Page 46 of Joy Guardian

I sat on the stone path with Ciana on my lap and cradled her head in the crook of my elbow. Cupping more water from the fountain, I dripped some on her mouth. She opened it for me eagerly. Her eyelids fluttered to life. I reached over to grab a silver cup from the row of them lined up on the ledge of the fountain for the Joy Guardians to drink.

“Here, Ciana.” I filled the cup and brought it to her mouth, shifting her up while supporting her shoulders.

She drank too fast with the water escaping her lips and dripping down her chin and throat, until she coughed, then laughed, dropping her head to my shoulder.

“Oh, blessed be the Joy,” I prayed under my breath. She was alive. Relief rushed me in a trembling wave. I stroked her braids, soothing her. “It’s all right. There’s more water than you or I could ever drink. There is no rush.”

Her breathing became jerky, and a shudder ran through her body. She was crying.

“Ciana?” I pressed my lips to her temple, listening to her emotions through my tendrils, but her feelings were jumbled. Her anxious worry proved impossible to untangle from her relief, and her peace from her sorrow.

“We’re safe here,” I comforted, gently stroking her back and kissing her hair.

She lifted her head. “Where ishere?Where are we?”

“The Temple of the First Priestess of Joy. That’s where I live.” Pride rushed me when I said the name of the place that had been my home for a hundred years now.

She looked around, quickly taking in the black rock walls with the carved niches of the Joy Guardians’ bed chambers and the tiled central area with the pool and the drinking fountain.

This floor was modest compared to the hall above with the Source of Joy. General public never came down here. And there was a separate passage with another staircase to access our study room with the library and archives. For as long as I remembered, only the Joy Guardians who lived in the temple had been here.

“It’s…nice,” she commented distractingly, looking a little disoriented. The drinking cup on the ledge of the fountain caught her attention, and she licked her lips, focusing on it intently. “May I have some more water? Please?”

“Of course.” I hurried to refill the cup before giving it to her.

“Thank you.” She emptied it in a few hungry gulps, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand with an apologetic smile. “I don’t think I’ll ever drink my fill now.”

It thrilled me to see the light of life returning to her eyes.

“Drink as much as you want, Ciana.” I refilled her cup again, then drank one myself too.

A thirst like we’d endured was a torture impossible to forget. I would remember it for as long as I lived.

She stared at me with her dark, intense eyes.

“I don’t remember getting here. I thought I was going to die out there, in the wind and sand. Kurai…” She twined her arms around my neck. Her gaze trapped mine. “You saved me. You carried me all the way here, didn’t you? Thank you.”

She drew me into a tight hug. The warmth of her gratitude reached to me through my tendrils, wrapping my heart in a soft blanket of pure joy.

I saved her. I carried her for hours through the wind, sand, and heat. It would’ve been easy to let the storm do the job that I’d failed to do, to let it kill a human and eliminate the threat to the Source of Joy.

Instead, I fought for her survival with every drop of strength left in my body. Through my tendrils, I knew she wasn’t ready to die, and I saved her. I’d do it again.

I’d do anything to keep Ciana safe.

Twelve

CIANA

Iwas an enthusiastic hugger. I used to hug people for any reason or no reason at all. I hugged to say hi or to say goodbye, to say thank you or to just show I was happy to have them in my life.

Hugging Kurai held an added pleasure. He always stilled in my arms, as if savoring every moment of our connection, and it made me want to keep holding him. It made me want to do more things than just hold him.

I pressed my face into his chest, breathing in the warm scent of his skin. Desire stirred low in my belly, resonating with the warm glow in my chest. I’d thought all these feelings were long dead, murdered by the unworthy man of my past. It was surprising but also so very thrilling to have them coming back to life now.

Doubts came rushing in again.

Was it too soon? Too fast? Inappropriate?

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