Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“You’re sure?” Sabelle asked.
I nod. “They gave the baby, a little girl, up for adoption that very night.”
I’ll never forget that heartbroken mother clinging to her daughter, shedding the most wrenching tears as she clutched the infant before the father tugged her swaddled form away and put her in the arms of a capable, professional looking woman who disappeared moments later, never to return. As a woman expecting a youngling, I can only imagine the devastation of being wrenched apart from your newborn.
“To protect her.” Sabelle’s face softens with compassion.
“Indeed.” Anything involving Untouchables is always dangerous. They’re often killed not only for their seeming immunity to magic, but also their ability to suppress all magic near them.
Whoever she is, if Mathias learns her identity, the woman is in terrible danger. And if she was given up as an infant, does she even know she’s Untouchable? How could she?
My blood runs cold at the implications. This woman would be completely unprepared. Completely unprotected. “We have to find her.”
“How? We can’t start with her parents.” Raiden points to the parchment. “The Untouchable’s mother died shortly after giving birth.”
“For refusing to divulge her daughter’s name?” I’m alarmed by that possibility. “Or perhaps not. Look, her father passed away mere weeks ago.”
But still most likely too young to die of natural causes.
Beside me, Raiden’s expression freezes. “If Mathias seeks this page, he must not know the Untouchable’s identity.”
“A logical assumption,” Sabelle grants, then frowns. “But…why find her now? If she’s uniquely able to derail whatever his nefarious plans are, why didn’t he track her down immediately after he rose from exile? What’s changed?”
Raiden’s eyes narrow sharply. “His last defeat at your mate’s hand? Ice handed him his ass.”
“It was hardly that simple.” Sabelle sends him a reproving glance. Then she smiles. “But he did.”
I have no idea what they’re on about. “We have to assume Mathias intends to use the Untouchable to make himself invincible against the Doomsday Brethren…or he’s worried we’ll find her first and wield her to render him impotent.”
“Either possibility is terrifying.” Sabelle shakes her head. “Let me take it up with Bram when he returns. But no matter what, this record of the Untouchable must be protected.”
“Where is he now?” Raiden demands.
“My brother left with Duke, Ice, and Marrok an hour ago. Said something about solving a mystery. Hopefully, he’ll return soon.”
Raiden rubs a hand across his forehead. “When he does, tell him to find me.”
Sabelle shrugs. “Of course. Perhaps we should send word to Shock that the Untouchable family tree is now in the Doomsday Brethren’s possession.”
“To test the bastard’s loyalties?”
“That’s one side effect, but mostly to see what Mathias does next. That could tell us a great deal about his plans.”
Indeed. And once Mathias knows, that might lift his threat against me. He would have no further cause to hunt me, right? Then Raiden can hand me off to Sean Blackbourne and end all responsibility for my safety or well-being.
Sabelle sends me a sharp stare, complete with a raised brow. That one expression tells me she’s convinced that will never happen. Of course she thinks that; she believes Ronan. She thinks Raiden loves me.
“No.” He plucks up the page with the family tree and grabs my hand. “Absolutely not. Come with me, Tabby.”
Because he’s determined to find the Untouchable before Mathias? Or because he can’t yet bear to let me go?
I’d love to believe he’s clinging because he cares. Because he yearns to keep me for another night. A whole night. Not merely long enough to make love to me. Not simply to comfort me after a staggering loss or to shield me from more danger. But because he needs me with him, from sunset to sunrise, in his arms, in his bed. His.
But that kind of wishful thinking got me pregnant and abandoned in the first place.
Still, I don’t fight as he leads me deeper into the caves, his grip tight. A glance back at Sabelle shows an amused smile curling the corners of her lips.
Moments later, Raiden reaches a door and ushers me inside. The space smells like him. I see evidence he’s stayed here—empty coffee mugs, discarded shirts with bloodstains and sweat, the drapes closed tight against the outside, just like his eyes—the windows to his soul.
He sighs. “Sorry. I know you’re used to better. Your father provided for your family admirably. This cave is strictly temporary and—”
I don’t care about fancy right now. “A bed! I’m exhausted. Is there a shower as well?”
He points the way, and I close the door between us.
Twenty minutes later, I emerge in a cloud of steam, dressed in the black robe I found hanging on the back of the door. The sleeves fall past my hands, and the hem drags the ground, but it’s clean…except Raiden’s faint scent that clings.