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Clever bitch.
Remy took a step, and I thought he was going to go after her. My heart dropped and panic set in once again. He couldn’t leave me alone like this, without a way to defend myself.
Instead, he reached down and scooped me into his arms. My head lolled before he righted me in his hold, cradling me to his chest as he strode through the dense trees. The walk back was going to take a while, and I felt bad he was going to have to lug my heavy ass that whole way.
So, as she does, Mother Nature decided to step in and save him that hassle.
Thunder cracked overhead, and like the sky was a popped water balloon, a gush of rain hit us with a wet crash. The trees provided no kind of shelter, the bare canopy leaving us exposed to the deluge.
To my surprise, instead of running ahead to get us back to the school as quickly as possible, Remy whirled and sprinted back the way we’d come.
What the hell? Where are we going?
I wanted to demand answers, and I thought the spell must have been wearing off because the words seemed to be sitting on the tip of my tongue. I still couldn’t force them out. With no interruption from me, Remy just kept running.
I tried to shift my eyes to the side to see where we were headed, but with the rain pouring down and the trees surrounding us, I couldn’t see more than a foot or two in front of us. It wasn’t until he slowed and turned slightly to one side to shimmy past a rock barricade that I had any idea what our destination was.
Remy ducked his head to walk inside what appeared to be a cave, holding me close so my head wouldn’t hit the rock walls. He dipped lower, and my equilibrium shifted. I dug my fingers into his skin to hold on, but I needn’t have worried. He had a strong grip on me as he went deeper into the cave, somehow knowing exactly where he was going in the darkness.
Actually, it wasn’t truly dark. As my eyes adjusted, I realized there was a faint illumination emanating from deeper within the cave, and I wondered at the source. What was back there, hidden away from where an unsuspecting person might accidentally stumble upon it?
When he moved to set me down, I gripped onto him tightly again, only then realizing I had moved my fingers not once, but twice. My ability to move was slowly returning. I tried to lift a hand, but that was still beyond me. I was able to blink, however.
“Thea, what did he do to you?” The poor man sounded distraught, but there was nothing I could do to comfort him until I was back in control of my body. The first thing I would be asking him when I could speak was where the hell we were, and how he knew about this cave so far from the castle.
I was feeling stronger, but when I focused in on the sensation, I realized it was my power still swirling within me. It was still looking for an escape, but I no longer had anyone near me who I could direct it toward. I would never risk aiming it at Remy, death god or not.
But that meant I was a ticking time bomb, and I couldn’t even ask Remy what to do. I was terrified of what was about to happen, and despite my lack of control over my body, a tear leaked out of my eye. Remy reached up and swiped it away with a thumb, his brow furrowed in a deep frown.
“What is it, Fury? What’s wrong? Tell me how to help you.” His frustration was obvious, but it had nothing on my own. I closed my eyes, and another tear broke free. I was afraid, but I was also frustrated as hell. So much for not being a damsel. Not only had Remy had to show up and rescue me, now I couldn’t even tell him what was wrong with me.
The second I let my eyes fall shut, exhaustion beat at me like a gale force wind. I felt Remy shift beside me where he sat on the hard-packed floor of the cave, and then I was being pulled onto his lap. My head rested against his shoulder as his hands sifted into my hair, holding the back of my head as though he was afraid I was going to escape. No chance of that. I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But after the craziness of the night, his touch was so warm and comforting, drowsiness crept through my faltering consciousness.
It may have also been from the effort of trying to rouse my power while Illyria had been hacking at my hair and trussing me up. The energy expenditure had cost me, and even though I hadn’t been able to use the power I had called for, building it up to such a high level had worn me out.
Remy was mumbling things against my hair, and I couldn’t tell if it was vows of vengeance, promises of protection, or even random jokes to lighten the mood. All I knew was the deep, rich timbre of his voice was soothing some of the raw, jagged bits of my soul. All I wanted was for him to keep talking to me.
And he did.
