AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Back to Duncan, she said, “What am I doing? Stopping the fight, idiot. And unless you want everyone seeing me bare-breasted, you’d better return me to the patio where I left my dress. Otherwise, I’ll let the shield go then all these warriors will get an eye-full.”
Duncan was breathing hard, his eyes wild. But when his gaze landed on her breasts, she watched his attention finally shift from Merl to her.
Suspended in midair with his wings flapping and holding them both in place, he took several deep breaths. She could see he was attempting to compose himself. Battle adrenaline didn’t leave the body easily.
With his wings wafting and her own barely moving, he leaned into her and kissed her. His hand sliding over her breast and fondling. And it felt damn good, too good, shake-up-her-life good.
“Rachel. I need to take you to bed.”
“But what were you thinking attacking Merl like that?”
“I wasn’t. Besides, the bastard deserved it.”
She didn’t even try to answer that one since to some degree, Duncan was right. Merl knew better, but he’d flirted with her anyway.
Duncan finally floated them down to the lawn. Drawing in his wings and giving her time to do the same, he held her hand as he led her back to the patio.
Because she kept him shielded, they were able to blow right past the warriors. Not one of them turned in her direction; clearly her shield held. She heard the confused chatter that went similar to what had happened in the hallway behind the med-bay: where had the two of them gone?
Endelle had of course turned in their direction and said, “Why’d you stop the kiss, not to mention that very nice boob-in-the-hand feel-up? I would have enjoyed some in-air action.”
Rachel shook her head but refused to take her comment seriously. Instead, she suggested, “Maybe you should call Horace because I suspect Merl is going to be in some serious pain, if he isn’t feeling it already.”
Endelle grimaced but pulled her phone from her bustier and made the call.
Rachel put her bra back on, then her dress.
“Hey,” Duncan said. “We’re still covered by your shield but you weren’t touching me at all when you got dressed. I thought maybe we had to be touching, or something.”
She looked at him and held her hands wide. “I know. And now I’m wondering how far I can stretch this.” She started backing up toward the front door and the shield held with the first step, the second, and even the third. But at the two yard point she could feel her power begin to thin. As she kept moving, the shield finally just dissipated completely.
“Hey, Duncan is here with Rachel,” Santiago called out. “By the door.”
~ ~ ~
Endelle didn’t have a lot of hopeful moments in her life. Mostly, she went from one disaster to the next, trying not to fall into a hole and get stuck there. But right now, because of what Rachel had just done – the woman who refused to be part of the war – she felt hopeful.
She’d had a nightmare of a vision that all but predicted both Luken and Duncan’s deaths as well as the shifting of the war to a disastrous conclusion.
But every time the breh-hedden showed up, something miraculous happened.
And that gave her hope.
Horace arrived in the villa foyer beyond Duncan and Rachel. Duncan turned toward him and gestured in the direction of the warriors crowded around Merl. The Third ascender sat with his knees on the grass, breathing hard
, his complexion pale. The gossamer web that both created the feathers then exploded through the wing-locks, hurt like the devil when broken.
That snap had caused Endelle to cringe inwardly. Even plucking the feathers hurt, something she did in front of other ascenders just to unsettle the room and give her an advantage. But Merl had his Third Earth abilities and he would heal quickly enough. Faster with Horace, of course.
She had some tough decisions coming up and one of them she’d already made. But now she had to inform the recipient and it wouldn’t be pretty.
When Luken headed in the direction of Antony’s pool to collect the grilled steaks, she followed after him, though moving slowly so she didn’t catch up right away. She needed her head on straight for this one and she knew just how much what she intended to tell Luken would grieve him.
He’d lose regular contact with Havily, for one thing.
And he’d have to give up his leadership of the Warriors of the Blood for another, something Endelle knew he valued immensely. And he’d been damn good at it especially with so many Militia Warriors rising in power toward What-Bee levels.
His likely death, however, was something Endelle couldn’t share and her throat tightened.
