Page 23 of All's Fair in Lion and War
He tipped his head, acknowledging her statement respectfully. No argument. No pushing.
Except she wanted him to argue, to push, to touch her. She wanted desperately for him to hold her so she could cry. If only to release the tension and confusion over the situation she’d found herself trapped inside. But it wouldn’t be fair to him. She glowed for him too. He saw her as hisshuarra, even if he was respecting her choice to reject the mate call.
Her choice to reject him.
And she couldn’t accept it. Tallix still lived in her mind. He was right there. So close she could touch him. Smell him. Hear his voice and feel the way he used to caress her cheek.
More tears trailed down her cheeks, both burning fresh trails of torment and pain.
“Why can’t I remember anything?” She turned to face Saul instead of meeting his gaze through the reflection in the mirror. “I can remember bits and pieces of yesterday, but not the whole day. The times with you in it. But then today I have been getting these flashes of other memories that don’t make sense. It’s just moments in time. No alignment. No order.”
“I would touch you, Lorelei.” Saul took a step forward, waiting for her permission.
But she couldn’t give it. It was wrong. She had a mate. Her heart belonged to Tallix. More tears poured down her cheeks. Conflict speared pain through her chest. “I want…” She shook her head. “No.”
Saul’s face remained stoic. He didn’t let her seeallthe pain he felt at her rejection, but she caught a quick glimpse of it veiled in his jewel-blue eyes.
So different than her Tallix. Her mate’s eyes were a deep honey-brown. Saul’s were blue like the sky of this world. Clear and pure and shining with so much intensity.
Sobs rocked her chest. She tried to hold them back, but that made it worse.
“What can I do to help you?” He asked, his voice level and calm and soothing to her shattered soul.
She stared at him for what seemed like eons before gathering enough of herself together to speak again.
“Stay with me. Please.”
“Always,” he answered without hesitation.
His answer made the tears fall faster. The sobs bigger. She knew what thesoul callwas doing to him from the inside out. She could feel it too.
The pull.
The desire.
The comfort.
He relaxed his body against the closed door.
She turned back to the mirror and looked down at the stack of clothes folding neatly in front of her. There were some strange containers of things next to a bright pink hair brush.
Lorelei could read everything on the containers. Hair cream. De-tangler. Curly hair conditioner.
The dragon female had hair similar to Lorelei’s with many thick curls. At least the dragon female’s hair was what Lorelei remembered hers looking like at one time.
“My hair,” she said, not knowing what to say. “I need something.” She ran her finger through her wet snarled mess. Her fingertips moved an inch or so before being stopped by knots.
“I can get one of the females if you’d prefer?”
She shook her head and sat down on the little stool in front of the counter. She opened the small jar that was labeled de-tangler. That sounded the most promising.
“How can I read this? Speak the language I’m speaking?” She met Saul’s gaze again and worked some of the white cream into her hair.
“The magick-benders. They created a magick to follow us through the portals on Exodus Day. It allows us to absorb any new language spoken or seen by us. The process takes a few minutes, but it assimilates the entire language, minus some strange sayings used by the natives that don’t match up with meanings.”
“So anyone who went through a portal received it?”
“Yes. That was my understanding,” he said.
