Page 105 of Sky Shielder
Syla couldn’t keep from pausing and looking back again. She was in time to see Vorik knock Lesva’s blade out of her hand and sweep the tip of his own weapon to her throat.
They paused in that tableau. Syla didn’t know if Vorik would finish Lesva off. Her gaze darted about as she attempted to read his face. She didn’t seem to know either.
Thunder boomed right above them, and lightning streaked toward the cliff. It struck something on the rock face, and a greatcracksounded. Abruptly, the edge of the cliff gave way with Lesva and Vorik on it.
Syla gaped as rocks crumbled, and they both fell from view. Vorik twisted as he plummeted, trying to lunge in the air to find purchase.
Wind whipped at Syla’s robe again, and she stared at the black sky. Had that lightning strike been natural? Or… were the gods still about, not as departed from the world as mankind believed?
Movement at the crumbled section of the cliff drew her gaze back to earth. Vorik, his sword still in hand, climbed over the edge and stood. He turned to look down at the churning sea. Had Lesva fallen all the way down? Did her body lie mangled upon rocks?
Whatever had happened, Vorik must not have been worried about her returning because he turned away from the cliff. Sword lowering, rain spattering his bare muscled chest, he looked at Syla.
She’d moved thirty or forty yards during the battle, but she could feel the power emanating from him even across that distance. Lightning flashed again, showing his heated eyes boring into her, and a tremble went through her. She hadn’t gotten nearly far enough away to escape him. If she ran, with a few long strides, he could catch her.
And, in her heart, Syla didn’t want to run. She was drawn tothe powerful dragon rider, the man who’d defeated the horrible woman who’d been torturing her. Even if Vorik was an enemy, and she had no doubt that he was, she wanted to embrace him and thank him for coming for her.
Before she’d made a conscious decision to do so, she found herself walking back toward him. Yes,drawnwas the right word. As he watched her, sword still in hand but lowered, his eyes intense, she remembered the night before, thrashing as he brought her more exquisite pleasure than she’d ever known.
She had to be careful. She needed to find the shielder and finish her mission, not throw herself upon Vorik. She would only thank him.
He waited for her to come to him, as if certain she would. And he wasn’t wrong.
Only when she was a few feet away did he step forward and meet her, wrapping his strong arms around her, pulling her against him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as she said, “Thank you.”
He kissed the side of her neck as she gripped his shoulders, ensuring he wouldn’t release her.
“I’m sorry you had to endure that,” Vorik said. “I’ve been looking for you since I escaped the enforcers at the temple.”
“My route here was… circuitous.”
To say the least. Her body melted against his, feeling safe, even if she wasn’t. Being in his arms was amazing, and she wanted so badly for him to be… not an enemy. Someone she could trust.
The fact that he wasn’t brought tears to her eyes, and she removed her spectacles. All through Lesva’s torture, she hadn’t wept, but now… now her emotions got the best of her. She was on the verge of sobbing. She didn’t want to, but so much had happened. So much horribleness. She needed a release.
Vorik drew back enough to see her face and brushed his thumb over her wet cheeks. “Are you in pain?”
Syla shook her head and drew a breath, trying to steady herself, resolving not to collapse in front of him. “Not… now that you’re here.” What a smitten thing to say, but she couldn’t retract it. “Not now that she’s stopped, I mean. She’s gone.” Syla glanced toward the cliff, the edge a blur with her spectacles off. “Sheisgone, right?”
“She won’t trouble us again tonight.”
She stared at him. Did that mean Lesvahadn’tdied? That he’d seen her injured and swimming out toward her dragon? If so, that woman had a hundred lives.
Vorik lifted Syla and carried her to the mouth of the cave. He sat with his back to the stone wall, pulled her down into his lap, and wrapped his arms around her.
“Cry, if you wish,” he murmured into her ear. “I’ll watch the sky for you.”
The gentle words broke down Syla’s resolve, and she buried her face in Vorik’s shoulder and wept.
32
Vorik was not,he told himself, aroused by the woman in his lap, the warmth of her body, the appealing weight of her arms around him, the feel of her face buried against the side of his neck, her lingering tears dampening his skin. She’d stopped crying, but after being tortured, horrible pain inflicted on her, she didn’t need him lusting after her. As he held her, doing his best to make her feel safe, he gazed toward the roof of the cave and concentrated onnotallowing his body to act inappropriately, especially since she wouldn’t miss it, not when she was sitting on him.
It didn’t help that his feelings for her intensified every time they met. He’d been horrified to hear Syla’s screams, wanting to slay Lesva the instant he’d arrived, but he’d also been impressed that she’d withstood that, keeping her secrets despite the pain. That must have irritated Lesva to distraction, but it only made Vorik more certain that Syla wasn’tsoft, as Lesva had insultingly said.
He’d even arrived in time to sense… he wasn’t entirely sure what he’d sensed, but Syla had been using her power to fight off Lesva’s power. That wasn’t a talent he’d expected from someone specialized in healing magic. Somehow, Syla had not only endured all that Lesva had inflicted upon her, but she’d managed the wherewithal and stamina to fight back. She was incredible.
