Part 29 (2/2)
Nika did. Several times during her abduction Tori had looked up. The sky had been clear that night. She'd gone southeast. He was almost certain they could use star maps to figure out her general vicinity. Once he got that close, the slope of the ground and the surrounding landscapea”even most of a decade latera”would likely be recognizable enough to lead them right to her.
”How close can you get?” asked Nika, her voice excited.
”I'm not sure. Why?”
”Because the closer I am to her, the stronger our connection will be. If we're close enough, and if I use your power, she won't be able to keep me out.”
”How close do we need to get?”
”I don't know. It depends on whether she blocks me. We can head southeast and track her down while we wait for everyone else to gather.”
”It might be safer to go as a group. They might know we're coming and set a trap.”
”We won't go in after her alone. I don't want to fail to save her. But don't you think the chances of the two of us being noticed are slimmer than the chances of an entire group? We don't want to give them time to prepare for our attack.”
”You can't let Tori know we're coming. If she's been . . . compromised, she might give our intentions away.”
”She'd never do that.”
”She'd never willingly do that. You know as well as I do that they could force her to tell them. They could torture her or go into her mind the way you do.”
Nika's throat moved as she swallowed. ”You're right. I don't want to do anything that has even a remote chance of hurting her more. It's probably best if I don't even know what our plans are, in case she can somehow see inside me the way I can her.”
Madoc nodded. ”I'll talk to Joseph. We'll keep you out of the loop.”
”But you won't leave me here. Promise me.”
He didn't want to do that. If he promised her, he'd be bound to that promise. And yet, she was reaching out to him, asking for his trust.
It had been a long time since Madoc had felt trustworthy. Nika had given that back to him and he wanted to do something for her in return. ”I promise I won't make you stay here when we go.”
The weight of his vow and what it meant wove around him, chaining him to his word.
He wasn't sure if he'd made a good decision or a terrible mistake, but there was no turning back now.
Angus couldn't let this go on any longer. Seven months was long enough. He had to find a way to get through to Gilda.
Through the closed bathroom door, he heard the bathwater run, then stop. He didn't bother to knock, knowing she'd tell him to go awaya”that she wanted to be alone or some nonsense. Instead, he simply opened the door and walked in.
She jerked, covering her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s with her arms. She'd never done that before, and it was just more proof of how far apart they'd drifted.
He let her see his displeasure in his face as well as shoving it through their link. The mental push was harder than it should have been; their link had shrunk more even since yesterday. ”I've seen you naked a few thousand times.”
Her chin went up as she let her arms fall back into the water. ”You startled me. That's all.”
Angus ignored the lie, sat on the edge of the tub, and began unlacing his boots.
”What are you doing?” she asked.
”Getting undressed.”
”Why?” There was a hint of fear in her tone, and Angus wanted to pound his fists into a wall to vent some of his frustration.
”Seven months, Gilda. It's been seven months since you let me touch you. Our bond is growing weaker by the day, and now the lives of several young women are in the balance. At least one of them is one of our own, and I'm d.a.m.n well not going to be the cause of her death.”
Angus shed his clothes and stepped into the tub.
Gilda shrank back from him, pressing herself as far away as the giant soaking tub would allow. ”Are you still letting Tynan experiment on you?” she asked.
”Yes. Nothing has worked. I'm just as infertile now as I was last year.”
”How can you be sure?”
Anger was getting harder and harder to fight with each day that pa.s.sed. He couldn't stop it from coming through in his words now. ”Because I jerked off into a cup. Tynan checked under a microscope, and nothing has changed.”
”I told you that if you agreed to these experiments, I wasn't going to let you bed me. I haven't changed my mind.”
”Fine. You know I won't force you, but I'm d.a.m.n well not going to sit by while our bond fails. I'm going to touch you, and it has nothing to do with s.e.x.”
”No,” she said, standing. Water sluiced down her curves. Her glorious body was just as beautiful to him now as it had been centuries ago. Age and the birth of their children had done nothing to take away from her perfection.
Angus swallowed, trying to ease the grinding s.e.xual frustration he'd lived with for way too long. ”No?” he asked, his voice deceptively gentle. The last thing he felt right now was gentle, and if she bothered to reach out for him through their link, she'd know it.
Her chin quivered a moment before she pulled herself together. ”If you touch me, I'll forget my intentions. You'll seduce me, and I'll never be able to forgive myself for giving in.”
”You make it sound like letting me make love to you would be a bad thing.”
”I won't have another child. I won't watch another child die, or worse, be lured by the Synestryn to kill and destroy everything I hold sacred.”
”I'm not asking you for another child. I respect your wishes. I even bought condoms and learned how to use them. But what I'm not willing to do is throw away everything we've worked fora”everything we've spent our lives creating.”
”It's too late,” said Gilda. She was s.h.i.+vering now, her flesh rough from the chill.
Instincts embedded in him deeper than his own bones forced him to stand and warm her with his body heat. When his arms came around her, she went stiff, but there was nowhere for her to run away fast enough to escape him.
He felt her body convulse on a silent sob. For years his sweet wife had suffered. Grieved. He hadn't been able to do anything to fix it, so he'd learned to live with her constant sadness and silent rage until he accepted it as normal.
It wasn't normal. Gilda used to laugh. She used to tease him and smile and play.
She hadn't been normal since Maura had run away and joined forces with the Synestryn.
”It's not too late,” he a.s.sured her, forcing his conviction through their shrinking link.
”I've done things, Angus. Unforgivable things.”
His grip on her tightened. She was still cold, so he eased her down into the hot water, settling her against his chest. His lifemark still loved her touch, and it s.h.i.+vered toward her as if it had been starved of that touch for way too long.
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