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“Yes.” Deep within her wide pupils, red smoke drifted and swirled.
“Good girl,” I murmured as I wet a linen cloth. Then I brought it back to her and wiped the drying blood from the corner of her mouth. Fire blazed through my veins as I noticed the already discolored skin on her cheek. Featherlight, I grazed my fingertips over the bruises. She sucked in a sharp breath.
“Shh,” I soothed as I erased the damage.
Slowly, she exhaled, and her eyelids fluttered before her gaze locked on mine.
A knock on the door drew my attention from her. “Come in,” I called out, knowing Haidyn was waiting outside because I’d called for him. As my second in command, I was able to telepathically summon him. Existence would be much more convenient if I could do that with all of my inner circle.
Haidyn stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. He cocked a single blond brow as he took in the mess on the floor.
“We need to hurry. There are guards wandering the halls. Do I need to dispose of her too?” he asked as he motioned to Aurora.
My gaze narrowed. “She’s mine.”
The surprise that widened his eyes was quickly dampened. After all, he wasn’t stupid.
“Go to the slave quarters. Gather everything that belongs to her, ensure that anyone who knows her believes she’s dead. Tell them that this asshole killed her, then left the city,” I directed as I pointed toward the piece of shit I’d ended.
With a curl of my lip, I snapped my fingers, and the general went up in blue flames. When he was nothing but a pile of ash, I waved my hand and in a whirling cloud, it was lifted and flew out onto the open balcony and into the wind. “I’ll see you back at my home.”
Haidyn briefly dipped his head, but his bright blue eyes held mine. “As you wish.”
He left, and I scooped Aurora up in my arms, and her gauzy gown fell in waves around us. Her face immediately nestled into my shoulder, her warm breath fanning my neck. She was light as a feather, yet she fit against me like she was made for me. “I’m sorry, this might be less than pleasant for you. Hold on,” I whispered into her silken hair.
The shadows that lingered in every corner of the room came to life at my summons. Like smoke tendrils, they swirled and drew closer until they wrapped around my feet. Thicker and darker, they lifted and surrounded me.
Aurora’s hair whipped wildly as if in the middle of a wicked storm. She clutched the front of my ruined tunic as the shadows licked at her exposed skin. Finally, we were completely surrounded, and the dark wisps obscured every bit of light, and the room disappeared.
Her agonized scream pierced the dark, turbulent storm around us. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I felt a smidge of discomfort that I was causing pain to a human. Because though I could move about through the shadows at will, transporting a mere mortal that way was akin to stripping the flesh from her living body and ripping them apart.
But I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing me take her. With guards roaming the halls, I didn’t have time to erase everyone’s memories that we encountered.
As the shadows retreated, the air began to clear and the previously silent gusts lessened to a balmy breeze. Aurora’s chest rose and fell rapidly as she stared blindly ahead. Her pale hand held the tattered fabric at my chest in a white-knuckled grip as a keening cry lessened to a whimper.
With a snap of my fingers, the candles in the room flared to life.
The last wisps of darkness curled back into their corners and disappeared as color returned to her cheeks. Gently, I carried her to my bed. I refused to acknowledge why I treated her differently than I did other women I’d chosen. Keeping her trembling form cradled close, I sat down on the edge of the lavish down mattress.
“Aurora, look at me,” I instructed as I settled her on the bed. Then I grabbed one of the blankets and tucked it around her still-trembling form. I chose not to analyze why I brought her directly to my bed.
As her golden gaze lifted to mine, I questioned my sanity for the first time that night. She blinked and I cleared my throat. I released her mind from my control.
Making her think or feel anything that she didn’t consciously want to, left a bad taste in my mouth. It was like ash sitting on my tongue.
It was a feeling that was foreign to me and confused the fuck out of me.
It felt a little like… regret.
I was completely taken aback.
What is this woman doing to me?
Speechless for the first time in as long as I could remember, I stared at her beauty. As I studied her, I watched her eyelids grow heavier and heavier until her lashes rested on her rosy hued cheeks and she dozed off. After what her body had been through in the shadow leap, she would probably sleep for hours, if not days.
Needing to touch her, I smoothed the stray curls back from her face, then pressed a kiss to her forehead. Crackles of energy zipped through me at the contact. Shaking off the foreign feeling, I got to my feet and left the room.
CHAPTER TWO
