day earlier. She’d gotten home from work
at the daycare center and had sat down to a meal alone before Cole had come
over. Panicked, she now wondered if her boss would ever believe some madman had
kidnapped her so she could help his friend—or was he his boss?—who had just
escaped from Nil. Sadly, she concluded she probably wouldn’t.
Turning
back toward the bed, she wondered why fate had chosen her to be the healer for
Amon Kalins. She didn’t feel like anything special, as far as healers went. It
was true she was more advanced in the reincarnation cycle than most, but
healing fellow Aeveren wasn’t something you applied for. When one received the
power, thankfully, one was instructed on how to use it. But as much as she was
loathe to admit it, Thea knew there was something in her that made her special.
She’d been born with her power.
It
hadn’t been easy for her. She’d been born in her first lifetime in Italy during the rule of the ancient Etruscans. When her parents realized the gift she’d
been given, their duty was to provide their daughter to Aeveren authorities so
she could benefit all her kind. Separated from those who loved her, she was
treated almost as a deity, but even being worshipped couldn’t replace the love
of her family.
With
a smile, Thea admitted she’d been in far tougher situations in her forty-five
lifetimes. Being a healer could be a dangerous job as she was relied on for
life and when she was unable to heal another, those closest to the person were
often unable to understand their loved one’s time had come.
She
had to find a way to escape. The longer she stayed at Amon’s house, the more
she wanted to be with him. Even now, she had to remind herself that she must
have been mistaken when she’d thought he was her destined one because thoughts
of him continually crept back into her mind.
If
she couldn’t escape through the window in her room, perhaps she could do so
through a window in the bathroom. She couldn’t just undress and waltz to the
bathroom, though. She’d need Amon’s friend’s assistance. If she made it look
like she simply wanted to refresh herself with a bath, she might have enough
time to devise a way to escape, hopefully to a lower roof or a porch. She was
no acrobat, but she’d do what she must to escape.
Thea
opened the door and peered into the dim hallway. Amon’s door was closed, and
she spied the bathroom at the end of the hall at the front of the house. A
spark of hope ignited in her when she remembered walking onto a covered porch
the night before when she’d arrived. Now if she could get the props she needed
to convince them she was actually going to take a bath, she’d be set.
“Hello?”
she said quietly at first, hoping not to attract the attention of the one who’d
threatened her earlier. When no one came, she repeated it a little louder and
added, “Gethen?” At once, Amon’s door opened and in seconds she stood facing
Amon himself in her doorway.
The
vision of him filled her eyes, and they grew wide in a mixture of fear and
desire. As he stood before her, he was much taller and larger than he’d
appeared in bed as she’d healed him. Eye level with his collarbone, she found
herself letting her eyes roam over his naked torso. Never had she seen another
man with such hardness to his body.
She
remembered the exhilaration she’d felt at the first brush of his kiss and then
when his hands had touched her face. A need she’d never known had slammed her
heart into her chest and made the area between her legs run wet. For the first
time in all her lifetimes, every part of her body had come alive when she was
next to him.
Her
eyes drifted lower, and she noticed scars on his abdomen and hips that showed
just above the waist of his black pants. As she stared at what looked like a
branding, she heard him speak and she looked up to see him looking down at her,
one eyebrow curiously lifted.
“Do
you want something?” he asked in a voice
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