Absolute Surrender (35 page)

He’d made the right call, bringing her will and strength into question, for her to accept what she was. Heavens, if he had his way, he’d take her away from this insanity, away from the danger that would now surround her.

He took her sore hand and tenderly massaged it. “Look on the bright side. It’ll be a vacation for us when we go on this
Curantii
business.”

A sigh left her. “Only you’d take something this mind-shattering and make me feel stupid for over-reacting.”

“You aren’t stupid,
me’morae.
It’s normal to fear the unknown. But you were never destined for the ordinary.” He brushed his lips against her knuckles. “Tell me, now that you’ve done some healing of the rifts, how does that make you feel?”

She thought for a moment, a wry smile lifted the corners of her mouth. It did feel good to help something so fragile yet so strong as to keep an entire realm of people safe. “Thank you.”

***

Aethan got back from patrol in the early hours of the morning. He found Michael waiting for him in the foyer, sitting on the stairs and studying the stained glass windows, a can of coke in his hand.

“We do have chairs in this place,” Aethan drawled.

But the expression on Michael’s face didn’t bode well for whatever crap was about to be dumped on him.

“We need to talk.”

“You could have done that at the meeting, before I left on patrol.”

“Not this.” Michael set the can between his feet. “It’s about Echo. She cannot come to any harm.”

“Yeah, I got all that,” he snapped and headed for the stairs.

“That’s not all.” Michael rose to his feet.
“The mortal realm is too dangerous for her as she is.
Demoniis
will always try for her, hoping to tie her soul to theirs, you know this.” His shattered blues were hard as granite.

And there it was, the unspoken message.
Mate with her to keep her safe, or she
will
ascend to the Celestial Realm.

His jaw clenched. If Michael thought for a second he’d let her go, he was in for a rude awakening. “I will decimate any who attempt to take her from me.”

Aethan headed for the gym. His anger blazed like a lit fuse.

***

When he finally hauled his tired body to his bedroom, Echo was asleep, curled up on the far end of the bed. He crouched at her side and brushed the hair off her face. But Michael’s words gnawed a hole in his head.

No way. No fucking way would he let anything—anyone separate them.

A tail flicked over her face, breaking his dark thoughts. Bob lay coiled around her head, like a furry scarf.

He picked up her pet and set the feline in a basket near the fireplace. The cat opened one amber eye, stared at Aethan, then went back to sleep.

After a quick shower, he snagged a pair of sweats and pulled them on. He usually didn’t bother with clothes for sleeping but, gods, he had no choice, not when that part of him he had no control over made lying naked next to Echo impossible. Sliding in beside her, he reached over and drew her to him.

“Aethan?” she murmured sleepily.

“Yeah, it’s me. Go back to sleep.”

A soft sigh escaped her as she settled into his arms.

His first night with her and she was sleeping. He pinched the bridge of his nose and a rough sigh left him. Better this way for now. If she’d been awake, he knew himself well enough to know he’d touch her...and yeah, he’d have to leave if things got out of control.

He pressed his lips to her hair. And his damn erection, stirred, and hardened. Breathing in her evocative scent wasn’t helping matters. His damn sweats felt like a boa constrictor tightening around his groin. Absently, he caressed the arm she’d slung over his waist and tried to let his body relax enough so sleep could pull him under.

***

The clashing of swords reverberated off the white cliffs surrounding the valley. Flashes of white light brightened the sky...

Anger tore through Aethan that his father would order him into a betrothal he didn’t want. He wouldn’t do it—he refused. His power consumed him, needing an outlet. It powered through his arm and lit up his sword.

Reynner grinned, brushing back his pale hair. “You fight like a female.”

Snarling, Aethan attacked, perspiration dripping from his face.

His friend laughed and leaped back.

No–no! Too much power.
His sword slipped from his sweat-drenched hand. He wheeled round and saw his blade, blazing with power, go winging through the air.

“A’than!
”
A childish voice swept through the arena
.
“Here, for you.”

Ariana came careening to him, a bright smile on her cherubic face. The wilted stems of a few wildflowers dangled from her fist.

His heart shuddered in terror
. No!

“
Ariana, no—no! Get back
!”
Frantic words she didn’t understand. He tried desperately to shield her. Too late. The sword struck her in the chest, the power of it flinging her several meters away before she lay still on the ground...blood seeping from her chest.

Blood, so much blood—

***

A cry of anguish, escaping from the depths of his soul, jack-knifed Aethan awake. His throat was tight with unshed tears.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” a soft voice soothed.

Warm hands rubbed his back, smoothing over his bare shoulders in a comforting caress.

Echo.

Like a blind man, he reached for her and buried his face in the warmth of her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. Gods, how had he survived the last few millennia without her? As if she understood, she simply held him.

A long stretch of silence passed. Gradually, his heartbeat eased into its normal rhythm. He shifted and lay back on his pillow, pulling her into the crook of his shoulder.

“Aethan?” She rested her chin on his chest, her gaze on his. “Tell me about her. About Ariana.”

She knew his blackest sin.

Instinct made him draw back, to shut her out. It wasn’t something he ever spoke about. He squeezed his eyelids shut and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. Then he dropped his hand, his pained gaze on her. “You would have me retell this horror? I guess I deserve your disgust, too. Why not? After all, an entire realm couldn’t stand to look at a killer.”

“Stop it, Aethan. Just tell me what happened.” There was no censure in her eyes. “If you don’t want to, then that’s all right, too.”

His mouth tightened. It took him a while before he could speak again. “Ariana was my sister,” he said, staring at the ceiling. “She died a long time ago.” His voice turned stark with grief. “I–I killed her.”

“Aethan, no—”

“Yes!” He shoved off the bed, and stalked to the fireplace as memories, vivid and bloody, surged back. Ones he had no way of shutting out.

The sheets rustled. She got off the bed and padded over to him. “Aethan, no matter what you
can
do, you would never deliberately hurt anyone—”

“But I did. And Empyrea banished me. Apparently, execution’s too good for the likes of me. I have to live in a fragile realm where I had to let go of all emotions to keep others around me safe. No white Grounding stones or white Rean trees in this place to stabilize my gods-damn powers.”

***

Echo wanted to go over and wrap her arms around Aethan. His pain became hers. Tears burned her eyes as he continued to stare into the crackling embers of a dying fire.

“The council wanted the old ways back...” He told her the same things Hedori had. Her heart ached for him. But she listened, waited for him to get it all off his chest. “My father made the betrothal an order. I refused. We fought. Bitter words were said.

“I left, but Ariana waylaid me in the courtyard, clutching a few wildflowers in her fist. She wanted to play.” A humorless laugh left him. “But I–I was curt, told her I didn’t have the time, and handed her back to her nursemaid.

“I let my emotions control me and took on my friends in a sword fight. But Ariana had followed me into the fighting arena—” He rubbed a hand over his eyes as if to wipe away the images. “She still carried those damn flowers she’d picked. She came to the arena to give them to me...because I was upset.”

His deep-seated pain constricted her chest. Echo reached out, wanting to comfort, but he shook his head and stepped back. Refusing to let him push her away, she grasped his arm. “Aethan, it was an accident. You’ve lived with this for three thousand years. Don’t let it destroy you.”

“It was my sword. My mistake. I should have stayed with her then she wouldn’t have followed me to the arena. She wanted a few minutes of my time, and I didn’t give her that—she was my sister, and I killed her—
I killed her
.”

He sank to the carpet in his anguish. The immensity of his grief broke her heart.

She dropped to her knees beside him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, letting her love surround him, so he’d know he wasn’t alone anymore.

“They wouldn’t let me near her after she died. I was thrown into the dungeon and banished soon after.”

“Aethan?” She held his face in her palms, waited until he raised those anguished eyes to hers. “Ariana loved you. She would never hold it against you.
I
don’t.”

After a long moment his arms came around her and he held on. Echo pressed her lips to his hair and hugged him tighter.

So much pain in her warrior.

He fought to keep this realm safe
for humans, but peace was never his. He’d suffered for so many millennia, bearing the deepest
wounds
along with the scars of a never-ending war, fighting supernatural evil.
She struggled to hold back her tears.

***

The soothing movement of her hand brought him back from his deepest, darkest despair. He didn’t deserve absolution. Hell, he didn’t deserve her. But her love and empathy enclosed him like a soft blanket, filling him with warmth. Choking down on his emotions, he tightened his hold and buried his face in her neck.

Gaia was right. Echo was his salvation. For the first time in three thousand years, the heaviness, the ache in his heart eased. Then something wet hit his cheek. He looked up and saw her tears sliding down her face. Tears that fell for him.

“Don’t,
me’morae
.” He brushed his thumb across her wet cheek. She was his redemption, his Achilles’ heel.

With a trembling smile, she bent her head and kissed him.

And he took her mouth in a slow, tender dance. Without breaking the kiss, he rose, swept her into his arms, and went over to the couch in the sitting area. The velvet, star-studded night skies, revealed by the undrawn curtains, surrounded them.

Aethan sat down. Echo straddled him, her center hitting his crotch. His cock jerked in reaction, tenting the soft fabric of his sweats.

She smiled, an impish curve of her lips.

His brow arched, his hand came up and caressed her breast.

***

Echo trembled. He leaned down and licked her taut nub through her tank top. She loved when those little tingles from him flowed into her body.

She groaned. All he had to do was touch her, and she blazed like tinder. Her hand glided over his muscled shoulders, her fingers danced over his hard abs, and slid lower to play with the edges of his waistband.

“You don’t want to do that,” he growled and bit her earlobe.