Page 49 of Sate the Darkness

Beyond that…nothing.

“I don’t hear anything,” he said.

“Listen.”

He ground his teeth at her dogged insistence. “I am.”

Without warning he felt her arms wrap around him, as if she was using her presence to battle back his demons.

“Listen,” she whispered in his ear.

Ryshi stilled, allowing her icy power to seep deep inside him. Her touch not only banished the sensation of being slowly smothered, it also allowed him to focus his mind. Suddenly he wasn’t battling the silence. Instead, he allowed himself to sink deeper, simply drifting as he strained to hear any hint of magic.

He kept his eyes closed, using Sofie as an anchor as the memories he kept hidden crashed over him in a furious wave. This was why he’d created his elegant parlor. And why he surrounded himself with guests and servants. And why he’d been willing to risk everything by daring to enter the labyrinth all those years ago. Not to mention stealing into the lairs of vampires.

It wasn’t simply guilt, although he had plenty of that. He would never forgive himself for driving away his sister. And he fully intended to spend the rest of eternity searching for her.

But there was more to his restless need for constant entertainment than remorse, he grudgingly conceded. It’d started when he was very young, long before his sister had been born. Back then he’d been alone with his mother in their lair. His father had taken off with a wood sprite and Ryshi had suddenly realized how quiet it was with no one around.

It wasn’t that his mother had completely abandoned him. She spent enough time in the lair to make sure he wasn’t stolen or killed by one of her enemies, but jinn were by nature solitary creatures. It didn’t occur to her that he might need companionship. And if Ryshi had been a pureblood the endless years he’d spent alone in his palatial rooms wouldn’t have bothered him. But he had the blood of an imp in his veins. That side of him had craved the love and physical affection that the fey shared with their children. He needed laughter and sunshine and the camaraderie of a large, boisterous tribe.

Over the years, he’d come to dread watching his mother walk out of the lair, knowing he would be alone in the silence for endless decades. Sometimes centuries.

After he’d created the Oasis, he’d thought he’d healed those wounds of his past. He had a thriving business and constant company to fill the void. And the arrival of Zena had given him the family he’d always desired.

But now, held tightly in Sofie’s arms, he realized that he’d only masked the emptiness. The Oasis would always be his pride and joy. And he loved Zena despite her aggravating determination to drive him crazy. But deep inside, he’d still been alone.

What he truly needed was a mate. A partner who would fill his heart, his soul, and his bed.

The thought should have sent him into a panic. What could be more smothering than being eternally bound to one female? What happened was just the opposite. Accepting his bond with Sofie, Ryshi could physically feel the silence fracture and shatter, as if struck by a hammer.

With a sigh of relief, he wrapped his arms around her waist, finally able to hear the faint hum of magic. It was distant, and he took a second to be sure that it wasn’t an echo coming from the expanding hole. Once he was confident that he’d locked in on the spell, he buried his face in the curve of her throat, taking a brief moment to immerse himself in her scent of chamomile before reluctantly pulling away.

“I found the doorway.”

Sofie blinked, as if attempting to clear her mind. Obviously, she’d been equally lost in the potent awareness created by their embrace.

Not that she would ever admit it, he ruefully acknowledged, watching her expression harden as she squared her shoulders.

“Where?”

He didn’t bother to try to force his way past her brittle defenses. That was going to take more time than they currently had. Always assuming it was even possible.

A worry for another time and place.

“This way.”

He grabbed her hand and tugged her away from the gaping hole, retracing their steps toward the beginning of the maze. For once he didn’t hesitate as he turned the corners, picking up speed as the hum grew ever louder. How the hell had he missed it before? It was as noisy as a freight train.

There had to be some sort of magic hiding the sound. Now that he’d broken through that spell, it was no longer muted.

They were nearly back to the entrance of the maze when he caught sight of the shimmering gateway hovering in the middle of the hedge. He came to a sharp halt.

“There,” he said, pointing toward the magic that Sofie was incapable of seeing.

“The opening?”

He nodded. “Ready?”

---