Vérzavar Ház

Chapter 26: Real

He halted there, poised on the brink. "Tell me what you like," he said, kissing her neck. "Tell me how you want it."

"I like it true," she said, hands running down his face. "I want it real."

-House of Sky and Breath, pg. 725

The sound of metal clinking against the tile echoed in her ears, but it didn't fade. Instead the clang got louder and louder, filling Lidia's head until it was a roar. She scrambled out of the chair, the towels and blankets falling away in a rush of flailing limbs. Her legs nearly collapsed beneath her as she turned and stared at the two curved silver pieces on the floor, her fingers reaching for her throat.

She wouldn't believe it. She couldn't, not until her hand flattened against the side of her neck. All warmth and flesh and thudding heartbeat.

"Lidia?"

Her eyes jerked up, meeting a concerned violet gaze. Her mind was racing, trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last few minutes. The beautiful male was slowly pulling... a pair of pants away from the artful masterpieces that were his arms. She took it all in - the blankets and towels, the tank standing tall on the desk, the chill in the air, the fragments on the floor.

With her palm flush against her throat and emotion burning in her eyes she rasped, "How?"

"I had to find something to do these last couple days, instead of just sitting around and sulking," the Valbaran prince answered with a tiny huff. Suddenly the prickling behind her eyes was overwhelming as she began to understand what he meant.

"You've been trying to figure out how to set me free," she whispered through tears. "Even after I drove you away, you found a way to save me." Her heart filled to the brim and overflowed, unable to contain the searing light of the love that he had given to her. Lidia choked on a sob, unable to hold it back any longer.

And then she was folded into strong, comforting arms, the warmth of Ruhn's breath at the shell of her ear. "Dec is a genius. As far as the science was concerned, it took him minutes. And then, that first night, he helped me find a facility that would be deemed worthy of a raid. But I was only looking for one thing." A finger hooked under the shifter's chin and tilted it up, though she had to blink through tears to see her mate's handsome face, his gentle smile. "It was Jesiba that truly made it possible, though. She understood the magic that Pollux had used. I knew there had to be more to it than just science and force, because if it were just that you would have found a way to be rid of it."

He smoothed her hair back under his palm, holding her gaze. All the while her head was spinning and her heart was bursting. Never would she have imagined that during the last few lonely, miserable days, this male–who she had wounded and pushed away–had been trying to find a way to set her free.

"Of course, someone as vile and arrogant as Pollux would have never considered that you would find your mate. And even if you did, I'm sure he would have assumed that your mate would be too intimidated by him, or too afraid of you, to do anything about it," Ruhn continued. Then he shrugged, a knowing grin tilting up one side of his mouth. "Lucky for you, I've never really known what's good for me. And Pollux pissed me off enough that all sense of self-preservation was lost pretty quickly."

Lidia giggled, lifting her hand to his face. She traced his features; the strong jaw and sharp cheekbones, his sensuous lips and the cool metal ring that adorned one side, until her fingers combed through his luxurious hair. The shifter had always been taken with his silken mane, and had always taken time to feel the softness between her fingers whenever she had the chance. If she had the chance, she would spend a lifetime combing through it and pushing it away from those starlit eyes.