Page 73 of A Dance of Water

There was one name that she felt compelled to utter—not her demon protector or the vampire who yearned for her forgiveness. But a certain white-haired mage with proclivities forviolence.

The scent of snow soothed her. "Tharen?" She felt a palm on her lower back, and she bumped into a large chest.

"I’m here, lamb." She heard the mage’s answering words, and something tremulous and fragile was mended within her.

Gloves against her bare shoulders. "We must get you somewhere safe," Graves murmured.

She had to strain to hear his voice over the noises of the crowd. Harsh whispers as if they were afraid to speak too loudly and break the looming threat that was poised over them like the sharp blade of a sword.

A chill permeated the room, making her shiver. So cold.

Luella had been so overheated lately that the chill was welcome, but that didn’t stop her from rubbing her hands over her exposed arms. "What’s happening?"

Her fae eyesight was weak and did not allow her to see well in the dark. But they could.

Wide-eyed and wracked with soothing chills, her hands grasped before her, tangling with a silken shirt—Bastian.

"Luella." Strong hands held her shoulders, a face coming before hers in the dark. She could just barely make out green eyes and tanned skin, warmth filled the space between her and Vale. "Where did you hear of that name?"

"W-what name? What are you talking about?" In her fear, she did not realize that the name she had uttered—Caliban—was what forced an urgent shock into the King’s movements.

He shook her. "Tell me!"

"Hey!" She heard Az bark. "Don’t hurt her."

The demon’s strong hands gripped her elbow, tugging her into his side. Vale did not let her go.

She would be torn in two by them.

"Stop," she whispered. The concerned words of the crowd and the violent males before her gobbled up the plea. It disappeared into the shadows, heard by nothing, perhaps.

Az’s fingers dug into the soft skin of her inner arm, pulling and pulling. He jerked her back against his broad chest as if to use his body as a shield from the shadows around them and the males before her.

Vale yanked her away from the demon, and she let out a startled cry.

She fell into the King’s embrace, and her cheek brushed against his chest as he held her to him with an intense possessiveness.

"She’s mine," Vale growled. His voice did not sound like his own. Smoke filled the air.

"She’s not athing," Az hissed.

Emotions ramped higher, feeding into the twisted, welling thing inside her.

Her skin was ice, and her heart was frozen solid. But she burned.

"Stop!" Luella yelled.

A soft burst of blue-tinged light.

Frozen water danced around her, droplets splattering from her fingertips as she swept her hand out; it froze midair and plinked against the ground.

The short glow of the light ebbed, blotted out by the darkness.

The crowd grew hushed.

Her captors fell silent.

Shock fell heavily upon her.

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