Bound by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy [116]
“The fog is too thick,” she growled. “There’s no way to tell which direction we’re headed. We could spend the rest of eternity stumbling through this damned stuff.”
He shifted to pull her into his arms, resting his head on top of her head.
“We’ll wait here. At least for a while. The fog is bound to thin out eventually.”
She snuggled against him, seeking comfort even as she gave a snort of disbelief.
“I doubt we’ll last that long.”
“Well, aren’t you just a bundle of sunshine?” he asked dryly.
“I’m allergic to sunshine.”
Despite his grief and the acute fear that they were well and truly trapped, Ariyal managed a faint smile.
It didn’t matter what was happening so long as he was holding Jaelyn in his arms.
They stood in silence for several minutes, each drawing comfort from the other. Then the moment was destroyed as the pungent odor of dog intruded into their fragile sense of peace.
“The cur,” he whispered. “And close.”
Expecting her to take off through the mist, Ariyal was caught off guard when she instead wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.
“Don’t move.”
He glanced down in surprise. “I approve of your enthusiasm, poppet, but now is not really the time or place.”
Ignoring his protest, she pressed even closer and without warning, Ariyal felt her cold power wrap around him.
What the hell was she doing?
The cur was only a few feet away. And right behind him was the vampire.
Moving directly toward them.
They had only seconds to escape.
Instead the frigid air continued to wrap around him and, trying to halt his shivering long enough to prepare for battle, he belatedly realized that the mists had grown darker.
No.
It wasn’t the mists.
Jaelyn was wrapping them in her shadows.
Shadows that could hide them from even the most highly trained hunter.
Gritting his teeth against the bone-deep cold, Ariyal held on to Jaelyn, amazed as the darkness thickened to the point he could barely see beyond the barrier. Damn. He hoped that Jaelyn’s superior eyesight was better suited to see through the shadows.
His hearing, however, was as acute as ever, and he had no trouble overhearing the conversation between the cur and the vampire.
“You have made certain that the prophet can’t escape?” the vampire demanded, his speech oddly formal, as if he hadn’t spent much time mixing in the world.
Not that unusual.
There were many vampires who would disappear into their lairs for decades, even centuries at a time. It took a while to stop sounding like someone out of a time capsule.
Besides, Ariyal was more concerned with what he was saying than how he was saying it.
The prophet.
They had captured the pureblood Were who Jaelyn had informed him was a true seer. Along with the information that it had been Cassandra’s timely foreseeing that had warned Tane not to kill Ariyal.
He owed her one.
Always assuming he was given the opportunity to repay the debt.
“She and the Were are being held in stasis until the master has fully regained his powers,” he heard the cur reassure the vampire.
“A wise choice, no doubt,” the vampire approved. “We do not wish to risk our prisoners escaping.”
“No.” There was a short, revealing pause. “But still it is a pity to waste the talents of a true seer.”
Ariyal and Jaelyn exchanged a knowing glance.
The cur had ambition.
Something that could be used to their advantage.
“Knowledge of the future is power,” the vampire retorted, his cold voice edged with warning. “And power is something our master does not share.”
Either too oblivious or too stupid to heed the admonition, the cur pressed his point.
“Especially if the future doesn’t please him.” There was a humorless laugh. “As he’s proven in the past. How many prophets did he have killed before he was banished?”
Ariyal sensed the vampire coming to a halt, as if irritated with his companion.
“Is there something troubling you, Dolf ?”
“It was one thing to perform the duties of our beloved prince when we were hidden in the shadows,” the cur complained, “but now that we’ve come out of the closet things are