Page 31 of The Dark Embrace

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Which was a pity. Scaring unsuspecting travelers would have livened up the monotony of the long days on the road and helped him work off some of his bad temper. He was still furious and brooding over the fact that the thick-skulled horn-brain called their mating deviant. He could tell him all about terrible, wrong matings, and this was not one. It was the best thing that had happened in his life, and he would happily bleed out anyone who suggested otherwise—when his softhearted mate was not looking, of course.

That included those who held power over Robyn at the monastery. His eyes narrowed at the spot in the distance where he could see the rise of numerous human buildings packed together. He looked forward to it. He would wrest his mate from beneath their control, even if he had to bring the entire monastery down and run the fields and forests around it with blood to do it.

He sighed and raised his arms over his head, stretching the muscles of his back and shoulders out in an attempt to relieve some of the tension. It did not relieve much of his tension, but it helped some. “How much farther is this place?”

“We should encounter the main trade road soon. That will take us through Davendale, and the monastery is just beyond there, far enough from the city to not draw unfavorable attention.”

He made a sound of acknowledgement in the back of his throat and palmed the handgrip of his sword. The sooner all of this was over with and he could carry her off, the better.

The spell had been wearing hard on her before they ever left the sorceress’s cottage, but it was even worse now. Since emerging two days ago onto the broad lowlands, her face had become deeply shadowed as if she had not slept or eaten, although Ashul had seen to that she did. It was as if she were withering away in front of him despite his best efforts to care for her. It was getting bad enough that, since rising that morning, dark hollows were forming around her eyes and along her cheeks.

“You’re staring,” she murmured with a soft chuckle.

“Only admiring my mate’s beauty,” he replied.

Her eyes flicked to him with amusement, and she reached out, twining her fingers with those of his free hand, instantly easing some of his hostility and tension with her touch.

“Liar.”

His heart clenched at the strained note of exhaustion in her voice, and he brought their joined hands up to place a kiss on the back of her hand. A smile lit her face, and he drank in it. He would do anything to keep that look upon her face.

They walked together hand in hand, pushing on longer than usual until the sun was overhead and they were both squinting painfully at the light. Only then did they stop and make camp to rest through the hottest hours. Ashul had barely erected the canvas tent before his mate was collapsing exhaustedly inside of it, without the energy to even stay awake long enough for him to properly feed her.

He frowned down at her sleeping form as he quickly ate a handful of dry trail rations before crawling up alongside his mate and curling protectively around her, his back blocking any bit of sunlight that might filter in. Outside, Deroxas chittered as he bounded around their shelter, keeping watch over his vulnerable mistress.

She did not move even the slightest as Ashul pulled her into his arms and tucked her head beneath his chin. He hated it. He already missed her sleepy, teasing whispers whenever his touch awakened her. It worried him, which he disliked even more. Still, with the training of a male who learned to catch sleep when available, he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to temporarily dissolve his worries.

ChapterTwenty-Two

The town was a rush of human noise and activity that threatened to overwhelm Ashul’s senses. Everywhere he looked, there were humans practically pressed together as they hurried about their business, and more than one shady deal being conducted in the shadows among them.

Ashul paid no mind to the criminal element beyond what it took to make sure no pickpocket’s fingers came close enough to them to make the attempt. It seemed that he did not need to, however, since eyes that turned toward them darted away though they were heavily cloaked. Did the glow of his eyes perhaps penetrate the shadows of his lowered hood? Or perhaps it was Deroxas’s glowing dead eyes. The bone creature had scurried into his hood to hide the moment they entered the town.

He smiled privately to himself. He rather hoped that they did. If it kept the humans from doing something stupid that forced him to upset his mate, he would not be pleased.

Still, despite the wariness of the locals, he was certain that he felt eyes on them as they walked deeper into the town. It bothered him that he could not even pinpoint if it were human or not, which spoke of a level of skill that made his skin prickle with wary suspicion.

Robyn leaned in close, her shoulder brushing his. “What is it?”

He shook his head. “I am not certain what it is, but we are being watched.”

In the heavy shadow of her hood, he saw her brow furrow as she furtively glanced around. “We’re not exactly inconspicuous in our cloaks. And we are strangers here. We could simply be drawing attention.”

Although she made the suggestion in a matter-of-fact way, he heard the nervous wobble in her voice. She did not believe it either.

Drawing her cloak tighter around her—whether from the brisk air or to protect herself from scrutiny, he was not sure—Robyn kept her pace at an even, unhurried clip as they walked down the street. He approved. There was no reason to let their enemy know that they were aware of its presence. It thought to hunt them—and there was no doubt in his mind that was exactly what it was doing—well, it would realize too late who the real hunter was.

Drawing back just enough to allow a small distance between him and his mate should there be an attack, Ashul followed her down the street. The crowd thickened the farther they went into the city, the buildings casting long, deep shadows with the decline of the early evening sun. In front of the shops there were numerous displays featuring skeletal figures, skulls, and ghoulish creatures that seemed to be product of the human mind. As they passed several standing coffins alongside the scene of a crypt displaying barrels of apples, boasting covered trays of impaled red spheres that a group of human children crowded around eagerly.

His eyes fell on the tousled hair of a little female clutching a coin, an eager smile on her face as she pointed to one of the red spheres. He eyed them curiously, uncertain and uncomfortable with their small bodies pushing forward in such close proximity to him. Should they even be out there amid the crowd with its busy activity? He was suddenly too aware of how close they were to his claws. All it would take is one brush too close and they could be harmed.

Ashul curled his fingers into his palm, just in case. He had never been so close to children, even among his own species. Even the sylvan children kept their distance from him, though they had not viewed him as a threat. He blinked and drew back, all too aware of his weapons and claws. They were too soft to be near a male such as him. Compared to them, he was a monster, and perhaps rightly so. He hungered too much for death to be something that belonged near them. But this world was full of monsters, many more terrible than him even if they were not aware of it.

Then again, humans seemed to be unaware of a lot of what they now shared their world with if they found a drow so terrifying. There were creatures in the fae world that were spoken of in hushed whispers even among his kind. Things that had made his ears quiver in terror when he was young. Creatures that crept out of the shadows to prey on the drow who lived in the between places and those who dwelled beneath the light of the moon. They were all now loose in this world, and Ashul’s skin crawled at the thought of such things coming anywhere near them.

At the thought, his eyes darted among the crowd. If he could disguise himself to go unnoticed, what else could? What else could strike out and snatch one of the little ones in the hunt for its next meal? Or his mate, for that matter.

He watched Robyn lingering at a vendor just a short span away. Several of the long narrow burial boxes were between them and he edged closer, scanning the crowd again just to be sure, before he left the side of the children. He startled as the lid of one of the boxes burst open just in front of him and a monstrous, horned creature shrouded with numerous veils and rows of needle-like teeth screamed shrilly.


Tags: S.J. Sanders Fantasy