Page 29 of Lies Within the Darkest Tower

She gave me a warm, welcoming smile, something I hadn’t seen from another woman — hell, from anyone but Sawyer — for a long time, then turned to Rider and pulled him into a quick embrace. With another smile and a wave, she hurried along the outside edge of the courtyard to an archway leading into the tree-building where four fae men were waiting for her.

“Your sister is lovely,” I said.

I didn’t know why my dream had created her — I doubted the Lord Commander of the Black Guard even had a sister — but I wasn’t going to question it or look too closely at it. Looking too closely usually changed the dream, twisting whatever was wonderful into something horrible. And my wonderful moments were going to be few and far between from now on. I’d take whatever I could get, even if it wasn’t real.

“She was stunned her first time manifesting as well,” he said, watching her and the men walk out of sight. “So dizzy she couldn’t even stand. It happens to so few of us that some of the younger men, in their enthusiasm, forget it’s possible. But?—”

“Really, Rider?” a dry masculine voice asked behind me, so familiar it made my pulse leap. “Now’s not the time to change your mind about mating.”

I turned as Talon approached us. He was dressed in a two-toned gold jerkin that enhanced the golden shimmer in his mesmerizing, multi-colored eyes. He looked just as breathtaking as before, and, much as I feared, I couldn’t help but think about him naked.

Heat flooded my face, and despite the fact that he glowered at me — a complete change of personality from when I’d walked in on him in the bathhouse — a soft ache blossomed low within me.

I bit back a huff of frustration. This dream was turning cruel. The one person who’d been nice to me at the Tower now looked at me with disgust. Of course, maybe this was my mind’s way of reminding me that no matter how nice Lord Talon had been, I still had to watch everything I did and said.

Beside him, much to my surprise, with an apologetic half-smile, was Lord Quill, the fae who’d delivered the death sentence to my brother. He didn’t wear the Guard’s black armor either and instead wore a green jerkin that matched his emerald eyes, eyes that looked a lot like mine now.

“I haven’t changed my mind about mating,” he growled back. “She’s new and disoriented from manifesting.”

“And you’re so chivalrous you’re showing her around,” Lord Talon replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm and drawing my gaze back to him. “We don’t have time for this. Send her on her way.”

“She’s standing right here,” Lord Quill said, and my attention, my whole essence jumped to him. “Pardon my companion.” He shot Lord Talon a withering glare. “Our meeting is important, but I’m sure Rider will look for you when we’re done.”

“No,” Rider snapped, making my essence jerked back to him as if just by speaking these men has a strange possession over my body. “You’ve figured yourself out?”

My thoughts stalled on his mouth. He’d said something. But his demeanor had changed from welcoming to brusque.

I took a step back, his sudden change of emotion shocking me, despite knowing this was a dream.

“Have you figured yourself out?” Talon repeated, making my essence snap back to him. He wanted me gone. It was clear in his tone and posture and now Rider did as well. “Well, have you?”

“Of course, my lord. Thank you.”

Lord Quill opened his mouth to say something, but I wasn’t going to wait for the dream to take a worse turn. I hurried down the path away from them and the courtyard packed with all those too-eager fae men. It was bad enough Lord Talon was the complete opposite of what he’d been in the Tower and now Rider — noLordRider since he was the Lord Commander of the Black Guard — was going back to the man I knew he really was.

CHAPTER 18

Quill

The redhead murmuredher thank you, shocking me with how demure it was, and fled. She didn’t seem unsteady on her feet, so she couldn’t have been completely stunned by her soul manifesting in the garden, but she had looked like she was in shock. And Rider wouldn’t have helped her if she’d been fine. He wasn’t interested in doing anything with a woman — fae or human — and he’d never been interested in taking a mate.

The only woman he talked to was his sister, because if he got too friendly with anyone else, the Goddess, because he possessed powerful magic, would consider him a possible mate for any woman with awakened unbound mating marks, just like the redhead, whether he wanted a mate or not.

And she had all of her marks. None of her marks had shifted from her hair color to her eye color which meant she didn’t have any mates yet.

Except that didn’t matter for me. No matter how friendly I got, or even if she fell in love with me, the Goddess would never mate us. The odds of the Goddess even picking me as a last mate were almost non-existent since I didn’t have any magic at all. It wasn’t impossible, but a man without magic hadn’t been matedfor four hundred years and I doubted I’d be the one to change that.

Even if my current search did lead me to develop a magical ability, that didn’t change the fact I might make a magicless child and there were already too many of us — and too many newborns — without the divine spark.

No, having a mate was beyond me. The best I could hope for was getting stronger and being an equal member of our command team. And right now, that meant figuring out why there were more shadows in the Gray and why they were more aggressive.

“That—” Rider growled, his gaze still locked on the path where the redhead had gone “—wasn’t necessary.”

“So, youaregoing to find her when we’re done,” Talon huffed. He wasn’t interested in a mate either.

“Of course I’m not going after her. I’ve got more important things to worry about.” Rider jerked his attention away from the path and glared at Talon. “But she’s so disoriented, I’m not even sure she knows where she is.”

A strange mix of emotions flashed over Talon’s expression. He wasn’t an asshole. He did care about other people, but he couldn’t do what Rider did and just avoid women. They flocked to him whether he wanted their attention or not and he had to be more aggressive to get them to look somewhere else. Which was why he’d been so sharp with the redhead.

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