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Jael hesitated, torn in two different directions. Rig lay helpless on the floor while Anrid struggled to push through the darkness narrowing the band of light from her runestone. His heart longed to go to her, but he turned away and staggered to Rig. The boy didn’t move as Jael dropped to one knee and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him up with one hand while he held the other high with the runestone. It took him a moment to position the child against his chest and regain his footing, but then he plunged back across the room to Anrid.
Shadows tore at his ankles and nearly yanked him off his feet, but he managed to keep going. He plunged into the circle of light near Anrid and called her name.
But she didn’t look at him. Her eyes swept from side to side as she swung at the shadows, seeing only them.
“Anrid!” he bellowed and twisted out of the icy grasp of a shadow trying to pull his arm back, but she didn’t hear him.
She was still asleep, caught in the nightmare that wasn’t a nightmare at all.
Chapter 27
Anrid’s heart skipped a beat as the shadows yanked Rig out of her grasp. He vanished into the shadows, still reaching toward her, terror in his eyes, in his screams.
“No!” she howled and tried to dive after him, but the shadows crashed in to fill the void of his presence, lashing out and stinging with the power of their attacks. “Rig! Rig, I’m coming! Rig!”
She struggled to force her way into the darkness, but it was like trying to worm into a snarled thicket of brambles.
“Anrid!” Someone called her name, but she couldn’t see anything beyond the shadows pummeling her from all sides.
An especially powerful shadow grabbed her by the arm and yanked her forward. She shouted and lashed out with her other hand, slapping against it and desperately trying to free herself as the shadow dragged her closer, deeper into the darkness. It wrapped around her like an arm and tugged her closer. She clawed and tried to free herself, terrified she would be smothered or torn apart before she found Rig. She had to find him. She had to save him.
The shadow shook her so hard her teeth knocked together. She clawed with one hand and met with a solid presence, a creature of flesh and bone. Her nails raked over tender flesh. The shadow yanked her even closer, so its warm breath touched her face. Before she had a chance to scream, the shadow caved in on her and pressed against her mouth. Her cry muffled against warmth and gentle pressure, against lips, she realized. A mouth with flesh and blood lips that tasted of sweat and tears. Were those her tears?
The shadow pulled back. Wake up, it whispered. Please wake up.
She stared into the void, at the shadow that wasn’t a shadow. Something else had her pinned in place, not a shadow but…reason fled as he leaned forward again and kissed her harder, more anxiously. She pressed one hand against a solid chest, against a woolen tunic stretched across a broad set of ribs. With the other hand, she threaded her fingers through tangled hair at the nape of his neck and inhaled the scent of goblin sweat. It had a spicier, sweeter scent than human musk, but his mouth felt very human and real indeed.
She felt…love. Belonging. Hope. Despair. Desperation.
But were these her emotions or his?
She hadn’t realized how much she had been wanting to be this close to him until now. This screamed rightness, so much rightness. Goblin arms around her felt as normal as breathing, his mouth against hers as true as the truest thing she’d ever known. Nothing else mattered, not here, not with him.
As she kissed the goblin prince back, hot white light exploded around them and drove the shadows screaming into the blinding glow.
Time stood still.
She opened her eyes and stared up at Jael. His lips remained parted as ragged breaths tore out of him. He still held her pinned against his chest with one arm, his clenched fist hot against the back of her spine. Something feathery tickled the tender place on her throat just below her jaw. A smaller body squirmed against them, and Rig tilted his head back to squint up at her, sheltered between her and Jael.
“Uh-NEE?” he whimpered.
Anrid dipped her head toward Rig’s with a strangled cry and kissed his forehead. “Oh, my darling. Are you okay?”
He wiggled to free one hand and wrapped it around her neck. Jael adjusted his grip to allow the child to slide into her arms, but he still kept his wrapped around them both. It was the most comforting and safe feeling she’d ever known.
He had come for them after all.
She blinked through the tears hovering on lashes to stare at him. His eyes held hers with an intensity that both thrilled and frightened.
“Thank you,” she managed, unsure what else she should say. Should she say something about what had just happened? About how he had kissed her, and she had kissed him back?
The heat against the back of spine began to grow in intensity.
“Ow!” she whispered at the same time Jael growled a pained, “Rock and bone!” He dropped the runestone he’d been clutching with a hiss. The stone shattered against the floor into a thousand glittering, glowing shards. They tinkled as they cascaded in all directions, and even as they lay still, the tiny pieces continued to glow.
Jael gaped as if he’d never seen anything like it, but Anrid couldn’t manage to tear her gaze away from him.
Her legs buckled. A weariness unlike anything she’d ever known brought her to the ground. Jael swung back to them and managed to adjust his stance, so she didn’t fall spread eagle on the floor. She landed in an awkward heap with Rig on her lap and her back against the wall, while Jael half crouched over them. He dropped to his knees; one thigh pressed against hers as he braced a hand against the wall behind her.
