Page 147 of Between Soul and Vessel
“Better than what?”
He didn’t meet my gaze. “To be rutted like some animal in the woods.”
I could sense he was battling with something much deeper.
I slid my hands to his face, forcing him to look at me. “Shadow, I don’t care. If it’s here in the woods or a bed in the clouds. All that matters is that it’s with you. There is no one else I want to give my maidenhood to. No one else but you.”
“You’re sure?” His voice was but a whisper.
“I am.”
A pause. “You truly want this?”
In that moment, I understood.
He wantedmy consent—he wanted to be certain thiswas something I wanted because the empress had never given him the option. She had only taken from him, regardless of whathewanted.
Looking deeply into his eyes, I vowed to him, “If the sun fails to rise tomorrow, and all of creation were to meet its end, I could die happily, knowing I got the chance to experience this with you. To be connected to you. So yes, Shadow, I want this more than anything. I want you.”
His eyes searched mine, inspecting them for any hint of mistruth. When he found none, his fingers slid to the bottom of my hem. “I want you, too, Avriel, more than anything else in this world. I’ve dreamt of this moment between us for so long.”
“Then take me,” I whispered, my lips finding his. He started to lift my chemise—
“Disgusting!” a hateful, familiar voice roared from up above.
A blast of light, traveling faster than an arrow, shot between us, blowing us apart.
My body sailed backwards until I collided with a tree trunk, bringing me to an abrupt, excruciating halt. Something inside me snapped and I felt a burst of pain.
I moaned in agony, my hand shooting to my side, but the second I tried to touch it, I let out a yelp. Although I didn’t feel anything broken on the outside, it sure felt like something was on the inside. A rib, perhaps?
Gritting my teeth together, I looked around, trying to find Shadow. He was lying a good thirty paces from me, unconscious, surrounded by the empress’s soldiers.
“Shadow!” I screamed for him, tears pricking my eyes as I tried to crawl for him, my movement slow and weak, my body crying out in pain.
No. No. No!This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
The empress landed before me, her massive wings tucking in. Her eyes were like daggers, threatening to carve mine out. She shook her head at me, lip curled in disgust. “I’m not surprised you turned out to be no different than your mother. She wanted to take from me, too, and we all know how that ended for her, don’t we?”
The adrenaline coursing through my veins made me ignorant of my pain.
I thrust my hand up, calling on my winds, sending them hurtling for her.
She glanced to her left and stopped my power dead before it reached her, not even a strand of hair knocked out of place. “Don’t make me laugh,” she mused. Then, I felt the weight of her power, like a knee to my back, knocking me over, forcing me to bow to her.
Again, an explosion of pain slashed at my side—something was definitely broken. Still, I ground my teeth, trying with every fiber of my being to break her hold. With a face full of dirt and leaves, I just barely managed to look up.
She placed a hand on her hip and glanced over her shoulder, commanding her soldiers, “Bring him over.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” one of them replied as she leaned down to grab his arm.
“What are you going to do?” I wheezed, watching asthe soldiers dragged Shadow toward us. My heart ached with the need to go to him. And yet, I could do nothing.
“You’re going to find out,” the empress replied, grabbing hold of her skirts and flicking them to the side as she turned. “Put him against that rock,” she commanded. “Over there.”
The soldiers did as she asked, dragging him over to a flat-topped boulder, large enough to lie on.
“Secure him,” the empress directed.
