Page 10 of Another Damned Storm
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Leo said. “It’s probably just from keeping the extra wards charged.”
That bastard.I shot him a glare, but it was already too late.
“What wards?” Never asked, her gaze bouncing between the two of us.
Leo looked genuinely surprised. “You haven’t told her?”
Tell her what? That the whole of the human realm might be in danger because I’d plucked her soul back from the hellish realm where those tainted by the blood of a demon were cursed to spend eternity, and now I was using warding magic to keep the fates from finding her?
“I haven’t seen the need,” I said.
He let out a disbelieving huff. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I am not.” But I was seriously reconsidering the foolish logic that led me to sharing any of our dark secrets with the nosey tiger. “She needs to learn first. How to fight, how to flash, how to defend herself.”
“Because the fates are coming for me?” Never asked, watching us both with a mixture of irritation and resignation bleeding through our connection.
I nodded.
“Any idea when they might make their move?”
Leo tipped his head to the side with a knowing look that made me want to throw him off my ship. “Remember what I said about the wards?” Then he looked pointedly at the aged copper bracelet on Never’s left wrist.
She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. When she opened them, she was calm and collected. On the outside. Inside, she’d slammed the door on our connection. “Leo, I need a minute with Hook.”
His brow winged up, and he pressed his lips together to hide his smile. “Sure thing.” He was out of his chair and out of the room a few seconds later.
“I was trying?—”
Never held up her left hand, cutting me off even as she eyed the gift I’d given her shortly after our visit from Nerebis. “To protect me. Yeah, I put that together.” She looked up at me, blue eyes sparking with frustration. “What you don’t seem to understand is that I need to know what’s happening. I need to know about the threats.” She pulled herself out of the chair and padded over to me, looking no less fierce glaring up at me in her socked feet. “And you need to be the one to tell me.”
“What you need is to focus on learning how to use your power,” I countered.
She shook her head and held up her wrist. “What happens if I take it off?”
“It will wound my heart,” I said, putting my hand on my chest. Her lips didn’t even twitch in the ghost of a smile. “Very well,” I conceded, taking her wrist in my hand and turning the bracelet slowly. “I’ve been using the magic in this to shield you from the beings that have been searching for you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “They’re already coming for me?”
I nodded.
“Can’t they just search for you? Or the ship?” she asked.
“I have wards shielding us all. You, me, the ship. Even Leo. The beings that have been trying to get to you are... persistent.”
Never tugged and I let her go. There were times when I would fight her attempts to put distance between us, but this wasn’t one of them. Not with the worry swimming in her eyes.
“That’s why you haven’t been sleeping.”
“This level of protection requires a constant flow of energy. I can’t maintain that flow alone if I’m asleep.”
She chewed on the inside of her lip for a moment, then a flood of emotion crashed through the connection. Hurt, betrayal, understanding, anger, love. That last one she had yet to confess with words, but I felt it. Which made the rest of what she was feeling both easier and harder to stomach. “You should have told me.”
I caught her by the waist and pulled her against me. “I didn’t want to worry you. This power, your power, is nothing to trifle with. If it comes down to a fight with other powerful beings, you’ll need to know how to use it.”
“I get that,” she said, leaning into me with a stiffness that made it clear I was not yet forgiven. “But if I’d known they were already coming...”
“You would have what? Tried harder? Trained more? Actually listened to me more often than not?”
