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My skin burned as I fought the urge to bury my face in my hands. “Why did you never say anything? Did you watch—” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“No,” he said quickly. “I would not invade your privacy like that. I did not enter your dreams to eavesdrop. I came only to communicate.”

“Communicate? But I never knew…” Of course. How had I not figured that out? I was a naïve fool. “You’ve been visiting Nyah this whole time.” It wasn’t a question.

I stood before he could answer, and storm clouds gathered in the skies above. Thunder drowned out whatever his response was as he rose. He reached for me, but I danced backward. Hurt flared stronger than I’d ever felt. It was so much that it spilled out of me into the surroundings. Lightning danced among the trees and all around, striking the ground in sharp strokes that matched the beats of my heart.

I’d finally trusted him, and he’d betrayed me. They probably laughed at me while I made love to a fake version of him. She already had Rivven, but why not have both? She was free and brave and fierce. Everything I was not. I’d been so stupid.

“Rune,” Torvo shouted over the maelstrom. He forced his way forward, braced against the gale force winds I’d conjured to match the tumult inside. “Stop, it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.” My words were soft, but they could be heard above it all.

There was no reasonable explanation, nothing other than a desire to be near her. He and I had planned our escape without her just fine. Besides, why not tell me if it was so innocent? “Other than my subconscious desires. You don’t know the real me, and you never will. Go back and use my body with her in it. I’m sure that’s preferrable.”

“I don’t want Nyah.” He reached out and grasped my arms roughly, pulling me toward him, almost off balance. “I thought I did before I knew you. Now I know it’s you I want, Rune.”

Gods, my heart ached to believe him. But just like everything else in my life, it wasn’t fair. He’d been seeing her, plotting who knew what behind my back in the guise of protecting me. How could I trust him? How could I trust her?

“Please leave,” I begged, water filling my eyes as it spilled out of the clouds above. It plastered the material of my pink nightgown to my body and wove in rivulets down Torvo’s beautiful face, spilling to the ground.

“I don’t want to leave you like this. I need you to understand.” His fingers dug into the flesh of my arms as he shook me.

“You’re hurting me,” I said, and it wasn’t just physically.

He released me instantly, stepping backward as a strike of lightning just missed him. I could only make out his twisted features in the flash of relief. He looked as horrified and confused as I felt.

“Leave,” I said again, trembling as I fisted my hands at my sides. I couldn’t remain standing long. I didn’t have the strength.

“I won’t,” he said, taking one halting step forward.

Then I’d have to make him. He wasn’t the only one with this kind of magic. I reached out to Nyah instead with one command, and I put as much energy into it as I could.

Wake up.

Twenty-One

Rivven

I’d had trouble tamping down the fire inside when Nyah ignored me and flew away on that beast. And despite reaching the top of the peak where the mountain elves dwelled and finding everyone safe and in good spirits, my mood was sour. I’d like to think that was why I was still wide awake in the dead of night watching her sleep, but that would be a lie.

This body was different. Her skin lighter, which I wouldn’t have thought possible when I first saw her at my camp in the woods. I loved her chestnut hair that shone in the sun. Now it was white and wispy—long and beautiful, yes, but it lacked the depth of Nyah’s, whose various colors shimmered whenever she moved. Still, she was in there, I could tell it was her—the cadence of her voice, the way her eyes sparkled when Galan made an outlandish comment, the way she fearlessly approached a dragon. It was all her.

And so was the way she slept now, innocent, curled up to my side with the smallest smile painting her lips. I wanted so badly to reach over and cup her face and wake her with long, languid kisses and soft caresses that would make her sigh.

But this Nyah wasn’t mine—not entirely. I had to respect Torvo, and, as much as I hated to admit it, Rune. At the very least, it was important to Nyah. More than that, they’d both done their part in freeing us from Centos. And yet, the torture I’d endured was almost preferable to having her so close yet forbidden.

Nyah shot straight up with a gasp, the furs over her falling to her waist. Her chest heaved beneath the thin layer of underclothing she’d worn to bed, and her breath fogged out before her in small clouds.

“Nightmare?” I asked, leaning in to share some of the natural warmth of my Tromodian body. When I accidentally brushed her arm, the skin-to-skin contact sent waves of want through me and straight to my cock which was already hard as rock.

Her heavy breaths turned to smaller, shallower ones as she leaned toward me. The scent of her hair somehow still invaded my senses to drive me mad. Sleeping so close to her may have been a mistake. But damn, I couldn’t regret it.

“Not exactly.” She murmured, scooting against my side as I set an arm over her shoulder to comfort her. “I don’t remember a nightmare at least. Not sure why I jolted awake.”

“Mmm.” I couldn’t stop my body from reacting to her proximity. It didn’t seem to care whose body she wore. The craving I felt for her skin sliding against mine was almost too strong to ignore. It had been too long, and we’d been through so much. If the gods were watching, they were cruel indeed.

She sighed contentedly, as though unaware of my silent torment, and slowly nuzzled her head into the crook of my neck. I settled back into the furs on the cave floor, taking her with me. I tried to remain satisfied with staring up at the ice formations on the ceiling, removing my arm slowly from beneath her head.