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“Of course,” I replied.
“Then maybe we’ve all gotta work on the communication a bit. Be less reactive and more proactive. It’s like I was trying to tell you about Finn, though I’ll admit, I didn’t do it well. Stop letting everyone and everything yank your chain. What do you want to do?”
“Be better. Make sure you’re never hurt again.”
“Well, that’s not possible, but what did you want to do wrapped in a sheet?”
“Find Sylvan, see if I could bring him here and unpack some of the secrets he’s holding.”
His smile was bright against the now lightening sky. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. Let's get in front of this stuff, love. Together.”
13
“This is his tent, but it looks like he’s asleep,” Slade said in a whisper, crouching by the entrance of the seer’s tent.
I thought back to the way Sylvan had pushed me out of his psychic space beforehand, cutting off my view of his memories.
“That might make things easier.”
“To get under his skin, you mean?” he replied.
I nodded. “He had to consciously push me out, and how likely is he going to be able to do that if he’s asleep?”
“Better hope he’s dead to it,” Slade said, then carefully and quietly unzipped the tent.
We paused at the entrance for a moment, allowing our eyes to adjust to the darkness. It was a lot emptier than everyone else’s as he was the only occupant, now a shadowy bulk. This worked in our favour as we crawled inside, crouching in the empty space on the left, looking down at Sylvan’s sleeping form.
The similarity in the features of the Great Black Wolf and him was startling. I hadn’t exactly memorised his face, but the sharp cheekbones and the broad jaw were all very familiar. That was the first thing I needed to know—why. I reached out my hand, ready to touch the Volken seer and see if I could find out.
“Wait!” Slade hissed. My fingers froze where they were, and I shot him an incredulous look over my shoulder. “Will you be OK?”
I shrugged. I wanted to be sure of that too, and everything I’d experienced in the psychic space hadn’t hurt me yet, so I had to assume that would stay the case. I just looked at him, not willing to disturb the silence and potentially wake Sylvan. He nodded finally, not looking happy about it, but accepting this was what we had to do. I slid my hand over the tent floor, careful not to create a noise, and then the tips of my fingers touched Sylvan’s.
I was wrenched away from the tent in a chaotic swirl, reality reasserting itself quickly with a snap.
“Thank the gods you’re here.”
I looked up to see a shirtless Sylvan standing before me, and sure enough, he had the same well-defined muscular body that all men that were gifted with the peacock gene seemed to have. His eyes were wide, the crystalline blue all the more stark for it, and he looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world. He took a step toward me, then stopped, as if he wasn’t sure he could or should.
“You are, aren’t you?”
“Of course,” I said, though it wasn’t me who was saying the words. I was in the body of the person speaking to him, but I wasn’t controlling it. That was enough for him though, as he broached the gap between us in two long strides, then jerked me to him and held me close. I heard the rasp of his breath in my ears, felt the shift of his hands restively on our skin as if it was my own.
“It’s OK, my love.”
My voice was lower, more melodious than mine usually was. It held a soothing note that seemed to unwind something inside Sylvan. But not for long. The tension that leaked out was soon replaced by an emotion that burned much hotter.
The look on Sylvan’s face was an alien one—pure naked desire. He had pulled back, still holding me in his arms, and those bright blue eyes grew hooded and heated, dropping down to rest on my mouth before slowly drawing back up again. His tongue flicked out to swipe his plush bottom lip.
What the actual fuck? I had no idea what Sylvan’s deal was. Sometimes he was some half naked interloper who’d savaged me and seemed to relish being electrocuted in his cell, and sometimes he was a foreign presence in my dreams, a hijacker of my mind, an inciter of mass hysteria. To feel a thrill of arousal spike through me was an odd experience. Me? Or the body my consciousness rode within? I didn’t know. I just felt the fluid shift of this body as it moved towards him, slinging our arms around his shoulders, angling our head closer until I could feel his breath on our lips.
“And what has you so hungry for me, my love?”
We pulled back when he tried to close that gap, his mouth searching for ours, and it took him moments to register before his eyes darted up to meet ours. Something cooler settled there as he straightened.
“We’re getting closer,” he said, pulling free of us and tangling his hands in his hair. “We should be at Leifgart within days.”
“This is good, my love.”
