness. I breathed in through tight nostrils as his hand passed the cord between my thighs. He looped it back up and around, cinching it tight with a tug, and I gasped as he brought me within an inch of his mouth. We were close enough that I could feel strings of electricity zapping between our lips.

“Apparently, I don’t have a problem with being tied up either,” I said as my mind went wild with images of Rowen, silky vines, and restricting positions. It shocked me how I wasn’t immediately turned off by the thought, especially after whathappened with Caeryn when he’d abducted me and tied me to his waist. But my trust in Rowen had my mind jumping into realms I’d never considered, and a golden warmth pooled deep in my belly.

Rowen’s sensuous mouth ticked up into a wicked grin. “Is this that corruption you were talking about?”

Playing with fire, I leaned in even closer and whispered, “Let’s see how this knot holds, and I’ll let you know.”

He halted my advance with a backward tug on the vine and groaned. “You are going to be the death of me.”

I tore my eyes away from his green gaze and lowered to the ground, maneuvering my way through the small opening. Rowen took the brunt of my weight as he lowered me into the sinkhole.

The heat in my veins cooled from the chilled cave walls, but it didn’t escape me that the knot held firm.

The well may have a small opening, but as Rowen lowered my toes to the ground, I realized it expanded into an even deeper subterranean cavern. The marble walls swirled and glistened in rivulets of arctic blue, turquoise, and lime. And the eerie sound of dripping water echoed around me.

I wiggled out of my harness, ignoring Rowen’s throaty growl as I walked towards the cave wall that had eroded into spiraling shades of aquamarine. I placed my palms on the chilly marble, feeling for any blocked or clogged water. It was there but faint and in the distance.

I lowered my hands to the ground, beseeching whatever water flowed beneath to rise to the surface. The trickle of water was far off, entrenched deep within the earth, and sounded like so little.

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