Page 14 of Lera of Lunos
Silence falls.
Viper’s breath is coming in short gasps now, his skin gray and clammy.
“Bet you wish you’d made it one of those half-hour shields, huh?” I say.
Viper looks at me with wide eyes and suddenly we’re both laughing.
“Just so you know, mortal,” he says once the absurd mirth dies away to silence and the throbbing of our wounds rises to fill the void. “You won more than my flag today. The magic made no mistake when it chose you for Lunos.”
9
Lera
“You used the life-and-death-defining flag as a handkerchief?” Shaking his head, River sets me on the edge of the worktable in the preparation room, the arena’s cheering still echoing in my ears.
“I needed to wipe my face.” I try to smile and grimace instead. “Viper and I had little other use for it at the time.” My body hurts. My head aches. A hot knife stabs my ankle every time I dare shift my weight. I can feel the other males close by, resisting the urge to crowd me, per River’s orders—Tye pacing restlessly, Coal making himself busy over armor, Shade laying out medical supplies with thunder in his golden eyes. I count them all, over and over, needing the reassurance that they are all right.
“Indeed.” River brushes hair from my face, his sweat-soaked temples and mussed, sandy hair probably a mirror of my own.
“I could have killed you. I nearly did kill Viper.” I shoot Coal a dark look. “You still think the council was right?”
A muscle in Coal’s jaw ticks once, then he tosses his armor polish into a wooden crate and walks out the door, the slam echoing in his wake.
“Coal!” I groan, starting after him only to have River’s heavy hand hold me in place. “It was a bloody jest.”
“Today’s trial... It was the longest hour of my life, Leralynn,” River says quietly. “Standing on the other side of that shield, unable to get to you. I don’t remember ever being so terrified as that. And I doubt Coal can either. Give him time to work through it.”
I lean my head against River, breathing in his earthy scent. My cheek brushes the smooth skin of his neck, now clear of runes. It’s over. It’s actually over. The trials, the Citadel, Klarissa’s unchecked power over us. I try to understand it, to let it sink through me that we’re finally an official, sanctioned quint. That we can finally leave this polished, poisonous Citadel. Leave and never return.
Except, of course, itisn’tover. I’m too slow to hide my shudder.
“What is it?” River’s gaze pierces mine.
“I want to feel like something monumental just finished, but the truth is that it’s all just starting, isn’t it? What we have to do before Lunos is safe.”
River nods, his thumb tracing my cheek. “True. For now, however, let’s get you back on your feet.” He looks over his shoulder at where Shade has finished organizing salves, bandages, and several unpleasant-looking implements on a tray. “Why don’t we take her to the baths?”
Shade shakes his head. “Not until I have the ankle stabilized.” Leaving off his preparations, he comes up beside River and lays a hand against the side of my face. His yellow eyes are clear and focused, his emotions held back at a low simmer just as his black hair is caught in a tail. Shade’s healer mode. “I’m sorry, cub. We’ve a bit of mending to do before you can go anywhere.” He leans forward to kiss my forehead before returning to his work. I close my eyes momentarily at the warmth left behind by his velvet-soft lips and the lingering scent of damp forest, wishing he’d stayed there longer.
Taking up the space Shade vacated, Tye crouches beside me, his lithe muscles rippling beneath a torn tunic. Once the static shield fell, the male had scampered down the rock with such feline grace and so little concern for gravity that even Viper loosed an appreciative whistle. Now, all that power seems contained behind piercing green eyes. It’s intoxicating, after all his distance and avoidance these past few days, to have his full attention on me. I wonder what it means—probably just the emotion of the trial burning through him. Reaching up, he takes my hands in his, the pads of his thumbs running lightly over my damaged knuckles. “I want to sleep with you.”
“What?” I jerk back and instantly regret the motion as pain from my head, ankle, and cut-up skin collide. “Now?”
“No. Yes.” Tye cringes. “If I’d not been a selfish idiot about it, all of this might have been different. Stars. Lilac Girl... I’m...”
“If you think yourself responsible for the earthquake I started, you give your cock entirely too much credit,” I mutter.
Tye’s face lowers, the pain in his sharp features squeezing my heart. I wish I understood what was going on in that mind of his. “I don’t know what to say, lass.”
“That is usually a good sign to shut up,” Shade says from where he strips away my bootlaces. “And if we are to have a chance of riding out of here today, I suggest you leave me to my work. Unless your cock has suddenly developed healing powers?”
Tye rocks back on his heels. “No, that would beCoal’s. I’m keeping track, you know.”
The tips of my ears heat, turning into spasming chuckles when the male wiggles his brows. I try to hold back the laughter for the sake of my abused bones, but the firsthaescapes with the force of a rearing stallion. My back arches and I grab Tye’s hand, squeezing it in an attempt to steady my body.
It’s no use, not when the tension of the past hours breaks whatever dam held it back and spills out in a storm. “‘Keeping... track,’” I gasp. “You... are... insufferable.” My laughter fills the preparation room, deep and desperate and unstoppable, even when tears finally start streaming down my dusty cheeks.
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