Page 73 of Of Songs and Silence

He moves further against me, one muscled arm bracing himself on either side of mine as he guides me down onto the bed. Then his lips are on my jaw, my neck, my collarbone, and I am lost to a tumultuous sea of want and need and a rightness that aches down into my core.

But Ari is there with me, anchoring me even as his thoughts are an endless, intoxicating mirror of my own desire.

His hands are sure and steady, igniting me even as they cradle me with more gentleness than I would have thought the massive warrior was capable of.

If I expected to feel fear or hesitation, there is neither when he slides my dress over my head, exploring every inch of skin he reveals. He takes his time, giving me space to run my fingers and my lips along the ridges and tattoos and scars that adorn his perfect body.

We spend the night bolstering ourselves and each other, losing ourselves in the endless rightness of the bond and trying to steel ourselves against everything to come.

But when morning arrives, I am still not prepared.

CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE

ARIIHAU

Iknow something is wrong when Moli doesn’t come to dress Kala in the morning.

Kala returned to her room in the early hours of the morning, though it killed me to be separated from her—not physically, now that the bond is sealed, but because she belongs at my side. I didn’t sleep after she left. Instead, I spent the time preparing, donning my armor, sharpening the blades of my trident.

But the rebels aren’t due to attack until breakfast. And Kane should be here to relieve Noa. It’s part of our plan.

Not wanting to alarm my soulmate unnecessarily, I slip into the hallway with Napo at my side. The feeling of wrongness is more pervasive here, raising the hairs along the back of my neck.

It’s silent, and the water is far too still.

Napo clings to my leg as if he can sense it too, his round eyes flitting back and forth between Noa and Kala’s door behind her. The lieutenant looks on edge, too, standing more rigidly than normal.

“Commander,” she says more tentatively than usual, standing at attention.

From a rare, brief glimpse at her thoughts, I discern that her hesitation is equal parts concern for an unusual situation and an odd combination of emotions regarding the things she apparently overheard last night.

We have no time to deal with that now, though. Before I can so much as return Noa’s greeting, Melodi appears in the doorway.

The rosy hue is gone from her cheeks, last night’s desire replaced with the same apprehension that’s overtaken me.

What is it?she asks through the bond.

I don’t know yet.

“Lieutenant Noa, have you heard from Kane this morning?” I ask her.

He was supposed to protect Melodi while I met up with Lani and the others before the attack. It would have kept the king from noticing our bond preemptively, but now… I can’t very well send her with only the young warrior. It would be more suspicious, not to mention dangerous for everyone.

Noa’s voice pulls me back to the present, confusion and trepidation mingling in her tone when she speaks.

“I have not, Commander,” she trails off for a moment. “Actually, I have not yet heard from anyone today.”

Anyone?

Every fiber of my being is on alert as I glide to the rooms across the hall, not even bothering to knock before throwing the doors open. All of them are empty.

There are no servants darting around. No warriors standing guard. No voices. No slipstreams, or rippling of the water.Nothing.A wave of panic swells inside of me.

Where the hell is Kane?

I war with myself for a moment, deciding what the next steps should be.

A very primal part of me wants to lock Kala in her room. To arm her with my trident and tell her to hide until I can find him, until we can escape to the rebel colony. If everything has gone to hell, though, it will take longer to come back to her. Seas only know what her grandfather might have planned.

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