Page 130 of A Sword of Ice
They were a bomb, the seconds counting down until they ignited and caused chaos.
His eyes flashed, and she wondered if he could feel her thoughts down the bond they shared.
His fingers lifted and shoved aside her long hair, pushing it behind her shoulders so it didn’t curtain her face. Ryker let his thumb graze across her cheekbone, over her nose, down to her lips. Just like she’d done to him.
Her breath caught in her throat at the intimacy that pulsed between them.
She wasn’t sure who moved first. Maybe they moved at the same time, because a moment later they met in the middle, their lips fusing together, their bodies burning, igniting with a mix of magic and something so much more primal.
Their cheeks kissed, his beard and scars scraping along her skin. He groaned into her mouth, his hands spanning against her waist.
It came to a stop all too soon as he pulled away. His breaths were heavy, his eyes hooded with desire.
“We’re a bomb,” Shula voiced, the words panting from her lips.
Ryker opened his mouth to reply, but words never came.
But chaosdid.
Boom!
The entire castle shook, rocked by an explosion. Stone crumbled from the ceiling to the ground, and part of Caste Aileach caved in.
The resonance of the destruction echoed in Shula’s ears. Her body swayed, and the only thing keeping her upright were Ryker’s hands, pulling her to his chest, where she felt the rhythm of his rapidly beating heart.
Rock and dust rained down against her head, and her ears rang loudly. The quiet after the chaos settled, and in it Shula felt like she couldn’t breathe, like she couldn’t catch her breath.
Ryker’s hand engulfed her cheek, shoving away her hair.
“Are you alright?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer that, and she wasn’t sure Ryker was expecting an answer anyway. His eyes assessed her quickly, and then he was lifting, pushing them both to their feet. Her legs wobbled, but Ryker’s firm hold kept her from falling.
She swept her gaze around, her breaths wheezing out of her as she observed the destruction. Brick of the castle had smashed through, crushing Fae beneath their heavy weight. She could make out feet, hands,blood.
Bile shot to her throat and she forced it back.
“What—”
A moment later Iona, Julius, and Iona’s familiar were bursting through the caved-in part of the castle, panting. Their eyes barely registered the destruction and death, but they caught Shula and Ryker.
“We have to go now!” Julius shouted.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ryker growled, his voice barely concealing his confusion.
“Humans,” Iona panted. “They’ve found Castle Aileach.”
Shula felt like the ground had fallen from beneath her and she was suspended through nothingness, going at dizzying speed.
“No.” She felt the word leave her lips but didn’t register it until Iona’s eyes found hers, the sadness in them undeniable.
“They’re here,” she said firmly. “And we have to leave before it’s too late.”
* * *
Uric’s back ached.
Not surprisingly, since he had just taken the whipping of a lifetime from King Ashera. The wounds inflicted to him by the cruel monarch was nothing compared to the pain his own family had put him through as a child.
