Never accept a picture of defeat.
“We can do those things later.” The cold air should have chilled her, but his heat engulfed her. He traced his fingers up the ridges of her spine. “Right now, we stay here and talk.”
Stubborn warlord. She did want to talk with him, to tell him what worried her and analyze the problems and solutions together. He could help; she knew he could. He knew more about phantoms and Erebus than she did. She’d read stories, but Roc had lived them.
If Blythe had possessed Roux and had exited him outside of Harpina, where was she? Why hadn’t she returned for Isla? Unless she’d already found and stashed the girl away? But why not alert Taliyah to her presence?
Either the phantom wasn’t Blythe, or something had prevented her dear sister from reaching out.
Why am I happy to see you?
Roux’s words replayed in her head. Okay, so the phantom was definitely Blythe, and Blythe had definitely possessed the Astra. But how had she escaped him? What if she hadn’t?
Taliyah’s eyes widened. Could her sister be trapped in there, buried so deep Roux no longer sensed her?
The questions almost tripped from her tongue. Say nothing! Roc was the source of her panic in the first place. Frustrated, she griped, “We only ever do things you want to do. When is it my turn?”
He nuzzled her with his beard, just as he’d done in the tower. “That depends on what you want to do. I offered conversation.”
“And I turned it down. Twice.” Despite herself, arousal swelled. With him, arousal always swelled. He knew just how to touch her...
The pleasure they’d shared before... She longed for more. But, for two days, he’d barely touched her. Resisting the urge to initiate contact had proved challenging.
Be the one who caved? No. So, the satisfaction she’d grown to adore had remained at bay.
Now he stared at her lips, as if he imagined kissing her. “I can scent how much you want me, snarpy. I...want to be on your team, but I can’t give you false hope. I—” He quieted. His head canted to the side, his gaze going far away.
A telepathic conversation ensued, and it definitely wasn’t a good one. More and more aggression pulsed from him.
Did he say he wants to be on my team? “What is it?” she asked, focusing on war rather than emotions. She scanned the garden, expecting to discover an invading army.
From unguarded, sensual, and sexy beyond imagining, to the stone-faced Commander, Roc transformed before her eyes. He stood abruptly, setting her on her feet. “A phantom army has appeared at the wall. The soldiers are embodied, in formation, unmoving and silent. Which means they have orders to do nothing until an appointed time or event.”
She really hated her father right now. “So what’s the plan? Fight them?” Yeah. He itched for a fight, didn’t he? “Remove the metal, and I’ll help.”
He blinked in surprise. “I—No.” A shake of his head for emphasis. “I’ll lock you in the bedroom. Posts will ensure no phantoms are able to enter.”
Anger sprouted fast and sure. “Hey! You can’t just change your rules whenever it suits you. We stay together, remember?”
He turned stubborn. “I can, and I have. This is for your safety.”
Her safety? Taliyah scowled at him. “You’ll leave me weakened while an enemy attacks?”
He flinched. But did he relent? No. “I’m sorry, Taya, but this is the way it must be.”
“Liar.” How dare he Taya her at a time like this. “This isn’t the way it must be. This is the way you want it to be. No one can force you to do anything you don’t want to do, remember? Well, I’ve had enough. Before this, I dealt with you fairly because I understood your motives. Were the situation reversed, I would do the same thing, only better. But this... You’ve gone too far!”
Torment stamped his face, but she didn’t care. “The risk is too great,” he said, as stubborn as ever.
“That’s right,” she replied with a bitter undertone. “You’ve got to protect your investment. Never mind that the enemy might breach your posts and attack while I’m unable to properly defend myself.”
“Taya—”
“No! Don’t tell me they can’t breach the walls. They’ve already entered the palace without your knowledge on multiple occasions. So, no,” she repeated. “Any man who kisses me then puts me in unnecessary danger isn’t worth my time.”
“I—”
The temperature dropped from chilly to arctic in a blink. Despite Roc’s furnace-like temperature, Taliyah’s next exhalation crystallized in front of her face.
Apprehension prickled her spine. “The weather in Harpina is weird, but it’s never gotten so cold so fast.”
“Phantoms approach,” he said, palming a blade.
A curse exploded from Roc as great gray clouds filled the sky, blocking the dueling suns. She glanced up. No, not clouds. Her heart thundered. An army of embodied phantoms whirled through the air and descended over the garden.
27
Phantoms. Thousands of them. Aggression charged the atmosphere, inspiring the first flame of anhilla. Frost grew over Roc’s skin, but that flame melted it away.
A thought streaked across his mind, a mental asteroid, leaving destruction and ruin in its wake. Threaten his wife? Die.
He could deal with anything but her loss.
He prepared to flash Taliyah to their bedroom, as promised. She might hate him for a time, but she would live. Nothing else mattered right now. But, though he strained, the ability to flash failed him. No time to figure out why. Collision was imminent.
Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her, shielding her as the hordes of phantoms descended en masse.
Whoop, whoop, whoop. The noises registered first, and he braced for impact.
Wham, wham, wham! Repeated blows shoved him left and right, but he held steady. Bones fractured and broke. A myriad of claws raked him. Lips attached to him and sucked. Cold invaded his veins, threatening to weaken him. The anhilla flooded him with new strength, keeping him on his feet.
As every inch of his body was battered, he shouted information at his men. How had an army this large gotten past the trinite without notice? Why couldn’t he flash?
—The army at the wall attacks. Silver’s men approach on foot; they can’t flash. Neither can I.—Halo threw the words like daggers. —Ian, if you can, put my men behind the army and yours in the garden.—
If only Ian could flash phantoms in large groups. But they didn’t bear the mark of the Astra.