Page 54 of Whispers of Ruin
He easily recalled the ambrosia of her blood filling his mouth and the way she moved against him with such abandon. He wanted more of both but wouldn’t push her. She’d avoided him all day because of what happened last night, and no matter what happened between them after this, he still wanted her friendship.
“Where are you sleeping tonight?” he asked.
She released his hand to point to a cluster of fallen rocks not far from where he’d established his tent. “I set up my shelter over there.”
“You’ll be safe there.” However, he’d far prefer to have her at his side again. He kept that to himself as he strolled across the clearing with her. “The jungle is quiet tonight.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.”
“Neither do I.”
He stopped outside the canvas she’d draped between the rocks and stepped back while she ducked into the shelter. After she vanished from view, he remained outside, his feet planted into the ground as everything in him screamed against leaving her alone.
She should be withhim,and they should be enjoying each other again. But he didn’t know if that would ever happen again.
He hadn’t known it was possible to hate a ghost, but he loathed the one between them. What would have happened if he’d met her before Fabian?
That’s a strange, pointless thought.It certainly wasn’t anything he’d contemplated about the other women who’d come and gone in his life.
Besides, it wouldn’t have made a difference if he met her before Fabian. Back then, the witchesloathedvampires simply for their existence; Kaylia wouldn’t have looked at him twice, and he wouldn’t have bothered with her either.
It was only now, after things had changed so much, that there could have been something between them… but he wasn’t sure that was what he wanted anyway. He didn’t embrace his dark fae nature over his vampiric one, but he enjoyed playing the field and experiencing all the realms had to offer.
He could also admit a part of him was envious of what Cole and Lexi shared. How could he not be?
They loved each other deeply and would share their lives. They would get married and have children, and those children would be raised in a home full of love, like he was.
Finally, he mumbled good night to her and walked away. He’d almost crossed the ten feet separating their shelters when the whispers started.
The guard directly across from him stiffened but showed no other reaction to the insidious sounds. Brokk was determined to shut them out as he ducked into his shelter, but their mutterings taunted him as he settled onto his blanket and clasped his hands behind his head.
He detected his name, Kaylia’s, Ryker’s, and some of the others in the whispers, but most of the words remained unintelligible as he stared at the thick branch above him. Closing his eyes, he tried to listen more carefully to the words, but they remained elusive.
He wasn’t sure if they were speaking another language, muttering nonsense, or talking over each other so much it became drivel. It would be his turn to stand guard in a few hours, and he required rest, but between the whispers and Kaylia, he wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.
CHAPTERFIFTY-ONE
Ryker cameto wake him for his guard shift, but he was already awake and still trying to decipher the whispers. When Ryker hit the side of his canvas, Brokk crawled from his makeshift shelter and rose.
He stretched his back as he surveyed the clearing with its handful of torches set around the perimeter. The moon had risen, but it was waning, so its dim radiance didn’t bathe the clearing in much light.
From the jungle, the whispers rose in volume before lowering back to barely heard mutterings. If he thought he could find the source and not get killed in the process, he’d hunt them down to have some silence.
“Where do the whispers come from?” Brokk inquired.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen whatever causes them, but they never go away. So far, whatever causes them hasn’t attacked us, so they could be harmless assholes.”
“Nothing in this realm is harmless.”
“Very true.”
They fell into step beside each other as they walked across the cleared land. “Kaylia said a lot of blood stains the ground here.”
Ryker looked down at the earth. “A lot of blood stains everything in this realm.”
“There’s more of it here.”
“And it was most likely the ophidians who spilled it. They terrorize everything in Doomed Valley.”
