Chapter Twenty
Naura lifted her head and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was still in the infirmary, lying on her stomach on the hard surface of the examining table.
She attempted to stretch, fighting back a cry as spears of pain shot through her back.
“Don’t try to move.”
Turning her head toward the sound of Tony’s voice, she blinked his face into focus. “You are still here.”
“Someone has to watch you, else you’d be out in the pool doing laps.”
She would have laughed if it didn’t hurt to do so.
Zaureth stepped into the room. “How are you feeling, daughter of the king?”
Naura squinted up at him. “Would you mind addressing me as Naura? I prefer my birth name.”
“Very well, Naura,” Zaureth conceded. “How is your pain?”
“As the humans say, it hurts like hell,” she joked, followed by a wince as a fresh round of stabbing sensations shot through her body.
“You need blood to heal properly. Anthony Vaughn has offered his. Although it is against the king’s wishes, I think it is the best course of action at this time.”
Naura shifted her gaze to Tony. “Are you certain that you want to do this?”
“I’m sure.”
Zaureth poured more of the blue concoction into a small cup and handed it to Tony. “See that she takes some. It will alleviate her suffering.”
Tony accepted the cup with a nod. “She’ll drink it.”
“Very well. I will be on my way then.” Zaureth trailed off toward the archway. “There will be a guard posted in the hall to see that you have privacy.”
Naura watched as Tony dragged the stool around to the head of the table.
“Drink this first.” He held the cup of foul-smelling liquid against her lips and poured the disgusting medicine into her mouth.
Naura drank as much as she could take without vomiting on his shoes.
“That’s good,” he murmured, setting the cup on a side table.
Tony appeared uncomfortable as he sat and attempted to place his arm near her mouth. “How do you want to do this?”
“Would you mind lying beside me? It would make it easier.”
“Damn it. You’re going to get me killed,” he complained, jumping to his feet and climbing onto the table with her.
The feel of his big warm body stretched out next to hers nearly brought tears to her eyes. No matter how much pain she felt, how uncomfortable the table she laid on, Naura was in paradise.
He moved in closer. His breath tickled her face as his deep voice vibrated next to her ear. “Take what you need.”
His wrist appeared beneath her mouth, and his other arm gently snaked across her shoulder.
Naura turned her face toward him, nudging his head back with her nose. She ran her tongue along the scar on his cheek, down his neck, and reverently sank her fangs into the pulse point of his throat.
A groan escaped him as she locked onto his skin with her open mouth.
The feel of his blood entering the membranes of her fangs felt amazing, but nothing prepared her for the taste of his flesh on her tongue.
His arms tightened around her, and both of his hands cupped the back of her head, pulling her closer against him.
“Naura…”
The sound of his voice inside her mind, moaning her name, ignited a fire in her body that licked its way from her head to her feet.
Her feet! she thought with more than a little excitement. She could feel a tingling sensation in her feet.
She nearly cried in relief as she wriggled her toes and snuggled up closer to Tony’s chest. He’d turned completely on his side, facing her.
“Tony? It is working,” she mentally conveyed. “I can feel my legs.”
“Thank God.” His body shuddered, and his pulse pounded beneath her mouth.
Thoughts, feelings, and memories raced between them like a slideshow of emotions on fast-forward. Tony’s time in the military. Naura’s first black eye during a training drill. Tony and his sister as children, on a picnic with their parents. Naura’s first kiss.
An image of a woman in labor, tormented as a child slipped from her body. The sounds of a baby’s cries. Blood. So much blood. The screams of a woman as she was taken repeatedly by men wearing masks. A little boy’s lifeless body.
Naura realized that she was once again seeing Tony’s family being slaughtered through his eyes.
Agony welled up inside her. He tried to pull back, but she only held on tighter, forcing his memories, his torment into herself as she pushed healing energy into his mind, his heart, his soul.
“Naura?” Tony whispered aloud, his entire body shaking from her energy.
She latched on to the grief, the sorrow, and despair. “Accept what I offer,” she mentally sent back. “And suffer no more.”
Spots of gray danced in her vision as the room spun out of control, taking her breath and robbing her of sight…until she could see no more.