She actually smiled at him, a tight, pained curve of her l
ips, though he could feel her blood pumping beneath his hand even as the freely given energy flowed into him, filling his tapped reserves. “Good. Was starting to wonder if you’d…come back to me.” Her breath hitched. For a moment, she shut her eyes, riding the fresh wave of pain. “You have to stop this. Get us out of here.”
Out of his nightmare. But how?
Ian shoved the question ruthlessly aside, focused on stopping the living nightmare around them. The warlock Nikandros froze, that hideous smile of ecstasy a white slash against his dark beard as Ian’s power poured into him. The dwarf, too, stopped moving.
Marley exhaled, relief spiraling up in a cobalt stream.
“It’s going to be all right.” The lie lay bitter on Ian’s tongue. More of Marley’s life pulsed hot and wet beneath his palm.
“Of course it is. You’re in control now.” Her eyes were unfocused as they looked up at him.
Such trust. Such faith. She was the only one who’d ever had any in him. And this was how he repaid her. Even now, soaking up the warmth of her emotions like the parasite he was. But he could no more stop it than a sponge could cease to absorb water.
“Ian?”
He swallowed, paused a moment to stroke her hair back, until he was sure he could speak without his voice cracking. “Yes, love?”
“I’m cold.”
Careful of the wound, he gathered her close. Weakly, she burrowed in, pressing her cool face against the curve of his throat. Unlike when she’d come out of the shadow, she didn’t even have the strength to shiver now.
“Seems to happen a lot lately. Don’t I remember you promising something about a roaring fire and mulled wine?”
Ian’s chest constricted. “Anything you want,” he whispered, his eyes burning.
The manipulation took little effort. Not with the life force of her emotions pulsing bright inside him. The dingy stone walls shifted into glossy wood and wide windows overlooking magnificent snowy vistas that glowed blue against a palette of night. Sumptuous, deep-cushioned furniture was arranged in a horseshoe around a blazing fire, the only light in the room. Two glasses of wine appeared on the low coffee table. White because he couldn’t bear to see the dark shades of red. Beneath them, a soft sheepskin rug covered the wide-planked floor. It was, down to the last detail, a perfect fantasy.
But he couldn’t imagine away the blood.
At the sound of the crackling fire, Marley lifted her head, gasped. “How did we…?”
“I said anything.”
“Not back to the cave?” she asked.
“It’s not safe there. I don’t know what’s waiting.” And he couldn’t fight them while keeping her from bleeding out. So he brought her here. Better his abilities be used for this, to ease her pain in any way he could, than to draw out the worst of her fears to feast on like an animal. It’s all he was good for. His power could make her believe the lie, could force her to imagine harm and make it real. But he couldn’t trick her mind into healing her body. Couldn’t transfer his own energies to her in anything resembling a useful ability. An unbound wraith could do nothing but take. A fucking battery.
Ian lifted his head slowly, staring into the flames as his mind ground to a slow halt.
A bound wraith fed energy to his master.
How many battles had Nikandros survived because of that link? He’d avoided slaughter in the Jacobite uprising, lived long enough to immigrate to the Americas and fight again for independence from the British. As his comrades lay dying of musket shots, bayonet strikes, and limbs severed from cannonballs, he’d survived because of his link to Ian.
“What is it?” she asked.
Purpose flooded through him, and along with it came the incantation seared into his brain from a part of his life he’d done his best to forget. He drew the knife from his belt. He had to be fast. Lifting the hand staunching her bleeding, he made a quick gash across his palm. Only seconds before he pressed it back again, but already he could feel fresh blood welling up. Lifting her other hand, Ian pressed it to his heart and met her eyes. “I need you to repeat what I tell you.”
Marley’s eyes were starting to droop, her head to sway.
“Marley!” He shook her a little, his voice snapping out like a whip, and she opened her eyes again, focused on him. “This is very important. You have to repeat what I say.”
“All right.”
“Word for word, love,” he cautioned.
Her gaze sharpened and she nodded.