Page 13 of Revealing Fate

“I can endure unspeakable things,” he said, and her defiance withered and died inside her. “I have endured them. But if they get to you, it will break me.”

Santhe’s heart squeezed painfully.

“I will break, Santhe. Do you understand?”

He sounded broken already.

Cinah looked at her with such mournfulness that it threatened to undo her. She both loved and hated what she saw. Loved, because she had not been certain until this very moment if he felt for her what she did for him. Hated, because she knew she had to listen to him because of it. His feelings for her were a dangerous liability.

Tears filled her eyes, and there was nothing left within her to stop them.

“Santhe?” His pleading was more than she could bear.

“Yes,” she whispered as the first drop fell. “I understand.”

Cinah sighed, relieved and deflated.

He was sending her away. She wasn’t afraid for herself. She did understand. Yet the thought that she might never see this man again…

The thought of what might happen to him…

“I don’t…” A small sob broke from her. “I can’t…”

Cinah gripped her fiercely. Santhe clung to him as if he were the last thing anchoring her to the earth, and if she let go, she would float away to be lost among the stars.

“I love you,” he murmured into her hair. “So, you must leave me. You can, and you will.”

Santhe wept. The burn in her throat was such that she couldn’t even say the words back to him. She only held him tighter and hoped he could sense how deeply her feelings mirrored his own.

Chapter 4

DRUGGED

FELÍNE WAS A CATERPILLAR. SAFELY cocooned in a sanctuary of warm silk. She dangled high above the forest floor, hidden from hungry predators lurking below. A faint dappling of light illuminated the world beyond her little haven and warmed her face. A breeze wound its way around her, carrying the intoxicating scent of honey, amber, and something smoky. The softest smile lifted one corner of her lips, and she hummed a gentle tune in her contentment.

Slowly, so slowly, consciousness seeped into her. And suddenly she wished she were still dreaming.

Reality was much less sweet. The taste of ash, vomit, and something awful coated her tongue. Her body ached as though she’d been beaten with a barrage of stones the size of grapefruits. Her toe throbbed. Her knees burned. Her arms were stretched across her belly and pinned to opposite sides of her body…

Wait. Why were her arms tied?

Felíne cracked tear-crusted eyelids, squinting against the soft light that penetrated the canopy of green high above her. Her head pounded with the beginnings of a fierce headache. Or maybe the remnants of one? She couldn’t tell.

Felíne groaned and struggled to sit up. When she finally managed, she glanced down at herself. She was wearing an oversized, long-sleeved jacket, the arms of which extended across the front of her body in opposite directions and fastened behind her. Her pants were not her own. She wore thick trousers, and her ankles were tied together with a length of rope. Her feet had been padded with woolen socks.

Panic clamped down on her like a vice. Where was she? Who tied her up? What happened to Kal?

She began to wriggle, pulling at her aching arms and kicking her legs. She wrenched her body sideways.

A twig snapped behind her, and she froze. Feline’s breath quickened, and she braced herself to scream. Like hell was she getting kidnapped again.

Kal stepped into view. His dark hair was tousled. His mouth was set in a hard line, his brows tensed. Shadows purpled the skin beneath his eyes as though he hadn’t slept. A gaze like two chips of black ice settled on her. He squatted an arm’s length away.

For a strange moment, the two of them stared at each other.

Kal’s deep voice was the first to break the silence. “Care to explain what all that was about?”

Felíne bristled. She looked down at herself before pegging him with her own frosty glare. “Me? Do you care to explain what this is about?”