Chapter Twenty-Three
Tony looked up as Zaureth stood in the hall, staring at him from the doorway. According to Abbie, Bracadytes never entered another’s apartment without a proper invitation. It had been a law passed years ago by the king, due to the lack of doors on private quarters.
“Come in,” Tony murmured softly, getting to his feet.
“Hauke’s mate tells me that Naura remains unresponsive. I do not know if it will be of help, but I would try something, if I may?”
Tony motioned him over. “Yes, please. Try everything you can think of.”
Zaureth nodded and rested his knee on the foot of the bed at Naura’s feet before straddling her body and climbing higher.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tony demanded, locking a hand onto the healer’s arm to prevent him from moving farther.
“Do you want my help or not?”
“Please.”
Zaureth looked down at the hand that Tony still had wrapped around his arm. “Then I suggest that you let go of me.”
Tony released him, biting down on the inside of his cheek to keep from knocking Zaureth off Naura’s nude body. The only reason Tony allowed the healer to remain in his current position was out of hope that the Bracadyte could help her.
Zaureth brought his hands up to either side of Naura’s head and cupped her face.
Energy began to swirl through the air, raising the hairs on Tony’s neck.
He watched in utter amazement as Naura’s color slowly returned and a soft moan slipped from her lips.
Tony wasn’t sure how long Zaureth remained there, nothing moving on his body aside from his eyes dancing behind his closed lids.
Long moments passed before the healer removed his hands and slid down Naura’s body to stand at the foot of the bed. “I am not certain that I reached her, Anthony Vaughn. If she does not wake by the next full moon, her chances of returning to us whole are not promising.”
“What did this to her? I mean, did I cause this?”
“Naura differs from the rest of us. The gift she carries inside her is cemented in love and light. It cannot dwell in darkness.”
More nausea rolled through Tony’s gut, threatening to spill at any moment. “So, my sins, my nightmares are now living in her?”
Zaureth nodded. “I am afraid so. Her injury has weakened her. She should not have attempted a healing when her body was not strong enough to handle the outcome.”
The healer turned to go. “Reach out to her. Talk her back from the darkness. I fear that you are the only one who can.”
Long after Zaureth had departed, Tony stood rooted to the floor, blaming himself for Naura’s current state. If she hadn’t taken it upon herself to try to save him, she would be well on her way to recovery by now.
With a growl of determination, he tugged off his shirt and climbed into bed next to her.
Pulling her close, he tucked her head beneath his chin. “You can’t do this to me. I won’t let you.”
She sighed in her sleep, but gave no other indication that she heard him.
“Do you remember last year, when Hauke brought you to that underground bunker? You were banged up and unconscious.”
He ran his hand along her hair. “I thought you were the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. Of course I couldn’t tell you that. You see, I was ignorant and selfish, only thinking of myself and getting my niece out of there alive. I didn’t want to like you. You represented everything that I had been running from for more than fifteen years.”
Another small sigh escaped her.
“You’re not like me, Naura. You’re good and pure, and I’m all that is opposite of that. If I had met you before…before I became a monster, I would have given you everything that you deserve and more.”
Tony continued to talk until there were no words left to say, until exhaustion claimed him and he drifted off to sleep with Naura wrapped safely in his arms.
* * * *
A gentle breeze touched Tony’s face, and the smell of sunshine hung in the air.
“Tony?” Naura’s sweet voice was a balm to his soul. He squinted his eyes against the brightness of the sun, searching for her everywhere, but saw only the sun’s rays reflecting off the water.
Waves crashed in the distance, and birds chirped from nearby trees.
“Tony?” The whisper of her voice in his ear, brought his head around, but it wasn’t Naura’s face he saw. There, surrounded by light, stood Joanne, his deceased wife.
“Jo?” he breathed, reaching for her, only to come up empty. “You’re here.”
She smiled, tears sparkling in her beautiful blue eyes. “It is time, Tony. Time to let us go. You have grieved long enough.”
Tony dropped his head in shame. He’d let her down. He hadn’t saved them all those years ago.
“Do not blame yourself, Anthony. There was nothing you could have done to stop it. You must move on. Find happiness. For me. Don’t let our deaths be in vain. Do not let the evil win.”
Tony jumped to his feet as she began to fade. “Wait. Jo, wait. Please don’t go.”
“I must. And so must you. Love again, Tony. It is right before your eyes. You only have to reach out and take it.”
“What if I fail? What if I’m not capable?”
“You were always capable, Tony. Always.”
His eyes slid shut with the finality of her words. She wanted him to let her go, to forgive himself and move on.
Could he put his past behind him and live once again?
“Tony?”
He couldn’t bear to look up, to watch her leave, somehow knowing that this would be the last time he’d ever see her again.
“Can you hear me?”
Tony jerked his eyes open and came face to face with Naura.
“You’re awake,” he whispered, searching her eyes for proof that she wasn’t part of his dream.
“I felt your heart beating beneath my ear. The words you spoke to me last night are a distant memory, but the meaning behind them remains.”
Tony found himself slowly descending toward her. “I almost killed you, Naura.”
“But you didn’t,” she whispered back, dropping her gaze to his mouth.
His lips gently brushed across hers, only to move back and slide over them again. She tasted of warmth and desire.
His hand wrapped in her hair, holding her tightly as the kiss deepened. His lips slanted across hers in a demand of surrender he wanted—no he needed above anything else.
Naura moaned into his mouth, sitting up and allowing the sheet to slip away from her body.
Tony broke off the kiss and dropped his gaze to her beautiful breasts, heavy with desire. The pink, rosy tips hardened beneath his stare.
His hand slid from her hair to her shoulder, nearly shaking with the need to cup her in his palm.
“Naura…” A smear of dried blood covered her ribcage, jerking him out of his lustful haze.
He quickly rolled to his side and staggered to his feet.
“Tony?”
“I had no right to do that.”
“Please, do not say that. You did nothing that I did not want.”
“You shouldn’t have risked yourself for me. What if you had not come back from it? How would you expect me to live with something like that?”
“I am sorry. I only wanted to help you. I—”
“You had no right,” he snapped, snatching up his shirt and pulling it over his head.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Zaureth and Abbie. You need to be checked over.” Tony rushed from the room, unable to take a deep breath until he reached the hall.
Naura had nearly lost her life not twenty-four hours before and then almost lost her mind in her attempt to heal him. And what had he done to repay her? Taken advantage of her weakened state to put his filthy hands on her body.
He glanced back at her from the doorway. “Do not move until I return.”