Page 121 of Embers in the Snow

I can’t stop looking at my future wife.

I watch as she studies the shaman, her dark gaze sharp and analytical. She goes still as Maiian traces her thumb across Finley’s palm.

The tattoos on her hand start to glow, emanating a faint white light.

Finley stiffens.

I tense. All of my senses are on high alert. Even the simple act of this stranger touching my wife stirs a deep protective instinct within me.

I want her. I want to devour her, and I’m ready to strike at the slightest hint of anything sinister.

Was I always like this?

Finley closes her eyes. She sways. I lean closer, filled with a terrible kind of restlessness.

She lets out a gasp of pain.

I’m already moving, wrapping my hand around the shaman’s wrists. “Karazu dene antam?”

What are you doing?

Maiian freezes. I can sense her fear. I should stop, but I’m not quite rational right now. Finley’s scent is driving me mad.

“Corvan,”Finley hisses. “Calm down. Whatever she’s doing, it’s working. I can feel it. Don’t interfere. I’mfine.”

The shaman tips her head and waits patiently, as if she understands exactly what’s going on between us.

Slowly, I release her hand. “Very well.Kemashen.”Continue.

Maiian presses her thumb firmly into Finley’s palm and asks a question in that strange language.

Finley looks her straight in the eye and nods. “I can hear them. It’s the strangest thing. Voices whispering in my head. Welcoming me. They call medaughter.”

Maiian closes her eyes. The glow of her tattoos intensifies. Finley winces. “Ah!” she gasps.

I’m just about to tear Maiian away from my wife when the shaman releases her and steps back. She says something to Sylhara, speaking so rapidly I struggle to make out her words.

“What did she say?” My impatience spills over. “What did she do?”

Sylhara clasps her hands together. She takes a deep, steady breath. She’s the picture of serenity; the antidote to my seething mood.

Finley reaches across and places her hand on top of mine. Her touch is like cool water on the kindling of my irrational anger.

When it comes to her…

Am Ialwaysgoing to be like this?

Silence descends across the room. One could hear a pin drop.

“There’s a seal,” Sylhara says at last. “A barrier between her and the magical world. Not a harmful one, but a protective one, put in place by someone very powerful.”

“What is the meaning of this?”

Maiian speaks again, her tone dry and sarcastic.

Sylhara struggles to keep a straight face. She hesitates.

“I know what she said, Sylhara. Translate for Finley’s benefit.”

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