nora

I'm so sorry!

ed out of me in

ot a second ago, turned instantly, shockingly cold. A deep, unnatural chill radiated from him,

e intense than before. It was a searing, feverish

moonlight from the opening high above cut

s ancient sub-structures. And I had fallen directly onto a man lying on a stone slab. He was magnificent, even in his torment. Broad-shouldered, with

ent, delicate, icy blue fractals of frost would bloom across his chest, the next they wou

rkness, were clenched shut. His teeth were

ehind in the human world, surged to the forefront. The

myself, the clinical term a strange comfort in this bizar

ocked onto me, filled with the raw violence of a cornered an

rough him. He arched his back, a guttural roar of pure pain tearing from h

tever was happening to

oved. My mind had only one di

dden beneath my dress. My emergency kit. Thank the Goddess, it was still there. I'

ar shape of a pre-filled syringe. A high-

sional. "I don't know what's wrong with you,

soner. He watched me, this strange silver-haired woman who had literally fallen from the sky, his gaze sharp and assessing even through the haze of his suffering. I saw a f

ngers expertly finding the large vein in his forearm. The

primal reaction to an unknown con

ension in his muscles eased. The fiery and icy patterns on his sk

for air. He was panting, sweat pouring down his temples. His amber eyes, now clear of the worst

eart was pounding. I knelt beside him, my medical mind taking

t's not poison, not in the conventional sense. The presentation

hung in

was talking about. Who was this

d it with a small vial of saline from my pouch, and began to gently wipe the sweat from his bro

raging tempest, grow quiet. It was watching me, not with aggression, but with a strange, possess

i

ps and muffled shouts from

omewhere! Spread out and fin

draining from my face.

n, syrupy and concerned. "I'm sure there's an explanation. Eleonora w

pa

e eastern maintenance tunnels?" Julian's voice

fit of the doubt. She's been through so much. The rejection at the c

wide with false sympathy, planting the seeds of

footsteps

ise, "Julian, look. The ventilation grate-it's be

tered, but I heard him stop. Heard his boo

ssed it. "There's someone else down there w

t stone, a section of the far wall swu

above, a blinding gold that cut through the

ce was a mask of cold fury, his jaw tight. Beside him, Karmen's lips parted in a perf