Page 8 of Left Hand of the Divine
A flash of light exploded in the room, shaking the ground beneath my feet. My ears rang, and I slammed my hands over my eyes to shield them from whatever the hell was happening.
For a few seconds, I couldn’t catch my breath. Not that I needed to breathe anymore, but old habits died hard. I wondered when I’d stop breathing. I was dead and walking around with Thane’s death magic keeping me alive thanks to our soulbond, and apparently, that meant I didn’t need normal bodily functions anymore. Would I just wake up one day and discover my body didn’t want to breathe? Would I even notice?
Hands wrapped around my face, and I flinched at the sudden touch.
“You can open your eyes now,” Thane said softly.
I pulled my hands away from my face and blinked my eyes open. Two pools of impossible blue filled my vision. Thane’s eyes really were mesmerising, like oceans caught beneath a cloudless sky.
His blonde brows dipped in concern. “I can feel how uncomfortable you are through our connection.”
“Sorry,” I grumbled. The last thing I wanted to do was make him feel uncomfortable.
“Don’t be,” he replied casually. “I like that I know what you feel.”
That took me by surprise. “Why?”
“Because you’re mine, and I want to know everything about you.”
He said that like it was the most normal thing to say in the world. It wasn’t. But I couldn’t help the flutter of my heart in my chest at his words. Shit, would I still feel those flutters when my heart stopped beating?
Thane’s blonde eyebrows dropped into a deep frown, and he looked at me like he was trying to solve a puzzle. “What was that thought?”
I stepped away from him and tried to ignore the confusion in his eyes. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
He stepped closer. “But—”
“Where’s Roux?” Magnus asked, thankfully interrupting whatever Thane was about to say. I wasn’t sure I was ready to open the can of worms that were my thoughts on my own mortality. Or rather, the lack of it.
The table where she’d been sitting was bare. My stomach dropped. “Where is she?”
I spun on the spot, frantically looking around the room, but there was no sign of her.
And worse, the door to the vault was closed.
That couldn’t be a good sign.
I ran to the door and pulled at the handle, but it didn’t move an inch.
“Roux!” I yelled as I slammed my fist on the wooden surface. “Roux!”
“Atticus,” Thane snapped. “That’s not going to help anyone.”
The twins and Magnus seemed as frantic as I was, but Thane just looked like Thane. Impossibly calm and fucking aloof. “Do you even care that she’s gone?”
“Of course I care,” he replied, his brow pinched.
“You don’t look like it,” I spat. I was so worked up and angry. At Thane, at being here in the Vault, at myself for turning away from Roux for a second. Now she was gone, and Thane just stood there, looking like an emotionless statue.
Thane frowned at me, as if I were the one being difficult. “I’m not wired like you, Atticus. I don’t feel things the way you do.”
I knew that, but it didn’t do anything to diminish the fact that I was agitated and pissed off and clearly taking it out on him.
“Look, this is entertaining and all, but I do think we should focus on the task at hand,” Magnus said, his arms folded across his chest, a single dark brow arched reminding me that the guy was a king.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Rafe said as he turned towards the door. His twin followed and the pair of them started trying to find a way to open it.
“I’ll look over here.” I walked away from everyone, needing some space to think and calm down. I’d never been this agitated before. Was it because of the bond with Roux? We were stillconnected, but she felt like she was worlds away from me. It flickered and sputtered between us, and there was nothing I could do.
