Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
The urge to swim gripped me strongly, almost as if the river beckoned, promising to wash away all my confusion. Sunshine glittered on the remnants of my smudged symbols from Pallen.
I wanted them gone.
Soaring to my feet, making Natim jump at my quickness, I undid the reed belt, untied the pelt from around my nape, and stepped out of my new dress.
Natim sprang toward me, skipping and leaping.
But I didn’t stop.
I ran right past the fawn and leaped into the water.
The wet coolness licked around me, sucking me under. It was deeper than I expected. Far deeper than the shallows and pools that flowed past the Nhil camp.
I sank to the rocky bottom with my white hair floating around me. Dried mud dissolved from the strands, and the stickiness of oil and ash on my skin rinsed away.
Blue light erupted around me, turning colourless into colour.
The same eerie melody echoed through the liquid, singing a song both foreign and familiar. The way the watery chime soaked into my mind was eerily similar to the way the fire spoke. Heard, not with ears or mortal senses, but by a deeper awareness that granted the strange sensitivity toward creatures great and small.
The chime swelled and braided, becoming more of a lullaby.
Something sparked in my heart.
I...recognised it.
I’d heard it before.
I closed my eyes, desperate to remember, only to suck in a mouthful of panicked water as a new voice appeared in my head. A voice as otherworldly as the fire but sleek and silken, like an otter darting through my mind. “You know us.” The voice was luxurious satin. “You are us.”
Choking, I pushed off from the bottom, spearing to the surface and spitting out the mouthful of water. I coughed and swam to shore, swimming as fast as I could away from yet another unexplainable occurrence.
“Runa?”
My head snapped up as I clawed at the river’s edge and shot onto land. I stood there dripping wet as the stranger cradled Natim, his head cocked and smoky eyes locked onto my bare droplet-glittering form. “Are you okay? Can you not swim?” Putting Natim carefully on the ground, he eased around the springy, leaping fawn and held out his hand.
I took it by instinct, shivering as the same hum and burn that blazed in the mark on my thigh darted through my blood. He pulled me away from the water, away from the voice and back to the spot where I’d been sitting. The discarded deerskin that I’d torn off lay crumpled in the grass.
The stranger eyed up the hide before letting my hand go reluctantly. “You were gone most of the day.” He raked his fingers through the messy jumble of black hair. “I wanted to give you time, but...I was also worried.” His forehead furrowed. “Just as well I searched for you. Perhaps you shouldn’t go in the river if you don’t know how to swim—”
“I know how to swim.” Grabbing my sodden hair in two hands, I twisted it to wring out the water. Tossing the damp strands over my shoulder, I ducked for the deer skin.
He didn’t speak as I tied the hide around my nape, then wrapped it snugly around my form, finishing it off with the reed belt.
He asked softly, “If you know how to swim, why were you choking?”
I kept my eyes downcast, not wanting to tell the truth about the watery voice but unsure how to tell a lie. “I was...surprised, that’s all.”
“Surprised?” His gentle shock raised my gaze to his. “By what?”
“I...” I scrambled for a good enough reason, only for my attention to drop between his legs. “Y-You’re not bare.”
He tensed as he glanced down at the furs covering his maleness. “No, not anymore.” He swallowed and shifted with nerves. “I...” Balling his hands, he forced himself to say, “What happened this morning was...unfair to you. I used you, even if you believe you were curing me. All morning, I wanted to seek you out and pretend I was still ill. Still in pain. I wanted to have you cure me all over again and I was wicked enough to imagine so many ways of how you could.” He gave me a wolfish half-smile. “But those imaginings only granted more pain because now I know what your hand feels like around my—”
He swallowed again, bracing his shoulders. “I’m sorry, Runa. I wasn’t expecting how my body would react to you. I was naïve I suppose. Stupid to have forgotten how much I’d want you when, even with no memories, I can’t seem to stay away from you. I want you so badly. I need—” He sighed and shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. What does matter is I finally understand why the Nhil put up with tiresome furs.”
Stepping toward me, he clenched his jaw. “I can’t hide how much I want you, and I won’t lie and say this morning wasn’t one of the best experiences of my forgotten life. I want to do it again. I want to give you the same exploding death and show you the pleasure you gave me, but I need you to know I don’t expect it. Yes, I want you for my mate, and yes, I want to do to you what Salak did to Verio, but...you shouldn’t have to see how much I want you or feel obligated to heal me whenever I can’t control myself.” He snorted under his breath. “Which seems to be all the time around you.”