Page 60 of Rose and Shadows
Hell knew we hadn’t had much of that lately.
10
~Cassius~
Something was wrong.
Velra had muted herself again.
I could barely feel her at all, save for a brief spark of pleasure. Given that Sylas had messaged me that he was temporarily back above ground, that pointed toward him being responsible. Or possibly her pleasuring herself in a bid to ease some of her pain and terror regarding Lazriel being taken from us.
Either way, though, aside from that one spark of positivity I’d felt from her, that had been the extent of it. And the last time she’d performed a spell like that, she’d acted unilaterally and endangered herself, both physically and mentally.
I wouldn’t have it.
I wouldnot.
This couldn’t continue.
I hadn’t been able to convey my true upset with her concerning those actions she’d taken, because Lazriel had been kidnapped, so she was hurt and emotionally vulnerable, as all three of us were, and not in a state to launch into a heated discussion like that.
But with it seeming like she was acting dangerously once again, I would have little choice but to engage in that way now.
I came to a stop outside her dormitory in Obscura Circle, and drew in a centering breath.
Then I called my white power and pressed it to the door, facilitating myself access through the ward protecting the room. The lock clanged as well, then I pushed it open, and kicked it shut behind me, only just managing with the intensity rolling through me to do so without decimating the door frame and Hades knew what else.
However, I was immediately pulled up short by the sight before me.
Over on the other side of the room to my left Velra was tucked up in her four-poster bed.
And tucked up in Sylas.
Relief flooded me.
Unfortunately, the full sensation was compromised when I caught sight of a ruined spell in the center of the room—ashes, frost remnants, and a nasty residual taste that I recognized as black magic having been present.
I scrubbed my hand over my face as I looked back at the two of them.
They were bare, the blankets not fully shielding that fact. Velra was sleeping in Sylas’ embrace as his hand rested on her stomach, her exquisite breasts on display, rising and falling beautifully with her easy breathing as she slept.
They appeared peaceful, perhaps also satiated—especially knowing Sylas’sexual appetite, as Lazriel had come to term it. I smiled to myself. As if he was one to comment on that. His was indeed voracious.
A twinge of pain, that same twinge I’d been feeling constantly since he’d been taken, assaulted me yet again at the thought of him.
Fortunately, a grunt from Sylas snapped my attention to the pained sound instead.
I walked to the bed, Sylas not stirring.
His body jolted though, then began shuddering.
And then I saw it.
No.
His hand resting on Velra’s stomach was desiccating.
A gray tint spread over the back of it, then traveled along two fingers, while also starting up his wrist.
