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His lips tightened to a thin line as his . "Aria, you've been out for over twenty-seven hours."
I leaned back, resting my head against the padded headboard. "Wow," I murmured in shock.
But Tallis didn't give me a second to catch my bearings before he was shouting to the whole house.
"She's awake!"
I didn't even realize he had scooped me up until he was carrying me bridal-style down the stairs. Every light in the house was suddenly on, and gasps of relief rang out like a melody.
I was in a short pajama set, which shouldn't have distracted me, but it did. I guess someone had changed me out of my tattered clothes, and I was overly concerned with who had changed and how many people saw. I didn't need any added humiliation.
Amelia met us downstairs and hugged me, even though it was an awkward embrace because Tallis was still holding me. Everyone else was suddenly in the room, eyes wide and full of relief.
My entire family had apparently stayed here until they knew I was okay. Jay forced Tallis to put me down, but he seemed reluctant. As soon as my feet hit the floor, numerous pairs of arms were around me, everyone taking their turn.
The striking pang of guilt made me want to kick myself. I'd put them through hell and forced people to risk their lives for me.
I looked over to see Tallis talking to a girl I didn't know, and my small world got even smaller. I felt the tears trying to surface, but I fought them back. It had to be her—his soul mate. He wouldn't be able to leave her for long, especially after just finding her. Jay and Ayla were still inseparable.
My breaths were shallow and hard to catch. And it took all of my focus to keep from hyperventilating. Right now, I needed to be a big girl.
I sat down next to Amelia as everyone celebrated my still being alive and well.
"What happened? How did they find me? How did they even know?" I asked, doing all I could to distract myself from Tallis.
Amelia looked so sad and guilty. This family had the guilt thing down too well.
"When you didn't check in, I tried calling you. You didn't answer, so I called the Verdan house. Desmond said you had been there, but you ran off, and he mentioned you were upset before letting a few choice words out. Then he said he had to call Tallis and hung up on me.
"That was weird, so I told Henry about the whole situation—about you leaving upset from their house. He sent Tallis a text with just your name as code that something was wrong. Tallis called and said he would be here within an hour. It's normally a two hour drive from where he was. I jumped in the car to make sure no one left me, and then Desmond and Ayla showed up. We got there as quickly as we could."
"Okay... How did you find me? Was I not masked?" I asked, wondering why McKee would have left my scent behind.
Henry smiled as he sat down beside of Amelia and leaned over to answer my question. "Well, I had to use my power. I should have known that you would find a way to make me reveal my secret."
He chuckled, leaving me just as confused. He finally noted the question marks hovering over my head, and explained.
"I can track an essence through a bodyguard. A bodyguard thought he masked your essence, but I could track you anyway. I followed the trail to Graven's house. We had to wait outside the gates—because of the crests. That was where the Verdans came in handy and took a cue from Lokan.
"They knew the crests wouldn't hold up against blood, since Graven didn't consider them to be a threat until recently. We knew it was unlikely he had taken the time to crest against them."
Once he had told me his power had no use on our side, but he'd helped save my life with it.
"I guess your power can be used for good after all."
He smiled bashfully, but I could tell he was proud. "That's not all I can do either. It just proved to be the most useful tonight."
I just laughed, but my laughter ceased quickly as I looked up to see Tallis headed toward me. He sat down beside me and pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around my waist and nuzzling me. It took me a second to even be able to breathe, so formulating words was impossible.
The fire from his touch surged through me viciously. It was so painful, that I pulled away.
He frowned down at me as I tried to put some much needed distance between us.
"I need to talk to you, Aria," he said softly.
He tried to touch my hand, but I pulled away again. His pity was the last thing I needed. I certainly didn't want the new girl dealing with the pathetic mortal in love with her soul mate. This was humiliating enough. I didn't feel like having him pour salt on my open wound.
Our families were too tied together now. That meant I'd have to watch him be with her. I was now Selesha.
