Page 5 of Shifter King
She drew in another deep breath and opened her eyes.
Naatos stood at the edge of the camp, speaking with his brothers. Their voices buzzed in her ears, indistinct, yet—she felt the words. His most of all. They flashed into her mind with images. A jagged mountainside of grey and white stone, some speckled like dalmatians, others ridged with bursts of pale blue. Trees grew in twisted lines, bent and broken under the blistering winds and mighty predators yet never giving up. Lichen and moss spread out like puddles of grey and green. Cracks and crevices led to natural caves and sheer drops of thousands of feet. Such bitter loneliness. There was a grimness behind his sight, a cold satisfaction that something he had known about the world had proven to be true. More lurked on the edges of those images if she just pressed a little deeper.
She folded her arms and pressed her elmis against her torso. The images dimmed, flickered, then faded. Her mindreading had changed. Significantly. Was that good or bad?
Her skin prickled; he was looking at her now. She pushed her concern down as she lifted her gaze and smiled. Yes, he was definitely watching her with an expression she might have once mistaken for contempt rather than concern.
"You're all right?" he asked.
She forced her smile crooked. No better way to convince him than to tease him. Steadying herself once more on the boulder, she drew her shoulders up dramatically. "Why wouldn't I be?"
He leaned his spear against the chiron oak with its great spiked branches, then circled her, looking her up and down. "It doesn't look like you'll be fighting any time soon."
Sighing, she kept her arms folded against her chest and her wrist elmis flat against her torso as he walked along behind her. "Oh, just you wait. I'll be running in three days. And fighting, I'll fight you now if you like." She winced as those waves of worry and concern rolled off him. Maybe that was what the black lines through her elmis had done. She hadn't noticed until now just how much more intense and massive he felt. She braced herself inwardly, then forced her smile bigger as he completed the circle and stepped back in front of her. "Do you want to fight, Naatos?"
That smirk returned as he cupped his hand along her cheek and tilted her head back. "You know you cannot best me."
"Oh. Can't I?" Though she met his gaze, the sharpness prickled throughout her, more than it had ever been. His crystal-blue eyes were like blades cutting into her. She narrowed her own eyes, trying to lessen the tension radiating out from him. "Won't you be surprised."
He pulled her closer, his one hand sliding into her hair and bringing her head to his shoulder as he twined the other around her back. "Keep on surprising me, veskaro." He kissed her forehead, then her temple, his fingers tangling in her hair as he crushed her close.
She curled against him, letting the waves of emotion wash over her. Tears brimmed against her eyelids. What words she might use knotted in her throat. Yes. Flashes of images and sensations struck her, pelting her mind. Scenes from Dry Deep. Of her twisted body. Of her vomiting. The cold panic when she vanished from his arms. The way the Ki Valo Nakar had worn her like a skin suit. "I'm all right," she whispered.
He nodded, but those columns of concern contradicted the confidence with which he spoke. "Yes, you are."
She shivered. The barrier between their bodies felt like everything and nothing. She tucked her head under his chin and clenched her eyes shut. It was hard to hold here on the edge of plunging into his thoughts and feelings. They brimmed all around her. Harder still to realize just how much they had all suffered with her. Yet her body felt as if it was drifting away from her somehow.
A soft surge of energy flowed into her, golden light pulsing behind her eyelids. Pulling away, she peered up at him.
His expression twisted, his gaze hardening. The flood of disappointment, anger, and sorrow that spiraled through him nearly knocked her back. If pouring his own life into her would have healed her, he would have done it.
It was almost too much. She slipped her hand along his cheek, curling her fingers at the edge of his defined jaw. "Most people have to heal the long way. I've done it myself many times."
His jaw worked. A vein stood out along his neck as his muscles tightened. "I should be able to heal you."
"Venom and curses? They're just problems. Not a criticism against you." She tried to give her words a teasing edge.
His scowl deepened. "I have mastered all but a few. They had their choice of venoms, and there are only ten in all of creation that they could have used, including this new hybrid. Is it a coincidence that one which I have not mastered was used? Do you know how many venoms and poisons exist in creation?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. I know if you had any say in this, you would have healed me in a breath."
"I trained long and hard to heal myself within the span of a single breath. And it was always as much so that I could heal my veskaro."
Her breath sharpened as she glimpsed the thoughts spiraling through his mind. The Salvation of the Third Nalenth. It haunted him now. They needed to stop this track. She didn't want to walk over it again. And what if she started sending him thoughts as well? "AaQar has spent all morning making fish. You should eat some of it while it's hot."
He garrumphed in response but at last released her. AaQar already had food prepared for him. He offered some to Amelia as well, pushing it into her hands when she started to refuse. "I don't think I can—" she started.
AaQar raised his eyebrows, his expression growing stern again. "If you plan to be running in three days, how do you think you will accomplish it without the proper nutrients? Unless you do want to fight now."
She laughed, startled at the loudness of her own voice as well as the mirth. But he had said it so seriously and yet was teasing a little too. "Fine. I'm eating more fish." She gave a dramatic shrug and then accepted the large slab of fish on a leaf. This one was almost iridescent but fragrant with herbs, smelling a little more like perch and swordfish than salmon.
There was something comforting in the family being together. Not all was well within Ecekom, but here and for now, it was better than it had been for a long while. She steadied the shields and barriers she'd learned earlier to try to compensate for all of the thoughts and feelings now rippling out around her. It didn't feel as if she was doing it right though it got a little better.
"Did you get far into the northern mountains?" QueQoa asked.
"Far enough," Naatos responded. He started on his second piece of fish. "The northern mountain ranges haven't improved. The cabizas are more aggressive than usual, and the orcas have become even more dominant in some sections."
QueQoa rubbed his shoulder, recalling the last time he had encountered one. The cabiza teeth flashed into Amelia's mind, echoes of pain biting into her own shoulder.
