Page 17 of Bound
I glance down, confused.
It is then I realize my flames are still rolling around me, their playful tendrils lapping at my body through the gaps now charred into my shirt. With a thought, I snuff them out.
Her face colors more.
I take a hesitant step closer. “Amoret, my lady … I am afraid …” She lifts her head, meeting my gaze with more strength than I expect. My breath rattles from me. “I fear I bring bad news, my lady. Your brother … He was taken last night.”
Amoret’s eyes do not flutter. The triple lines of color spiral in a wash that leaves my own sputtering to respond. To glow with her. All the color in her face blanches, and her hands press to my chest as her knees buckle.
I catch her body against mine. She sags in my arms, her irises locked on my face until they are all I can see.
Up close, she is so little. So feminine and more beautiful than any Fae woman I have ever seen.
“How?” she breathes.
Knowing it is wrong, knowing I am overstepping, my hand raises and slips along the silken sway of her cheek. Her face is small in my hand, dwarfed under my hold. I scrub my thumb over the soft expanse as a single tear falls. “We don’t know,” I tell her. Her expression clouds with worry. With fear. I grip her tighter. “But you have my word, I will find them.”
She grips my hand where it holds her, squeezing my fingers with surprising strength. “On your honor?”
Pain rips through me.
I have had no honor for twenty years. Not since …
Gritting my teeth, I nod. “On whatever honor I have left, I swear it.”
She lets out a shaky breath and her eyes close. Tears spill down her cheeks as the petite line of her body seems to curl against mine, branding me with that small touch. With her trust. Her faith.
I hold her tighter. “I swear it.”
