Thea was ashamed to admit that she’d never considered this question, not when she was ordered not to heal him nor all the other times those who dictated her power ordered her not to help another in need. How many times had she followed edicts and watched half-breeds or full blooded Aeveren suffer needlessly for breaking one of the many rules of their world?
The thought of her blind heartlessness made her shoulders droop and the regret she suddenly felt overwhelmed her. Sadly, she explained, “The Council ordered all healers to not help you. Under no circumstances were any of us to heal you.” As she spoke the words of the edict, she felt guilty not because she had helped him, but because for the first time in her forty-five lifetimes she’d truly lived up to her nature.
“But you did. Not that we gave you a chance to follow your orders.”
“Now I don’t know what will happen to me. When they find out what I did...”
Thea’s voice trailed off as she thought of how the Council would punish her for healing Amon. As she winced at the thought of her reprimand, Amon clenched his fists at his side. Thea saw the anger in his expression and wasn’t sure how to react. She was reasonably sure his anger wasn’t because of her, but something in him had changed.
“Are you in pain?”
Amon relaxed his hands. “No.” Slowly, his face returned to the handsome, albeit bruised, expression he seemed to usually have. Thea stepped forward toward him and carefully placed her hands on both sides of his face. She didn’t know why as he’d said he wasn’t in pain, but something in her pushed her toward his bruised face.
The swollen left eye had returned to normal, and she felt the gaze of his ocean blue eyes on her as she coaxed the pain out of his features. Gradually, the slash under his eye closed until all that was left was a faint pink line. The light purple bruises that marked near his jaw and above his eyes, remnants from a prior assault than the one on his last night in Nil, faded under her light touch as the pads of her fingertips softly glided over his skin.
Amon sat stunned by her unsolicited help. As she focused on healing him, she saw him study her, his breathing turning to shallow pants and sensed his desire when she saw him lick his lips. As a healer, she wasn’t gifted with the ability to read minds, but her power came with the complementary ability of being able to read others’ reactions better than other Aeveren.
That something inside her that had pushed her toward him now told her to kiss him, and she leaned in and gently pressed her lips to one of the pale black and purple marks on his forehead. When she finally pulled away, she saw his eyes were closed and his face was calmer than at any time since she’d met him the night before.
Her mind raced. Should she apologize for kissing him, even if it was just on his skin? She’d never wanted to do anything like that ever before with anyone else she’d been charged to heal. But nothing about being near this man was like anything she’d ever experienced before.
Unsure of how to act, she found it difficult to know what to do next, and words began to tumble out of her mouth. “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean...I don’t know why...”
Amon opened his eyes as Thea felt the color rising in her cheeks. She may have been saying she was sorry and claiming she didn’t know why she’d kissed him, but she was still positioned right next to his face.
“No need to apologize. In fact, there’s no need to stop.”
A sound of surprise escaped her lips and her eyes grew wide at the idea that there was more to come. Her heart pounded in her chest as his deep blue eyes stared into hers. Would he kiss her now? All at once, she realized she wanted so much to feel his lips on hers.
Chapter Five
Amon watched as the pale green flecks in Thea’s blue eyes seemed to dance. He hadn’t noticed how beautiful her eyes were before—how incredibly breathtaking she was, overall. Her face was so close, her pink lips just inches from his...
He certainly didn’t mind her touching him anywhere since her touch was naturally pleasing to start with and only became more so because he wanted her. And he didn’t mind the feel of her soft lips on his skin, either. In fact, he had a number of other places he’d like her to visit with those lips.
As he looked into her eyes now, he saw not only beauty but desire and insecurity. What a wonderfully interesting woman this healer was!
Slowly, Amon saw the insecurity disappear from Thea’s eyes, leaving only desire for what he offered. Need filled his cock, making it impossible to leave their little interlude unfinished. Months of loneliness had made him respond to her touch far more than he ordinarily would have, he reasoned. This was nothing more than the simple need to sexually be with another.
But he’d seen the look on her face before, when Sevine had come to him and found he was her destined one. That was impossible with Thea, though. He still had a destined one, regardless of how she’d manipulated him with magick to escape him. He couldn’t be another’s destined one as long as his still hadn’t finished her fifty lifetimes.
He knew it wasn’t right for him to lead Thea on if she wanted more than he could give, but she was so close and she’d felt so good next to him earlier. All those painful nights in Nil had left him with an emptiness he yearned to fill, and he wanted Thea to heal that too.
Leaning in to her, he caressed her soft lips with his before increasing the intensity of his kiss. Afraid she would back away, he cradled her face in his hands as he slipped his tongue into her warm mouth.
She returned his kiss with a passion that signaled she wanted him. When she moaned into his mouth, Amon knew he didn’t want this to end with a kiss. As she began to feast on his mouth, he guided her onto his lap, setting her up against the base of his rigid cock. Realizing her position, she pulled away, frightened, but with his hand on her lower back, he trapped her against him.
“Please let me go,” she begged.
“Why?”
“I can’t do this.”
Amon’s mind listed the reasons why she possibly couldn’t, crossing off all but one. “Do you have a destined one?” he asked, searching her eyes.
Thea dropped her eyes to look at his chest and stopped trying to get away from him. Quietly, she answered his question. “No, I don’t have a destined one. I’ve never had one in forty-five lifetimes.”
“Never?”
Amon couldn’t imagine what mistake of nature had been made to ensure the sweet creature that sat on his lap remained ultimately alone for so long. He’d been a heartless fuck for many of his forty-seven lifetimes, and he’d had three destined ones.
Thea said nothing but continued to avoid his gaze.
“Why?”
As soon as he said it, he hated himself. She most likely wouldn’t know why every life promised her she’d be alone.
“I’m a healer. It’s uncommon for us to be blessed with destined ones. Our calling is more important than our individual happiness.”
Every word she said dripped duty and loneliness between them. Amon looked up to see her eyes filled with tears, and his heart broke for her. He’d often thought of how unfair his life had seemed in the past year, but he knew he’d done more than enough to deserve his sentence in Nil. Thea had done nothing to deserve her fate.
He wiped the tear that had dropped onto her cheek with his finger and lifted her chin to make her meet his gaze. He couldn’t just sleep with her now. The look on her face showed him that she mistakenly believed she’d finally found a destined one in him.
“I’m sorry, Thea.”
Thea began to cry, her tears flowing down her face from his rejection. God, he felt like a fuck!
“Let me go,” she said sadly as she pulled away from him.
Amon knew he should just release his hold on her, convinced her emotions were bound to begin affecting him at any moment. But he couldn’t. He was responsible for much of her sadness and needed to do something to fix what he’d done.
Putting his arms around her, he pulled her upper body to his, holding her tighter as she resisted more. As she sobbed into
the side of his neck, her body softly heaved against his. Wanting more than anything to make her feel better, he stroked her long blond hair while her crying flooded his ears.
Amon braced himself for his reaction. He’d always fed off the emotions of others and used them to his own benefit, careful to minimize his exposure to sadness. He vividly remembered Callia’s effect on him and dreaded a replay of that with Thea as he was sure his body couldn’t take much more abuse, but with relief he remembered that his destined one’s curse on him only worked if he was in love with the woman. Safe in his belief that while he’d grown to care for her in the short time he’d known her he wasn’t in love with Thea, Amon held her until her crying stopped and she was still in his arms.
Lifting her head, she wiped her tears from her face. “Why don’t you want me as your destined one?”
A lump formed in his throat at the sound of the sadness in her voice. There was nothing he’d like more in this world than to have Thea for his. But that couldn’t be.
“It’s not a choice, Thea. It’s just not possible.”
“Why?”
He looked into the beautiful eyes of the one who’d already given him so much kindness and hated what he had to say.
“Thea, I already have a destined one.”
Amon saw the shock register on her face. She had been so kind to him, and he hated having to say those words, more than she could ever know. Obviously embarrassed, she dropped her eyes and climbed off him, saying nothing.
She stood on the floor on the opposite side of the bed and straightened herself. “I...I want to sleep somewhere else. If you’re going to hold me here against my will, I’d at least like to be alone.”
Amon felt the sting of her sadness and regretted telling her, no matter how much she needed to know. But the selfish part of him didn’t want to be without her.
“I need you here to help me heal.”
He knew he was being insensitive. He didn’t care. He didn’t want her to leave.
“I can heal you just as well sleeping in another room,” she said angrily.
Amon wanted to refuse her again, but the hurt coming from her crushed any desire to keep her in his room. Concentrating, he silently reached out to Gethen. As he waited for him, Amon watched Thea with sadness, wishing more than ever their world wasn’t like it was.
When Gethen appeared in the doorway, his face was lit up with happiness.
“Why so happy?” he asked him, eager for something to break the tension.
“You’re getting your powers back.”
Amon realized he was right. “Yeah.” Shifting his gaze toward Thea, he said, “Thea wants to stay in another bedroom. Can you get one ready for her?”
Gethen nodded and turned to walk across the hall. “It will take just a few minutes.”
“That’s okay. I can help,” she said quickly following him.
As Amon watched the door close, his heart felt like something was squeezing it in his chest. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. The idea of having a kind heart like hers wanting him was almost more than he could ever wish for, but that didn’t change the fact that nature had already given him the gift of a destined one. That she refused to be with him didn’t matter. As long as she existed and hadn’t moved on, he’d have to accept that another destined one wasn’t something he could have.
No matter how much he wanted her.
*
Gethen made quick work of readying the other bedroom and when he left, Thea was happy to be alone. Kicking her shoes off, she lay on the bed. As she fought back the tears, the reality of her situation came clearly into focus.
I have no idea where I am. I’m being held hostage at an escaped prisoner’s home, an escaped prisoner the Council expressly forbade me to help.
Then, as the tears began to fall, she thought about what was probably the most frightening part of everything that had happened.
My destined one doesn’t want me.
“No, no...” she mumbled to herself as she wiped her eyes. “No, I’m mistaken. If I were ever to be given a destined one, it would be just like everyone has always said it would be. He’d want me even if he didn’t want to.”
Lifetimes of helping others had been punctuated by many brief dalliances, but the end result had always been the same—each lifetime she could only look forward in sadness to the next in which she’d be ultimately alone. And now that she truly believed she’d been released from her lonely prison, the man she knew was her destined one didn’t want her, and worse yet, pitied her.
But didn’t he have to want her? Isn’t that how destined ones worked? Thea had listened with eager ears any time someone had spoken about the topic, desperate to know, even vicariously, the thrill of having someone meant just for her. She’d never heard anything about choice. In fact, it had always seemed to her that the defining feature of destined ones was the distinct lack of choice. She’d heard many an Aeveren bemoan nature’s choice of a mate for them, convinced that a mistake had been made, so how did she feel the draw of a destined one if he didn’t or wouldn’t feel it?
Thea thought about the scent of his skin, a manly smell that appealed to her. Everything about him seemed to call her to him. Was she mistaken? It was true she had no real knowledge about what it would feel like to finally have a destined one. Maybe this was just another facet of being a healer—another way to torture her for being born with her gift.
Unsure of so much, she sat up on the bed to examine her new room. Very similar to the one she’d just left, it had dark wood floors, but the walls were a deep burgundy color and her king size bed was a four poster.
Very comfortable for a prison.
Looking around, she saw a window covered with heavy burgundy and gold draperies. Curious to see if there was a trellis or anything she could use to help her escape, she padded across the dark red carpet and then the floor to the window. When she pulled back the fabric, she was surprised to see daylight. She’d been so disoriented after being snatched from her home in the dark that she hadn’t been sure what time it was.
After realizing with disappointment that there was no safe way down from her second floor room, she scanned the countryside she could view from her window. She saw nothing in the nearby distance. Wherever she was, she was far away from anyone who could help her.
Thea stood staring into the rolling hills and valleys and thought about how different her life had been just one 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, sh
e 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.
Destiny Redeemed Page 5
