Page 44 of Awakening Storm

He sighed, and then a scream split the air. Jerking his head up, he heard another high-pitched cry.

Rhianna!

He ran off the edge of the precipice and transformed from tiger to eagle. He plummeted at first, then caught the wind beneath his wings and rose.

It was only a short distance more to the castle, and the closer he got, the easier it was the see through the fog.

Once he was inside the palace, he’d have to find a way to get Theodora to bring Rhianna back to life and then destroy the sorceress. He didn’t know how he would do that yet, what her weakness was, but he’d find one. And whatever it was, he’d use it against her.

* * *

Anxiety skipped alongRhianna’s spine. Her palms were sweating profusely, and she could hardly focus. At least Theodora had allowed her great-grandfather to be the one who stayed to guard her.

“Don’t worry,” Katsu told her. “You will be fine.”

Yeah, right. Easy for you to say.

She had died and been revived. To say she was shaken was an understatement. When air had filled her lungs again for the first time, she had screamed at the pain of it. But her great-grandfather had an easy way about him that reassured her.

“Aidan will be coming for me,” she whispered to Katsu.

He nodded, a shadow of sadness crossing his face. “Rest,” he said and then shut the door to her room. She felt his presence as he remained on the other side.

She inhaled several calming breaths before she turned and regarded the room. One thing was for sure: Theodora lacked an eye for beauty. Rhianna would have thought that there would have been some color in the sorceress’s own palace, if nowhere else in this world. Perhaps there was something wrong with her eyes. Was she color-blind?

The bedroom she’d been escorted to had sturdy Baroque furniture and a plump bed. The accommodations were far superior to the bare room she’d been given in town. She drew back the covers and climbed beneath them. She stared at the high ceiling. And while her body was more comfortable now than it had been in days, a single tear slid down her cheek. She closed her eyes.

Sometime later Rhianna was awoken by the sound of a scrape and a thump. She jumped and snapped open her eyes. It took a moment for the shape at the end of her bed to come into focus.

Aidan.

She tucked her knees beneath her, scooted across the mattress, and threw herself into his open arms.

“Are you all right?” he asked, touching her face gently.

She nodded, then took in a deep breath of his comforting, manly scent. “How did you get in here?”

“I came in the window in another room. It was a tight squeeze, but I managed. Katsu directed me here.”

“I guess my great-grandfather likes me more than I thought,” she said, offering a grim smile.

“His indifferent nature is just due to the culture and age in which he lived. Remember, he’s old, even though he doesn’t look it.”

She nodded again. She wanted to run away, to disappear beneath the covers with a book the way she had when she was small. “I wish I could forget all this. I wish we could be back at your island.”

He lifted her chin and kissed her, the tender strength of his lips on hers giving her hope. “Come on. We must leave.”

She tried to stand but pain shot through her body, and she stumbled.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “Lean on me. I’ll hold you up.”