Lucian gave Kael a look like there was never any question who his plus one would be.
Chuckling, Kael faced his group. “Move in tight. From what I remember of Caederan, those cliffs are narrow. We don’t want anyone plummeting to their death upon arrival.”
Kieran shot Lucian and Effie a dark look as he placed his hand on Kael’s shoulder. Ronan had his hand on Reyna’s waist. She, in turn, was touching Kael’s wrist. Once Kael checked everyone was connected, he gave Lucian a nod and the group vanished from sight.
“Did the Triumvirate tell you what to expect when we get there?” Effie asked, taking a step closer to Lucian.
Lucian’s dark eyes were unreadable as he replied, “Sounded like more of the same, except they had survivors.”
“Oh,” she breathed, a sense of foreboding turning her blood to ice.
Nothing about that sounded like a good thing.
Lucian held his hand out to her, palm up.
Without hesitation, Effie placed her hand in his, trying to ignore the burn of his skin where it pressed against hers.
“Thank you,” she said, before he could use the stone and transport them.
“As much as I prefer your thanks to your insults, what exactly did I do?” he asked, one side of his mouth lifting in an amused smile. A mouth that was no longer obscured by his beard, she noticed.
Lucian had found time to shave, and Effie couldn’t stop staring at his full lips.
“Standing guard last night,” she mumbled, more than a little distracted.
His eyes widened ever so slightly. “I have to say, I expected a bit of push back from you on that. Especially after how hard you fought against having a guard in the first place.”
Effie shrugged, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought of how to respond. “It wasn’t you I was fighting against as much as circumstances being so outside of my control. Everything is changing so fast, and some days I can’t make heads or tails of what my power is trying to tell me. The visions are bad enough, but now these random premonitions . . .” she trailed off as Lucian scowled.
“What premonitions?” he snapped.
Effie was taken aback by the censure in his voice. “Like I told you before . . . the feeling that you shouldn’t go into the jungle alone. That I needed to be with you. And just now,” she admitted before he could grill her, “when you mentioned the survivors.”
“That’s why you fought me so hard?” he asked, his voice a little softer than before.
Effie nodded. “I just didn’t realize what was happening at the time. I still don’t,” she admitted. “Not really.”
“What are these premonitions like?”
“It feels like the start of a vision, but not as intense. Sometimes, like just now when you mentioned the survivors, it’s a buzzing under my skin. Almost as if it’s a call to pay attention to whatever’s happening around me. More often though, like all those times I fought against you going into the jungle alone, it starts as tension in my neck and shoulders. If I ignore the warning, the pressure grows until it feels like a weight burying itself in my lungs, making it nearly impossible to breathe.”
“Hmm,” Lucian murmured, his eyes scanning her face. “And you had this feeling now?”
Effie nodded.
“Just the buzzing? None of the pressure?” he asked, looking thoughtful.
“Yes,” she confirmed, wondering where he was going with this.
Lucian gave a short nod. “We’ll be on guard, then. There’s something about these survivors that your power wants you to pay attention to.”
“What would you have said if I told you I had felt the pressure?”
“That I was taking you back to the citadel immediately.”
“What? Why?”
“From the distinctions you made, and the times you’ve mentioned these feelings, the pressure seems to sense danger. I’d gladly risk your wrath to keep you safe.”
Warmth expanded in her chest at his confession. “What if I fought you? Insisted I should be there?”
Lucian surprised her by smiling. “You mean like every other time I try to do something in your best interest that you disagree with?”
“Exactly.” She laughed because that’s exactly how things had been between them from the start.
“It depends.”
“On?”
“How compelling your argument was.”
“I must not make very compelling arguments,” she muttered, thinking of all the times he’d gotten his way.
Lucian brushed his thumb along the back of her hand, squeezing it gently. “You’d be surprised how often I give in to you. It’s not in my nature to yield once I set a path.”
“So why do you?” she whispered, her chest tight as she waited for his answer.
“Because you ask me to.”
The simplicity of his answer stunned her, but there was nothing simple about the way he was looking at her. The bronze flecks in his eyes were glowing with the intensity of his gaze. Effie’s mouth went dry.
“Oh,” she said, because she couldn’t think of what else to say.
“No one else dares to defy me the way you do.” As if sensing her confusion, Lucian leaned down until his lips brushed against her ear. “I think I like it.”
Effie gasped when he activated the Kaelpas stone, robbing her of the ability to reply. Or breathe.
Chapter 7
Effie’s knees buckled and she threw an arm out to keep herself from falling, Kael’s warning about toppling over the edge of a cliff still ringing loudly in her ears.
Please don’t let me fall. Don’t let me fall.
Her hand slammed into something hard, before fingers closed around her arm in a bruising grip.
Looking up, her eyes found Lucian’s. His lips barely moved so she didn’t realize he was speaking until the words reached her ears.
“I’ve got you.”
Heart somersaulting in her chest, Effie straightened.
“There you are! What took you so long?” Ronan boomed.
Effie risked a glance at the others, expecting to be met with a combination of dark stares and knowing smiles. As for the first, Kieran had his back to her so she couldn’t tell what he thought of their delay. Reyna’s face was a mask, the Night Stalker wholly focused on their reason for being here. Kael had a slight smile on his face, but that wasn’t unusual for him. He almost always looked like he was laughing at some secret joke the rest of them weren’t in on.
“The heir returned to ask me one last question before we left,” Lucian lied smoothly.
Ronan’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t comment. He glanced at Effie, as if personally assuring himself of her safety, before nodding.
Realizing her hand was still pressed against Lucian’s chest, Effie slowly lowered it.
Lucian’s lips twitched in a smile that was gone just as quickly as it appeared.
Steady now, she was able to take in their surroundings. Where Sylverlands was rolling hills and glittering lakes, Caederan was sweeping vistas overlooking a sunken valley to the south and cloud-shrouded mountains to the north.
Their group had arrived on a cliff—much more spacious than Kael led them to believe—on the southern side of Caederan’s lone mountain. Despite being placed at the base of a vast mountain range, only one of the mountains fell within the boundaries of their land. The Caederans’ main town was situated on the mountain itself, while the rest of its inhabitants were scattered in the valley below.