Even as he obeyed, his gentleness astounded her. His hand released hers to cradle her face, then slid down to caress her breasts. The sweet ache of him inside her drew shuddering waves across her skin. She arched up into his touch, clutched the blankets in her fists.
She let out a frantic little sob. “Audric, please—”
He murmured into the hollow of her throat, his hands shaking around her, “Yes, Rielle, yes, that’s it.” The rough longing in his voice set her afire. When she slid her hands into his hair and tugged hard on his curls, he cried out against her neck, and the desperate, utterly male sound was her undoing, sending her spiraling up and up, until she fell back against the bed, pulsing golden with pleasure. She clung to him, helpless and limp, her vision a buzzing haze, and stroked his hair as his hips slowed.
And with the solid weight of Audric above her—his lips in her hair and his voice hoarse with love, her own body feeling blissfully boneless—Rielle watched the sparking bright flames around her room with no fear in her heart and thought nothing of Corien at all.
42
Eliana
“Have you ever seen the Wolf? Talked to him? The man’s got a bad light in his eyes. You look at his face for half a minute, you see he’s been ripped apart and sewn back together more times than anyone ought to have been.”
—Interrogation of an unnamed Red Crown defector, preceding execution
Simon brought them to a Red Crown safe house deep in a pine wood at the base of a cliff—a small log cabin, draped in moss and cloaked by a tangled thicket of trees.
As soon as Eliana stepped inside, she heard a soft cry and looked around in time to see Remy jump off a chair by a tiny stove. When she knelt to catch him, his hug nearly knocked her over.
“Stop leaving me behind,” he whispered into her hair. “El, I woke up, and you were gone.”
She closed her eyes, pressed her palms against the delicate bones of his back. He’d grown thinner since leaving Orline.
Then, as he wiped his cheeks on her shirt, she remembered Zahra’s words: The woman you think is your mother but truly is not.
The boy she thought was her brother but—
Remy pulled away from her, face splotchy and tear-streaked, and gave her a brave smile. “Hob taught me how to use the stove. I’ll make you some supper.”
And Eliana decided at once that Zahra was wrong, even if the wraith had been speaking the truth. Even if Ioseph, Rozen, and Remy Ferracora were not hers through blood, they were hers at heart, always, and if anyone tried to tell her differently, she would send them crashing to their knees at her feet.
She dried Remy’s cheeks with her thumbs. “Only if you make some for yourself too.”
As he hurried away toward the stove, Eliana found Hob himself at the far side of the room, settling Navi into a small bed.
“Is Camille safe?” she asked.
“When we left her, she and her people were alive and well,” Hob replied. “Simon sent that Invictus assassin limping off into the night.”
Eliana’s stomach dropped. “Rahzavel. Simon didn’t kill him?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
She closed her eyes. “He won’t rest until he finds me.”
“Well, at least he’s not here now. You can thank Simon for that.”
Eliana refused to acknowledge that or the man in question. “Why are you here? What about Patrik?”
“Simon took some blows in that fight. I wanted to help him get the boy to safety.” Hob smiled at Remy. “He’s good company, your brother.”
On her cot, Navi shifted with a moan. Hob wrung out a rag in a pail of water and draped it over Navi’s forehead.
“Have you seen this before?” Eliana asked her. “What’s been done to her?”
Hob’s face was tight with anger. “No. I don’t know what this is, and I’m not sure I care to.” He drew a quilt up to Navi’s chin, tucked it around her body. “Camille requested I ask after Laenys. The girl, her missing attendant. She was taken by Fidelia as well?”
Laenys. She had completely forgotten to look for the girl.
Eliana shook her head, hoping Hob couldn’t see the truth on her face. “There wasn’t time to look for her. I’m sorry.”
“Do you know what they were doing there? Fidelia. Did you find out why they steal girls?”
“I don’t, but the sounds I heard while in my cell—”
“It’s all right. You don’t need to tell me, Dread.” The word had no venom in it, only a heavy sadness. “You should rest. When Simon returns, you’ll be leaving soon after.”