Page 43 of In Darkness Forged
Her eyes sought his, still waiting, and when he said nothing more, she straightened and turned back to her spot nearer the fire. Wrapped her cloak around her and curled up on the ground, her back to Tal.
Who was left with the unaccountable feeling that he had somehow failed.
* * *
Many hours later, Tal awakened from unpleasant dreams. He pulled his hood away from his face just as the last purple shades of dusk were fading from the sky, giving way to the endless dark. Beneath the trees, the colors of night were just winking into existence—purple lichen peeking out from beneath the moss, the dark red veins of a bloodwing vine, and the bright golden sparks of shadowsprites, flitting here and there with careless abandon.
Cuan lay beside the shallow pool with his chin on his paws, ears twitching as those tiny sprites occasionally darted too near his head. Around the edges of the pool, darklilies were just beginning to open, releasing a delicate perfume along with a pearlescent light, while tiny white fish darted through the clear water. Night-blooming flowers studded the moss around the water’s margins, even as the stars seemed to bloom in answer overhead.
And in the midst of that oddly peaceful scene, the human bathed her feet, with her skirts tied above her knees and her dark hair falling unbound past her shoulders. She even smiled a little, in defiance of the darkness around her and in spite of the dangers she faced. Somehow, she could still find joy in that simple moment of peace.
Tal blinked, and for a moment, the woman in the pool seemed to have long white hair, and her delighted laugh rang out across the water as she tried to splash him…
He slammed his eyes shut.
“Talyn?” The human sounded concerned. As if she’d somehow seen his pain through that one simple response.
But he refused to be pitied by anyone, and especially not by a human. He could not afford to let her see the untreated wound that still lurked just out of reach. The agony that would continue to haunt him until he’d finally avenged his sister’s death.
“Did you stop to think of what might be lurking in that pool before you decided to go wading?” Tal demanded.
He opened his eyes again to find the human staring at him with what he assumed was frustration.
“I can see the bottom,” she said coolly, “and the water doesn’t even come up to my knees. I’m not sure why you sound so angry about it, considering how many times you’ve assured me thatsomethingis going to kill me.”
Their eyes locked, and hers seemed to flash fire, even though Tal knew perfectly well that human eyes could not glow with magic. Apparently, he’d completely lost the ability to intimidate her.
“Then perhaps I was merely hoping you would save your death for the caves,” he growled, “when it might do some actual good.”
Evenheknew that those words had gone too far.
Cuan swiveled his head and flattened his ears in response, and the human looked as if he’d slapped her.
“I understand that you despise me,” she said quietly. “But why must you be cruel? What do you gain by it?”
He gained nothing. Those words were simply another self-inflicted wound—a way of ensuring that the original gaping hole in his heart would never heal. He could never allow himself to forget what happened when he cared too much.
But however dark those places in his own heart might be, what right did he have to carve similar wounds for another?
With a scream like an injured child, a pale, ghostly creature suddenly exploded out of the darkness, its wide white wings beating wildly at the air.
The human screamed, flailed, and fell backwards with a splash.
Tal immediately forgot that the water was only knee-deep and that there was nothing in it that could hurt her. He moved without thought, snatching her out of the pool as Cuan snarled at the harmless croaker bird.
The human shivered in his arms, dripping water all over both of them, her eyes wide and her face as white as the bird’s wings.
“It will not harm you,” Tal said. “They are territorial, so it was trying to frighten you.”
“It succeeded.” Her teeth were chattering with fright as much as with cold. “But I’m all right now. You can put me down.”
But he didn’t. His arms tightened for a moment before he forced himself to relax his jaw and look at her.
“Aislin,” he said, and she instantly went still in his arms. “I am… sorry.”
CHAPTER12
Aislin froze, literally and figuratively. Thoughts swirled and mingled behind her eyes, then died away unsaid as she stared at Talyn, whose amber eyes were much too close to hers.