Page 48 of Shadow Master
He shook his head. “No.” He closed his eyes. “Justice, we need to get on the road now. We can reach the Salvation camp by dawn and hopefully steal Brady back and be back on our side of the mist by nightfall tomorrow.”
I loved his optimism. “I’ve warned Kash. The knights will be ready.”
“I need to be there,” Hyde insisted.
“We will be. But do you honestly think you could fight right now if need be?” I poked his abdomen gently.
He hissed in pain.
“Yeah, you still have some healing to do. But Balan said you’d be fine by morning.”
There was a bowl of herbs by the exit to the tent. I grabbed it and scooted back to Hyde.
“Lie back and shut up.”
He obliged, his expression serious and troubled.
I set to work on removing the bandages, slicked on some more herb, and then put on fresh bandages.
My hands trembled toward the end, as the image of him being stabbed over and over flitted through my mind again.
“Indigo?” Hyde’s fingers curled around mine. “I’m here. I’m all right.”
My throat was suddenly tight with emotion. “You almost died.” I glared down at him, the anger and the emotion I’d shoved in a bottle once I’d healed him bubbling to the surface now. “They stabbed you, over and over, and I couldn’t do anything.”
“Indigo—"
“I almost lost you.” My anger evaporated, replaced by something else. An acceptance. A knowledge. One that scared the fuck out of me. “I can’t lose you, Hyde. I can’t not be with you. I love you.”
It was a weight lifting off my shoulders, it was shackles falling off my wrists. I fucking loved him, and Orion could go fuck himself. I’d find a way. We’d find a way, even if I had to slit the fey’s throat to do it.
The vicious conviction sliced through me, leaving me trembling. But Hyde was staring at me with his heart in his eyes.
“Say it again.” He gripped my bicep, his fingers biting into me. “Say it.”
God, I both hated and loved his take-charge attitude. But like hell would I give in.
“No. Fuck you.” I sniffed and wiped my nose with my feytech sleeve, regretting it instantly. Ouch.
“Justice. Please.” Heat grazed my cheek in the wake of his gaze. It touched my mouth, lingering there like a phantom kiss.
Fuck it. “I love you, Archer, and I don’t give a fuck about Orion’s law. Orion isn’t here right now. Right now, it’s just you and me on fomorian soil. So, tell me, Hyde … what do you want to do about it?”
“Take off the armor.” It was a clipped order, a tone that spoke of restrained and barely veiled sexual aggression.
Shivers of anticipation skated over my skin, and heat bloomed at the apex of my thighs.
“Peel it off. Slowly.” He released me, breathing heavily.
I reached for the collar of the skin and stretched it to deactivate the mechanism that molded it to my body, then began to peel it over my shoulders.
He followed the slide of fabric down to the tops of my breasts, his mouth parting as I took it lower, grazing my nipples and down to my abdomen.
His throat bobbed, and his fists clenched.
“All the way off, Justice. All the way.”
I pushed the fabric down to my hips and then wriggled it over my butt and down my legs.
