The Darkest Touch

by Gena Showalter

  His acid-tipped claws ripped through her jugular, cutting off her scream of agony before it even had a chance to form. Torin's shout of denial rang in her ears as she thumped to the floor.

  Never burned...quite so...badly. Thoughts, breaking apart.

  Though her vision hazed with spots of black, she witnessed Torin's approach to the grinning Unspoken One--only to lose sight of the pair as the shadows from the Unspoken One's scalp wound around them. No. No! But the shadows thinned as quickly as they'd thickened, revealing Torin with a beating heart in his palm.

  As the Unspoken One toppled to his knees, gasping in pain, Torin stuffed the heart into his mouth. Her warrior drew back his sword and struck. The creature's head thumped to the floor and rolled away. The rest of him flopped forward, and tumbled down the stairs.

  "Princess," Torin said, crouching beside her. His hands cupped her cheeks. He hissed in a breath. "Sorry. Sorry. Left blood on your face."

  Don't care about that, she tried to say, but struggled to move her mouth. Black swallowed the rest of her vision. All around her, battle noises registered. Grunts. Metal slashing across bone. Cracks. Curses. Another thump. Then something soft was once again smoothing over her face.

  "Stay with me." Torin's masculine scent enveloped her. "Aeron is alive. Everyone survived. I expect the same from you. Do you hear me?"

  Blood gurgled from the corners of her mouth. Great! How unattractive was that?

  "Bond with me," he continued. "Do it. Take my strength. Anything you need." The rustle of clothing.

  He wants my bond?

  Joy...

  Torin must have ripped off his shirt because the next thing she knew, he was pressing soft cotton into the wound in her neck. "You've got nothing to do but get better. And you will. I've been here. I've had my throat slit and pulled through. You will, too. You're stronger than anyone I know. You will heal. That's an order, princess."

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  TORIN WATCHED KEELEY, who lay on his bed. Still, so still. He'd slept in this room for hundreds of years, dreaming of a day a woman could rest beside him. But this was as far from a dream as possible--this was a nightmare.

  The sheets were soaked in her blood. His Sugar Plum Fairy was dying.

  "No. No! I refuse to lose you. Do you hear me?" He shouted the words to the unconscious Keeley.

  She had touched him, again and again, willing to face the consequences--this would not be how she died.

  She will never die.

  I need her too badly.

  The day Torin had gone to the prison with Mari, Danika had given him a portrait. As the All-seeing Eye, Danika often saw glimpses of the future, and so far, she had never been wrong. In this particular portrait, Torin had been reclining in a dark leather chair, a glass of something in one hand, a cigar in the other. He'd been surrounded by people, enjoying life. His, theirs. The smile on his face suggested he was sublimely happy, with no worries or unsatisfied needs.

  If that was to be his future, Keeley had to survive. It was as simple as that.

  He applied pressure to her wounds...and she stopped bleeding. But as he watched, her chest stilled, no longer rising and falling.

  No longer breathing.

  He pounded on her sternum, one minute ticking into two...three... The wound in her neck reopened. Blood she desperately needed poured out.

  He reared back, shouting, "Come on, Keys! Heal!"

  The ensuing silence cut at him.

  "Please! Do you have any idea how important you are to me?"

  Again, silence.

  But...she couldn't know. He'd never told her.

  With a bellow that sprang from the deepest depths of his soul, he punched a hole in the wall, welcoming the sharp pain in his knuckles. He never should have allowed Keeley to stay here. He should have found the strength to walk away from her a second time. For good.

  His weakness had cost him. Had cost her. Just not the way he'd envisioned.

  "Keeley! Are you listening to me?" He toppled the dresser, the drawers spilling across the floor. He kicked over a nightstand and stomped on the remains. "You're in my bed. You said I could boss you around there. I've told you what to do, so do it!"

  But she didn't.

  Every inhalation a burn in his chest, he ripped a light fixture from the wall and tossed it across the room, adding a new hole to his collection.

  He cared for this woman. Cared so damn much. Seeing her like this, so helpless against a wound he hadn't caused but hadn't protected her from...something broke inside him. The last shreds of his humanity, perhaps.

  He fell to his knees. He felt like an animal, starved and desperate. Utterly wild. Inconsolable.

  "Calm down," Lucien said, appearing beside him.

  Calm down? "Why don't you shut the hell--"

  His door swung open before he could finish insulting his friend, and Danika rushed inside his room, carrying a jar of...dirt?

  "Sienna brought me back," she said, stopping at the side of the bed to dump the--yes, dirt. The scent of it filled the air as the grains covered Keeley's injury.

  Torin was on his feet and at Danika's side before she could finish, getting in her face, almost brushing his nose against hers. Realizing how close he was, he backed off an inch. "You better have a good reason for doing that." Or else.

  Danika's eyes went wide with sudden fear.

  "She does," a voice said from the doorway. It belonged to her man, Reyes. "She had a vision, and it showed her how to help your girl." The keeper of Pain stood with his arms crossed over his middle, eyeing Torin with expectation. "Step away from Danika, or we will have a problem, my friend."

  Can't even challenge my friends without putting their lives at risk.

  Grinding his teeth, he straightened and stepped away.

  Danika breathed a sigh of relief and continued on. "I'm going to lean down and make sure the dirt gets inside the cut, okay?"

  "Why?" he barked.

  She flinched at his vehemence, saying, "Do you know the saying just rub some dirt on it? Apparently, that came from her species. The Curators. Keeley is bonded to the earth and its seasons, which means she's bonded to its elements. They help her."

  That...made sense, he realized. He shouldered Danika out of the way without actually touching her and crouched at Keeley's side. He gently worked the dirt into her wound. For the first time since he'd watched her fall under the Unspoken One's attack, he began to hope.

  "Torin," Danika said. "Are you sure you should be doing that? You're--"

  "I'm gloved," he snarled. He would not put Keeley at risk, not again. He just...he had to touch her in some way.

  "I know, but..." Danika licked her lips as he pinned her with a glare. "Never mind."

  The next few minutes of stilted silence were sheer torture. He waited, but Keeley's condition never improved. He rubbed the dirt harder, even manipulating the tears in her skin to let the dirt penetrate deep. Something burned the back of his eyes.

  "I don't understand," Danika said. "This was supposed to work."

  Torin got up, swiped the jar from Danika's hands and filled it with water. If one element would help, two would surely help more. He gently poured the water onto her wound.

  She remained quiet, still. Too still.

  Hope died; it was a swift, brutal slaying.

  Disease gave an all too familiar and hated laugh.

  Screaming denial after denial inside his head, Torin pressed his forehead against the mattress. He'd lost her-- No. No. But he had. He'd lost his beautiful Sugar Plum Fairy. No! Monsters should die, not angels. It wasn't fair.

  When had life--or death--ever been fair?

  This was the end. The price of evil...darkness. Not hers, but theirs. The Unspoken Ones. Bad things happened because creatures like them had free will.

  Now, there were no more seconds left on Keeley's clock.

  How am I supposed to go on?

  "Torin?" Danika said.

  "Get out." Keeley wouldn't have wa
nted anyone to see her this way. "In a few seconds, I'm not going to be responsible for my actions."

  "But--"

  "Now!" Tears dripped from his chin, pooled in the liquid that had yet to absorb in her wound.

  The numbness was going to leave him-- Who was he kidding? It had left him long ago. He was going to tear through this room, this fortress, and then the entire world. No one would be safe from his wrath.

  "Wait. I think she's breathing," Danika insisted.

  His head snapped up. Keeley's eyes were still closed, but she was-- Yes! She was breathing, her chest rising...falling...rising again.

  She was alive!

  "Keeley, sweetheart."

  Her head lolled toward him as she moaned.

  "I'm here, princess. I'm here. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you ever again." Not even me.

  *

  KEELEY STRETCHED AND blinked to full wakefulness. When her surroundings registered, she frowned and eased to a sitting position. She was in an unfamiliar bedroom, and there were holes all over the walls. Every piece of furniture--not including the bed--was toppled over and in shambles.

  Interesting decorating choices.

  Sunlight streamed through the large bay window, casting bright rays over the king-sized monstrosity she occupied...alone. There was an indention on the other side, making her think someone had spent the night with her. Torin?

  The thought thrilled her. But where was he?

  A voice drifted from the shadows, answering her unspoken question. "He's with his friends. They want to question you when you awaken, but he's refusing."

  A voice she recognized. Smiling, she said, "Galen."

  "None other."

  Her gaze moved through the room a second time until she'd rooted out his location. He sat in a corner amid broken pieces of wood. Strong and stalwart, his wings several inches longer. "You risked a lot, coming here."

  He nodded as he rose. He approached her. "That I did."

  "To harm Torin?" As much as she liked the warrior, her acquaintanceship with him was beginning to bother her. Torin was her man, and he'd supported her, choosing her well-being over that of his friends. What kind of girlfriend would she be if she consorted with his enemy?

  "No. Torin has nothing to do with it." Galen sat beside her, his thigh brushing against hers. "Or even revenge."

  Interesting. I'm still touch-deprived, surely. The nearness should affect me despite my lack of attraction to him. But there was no tingle. No quiver.

  Had Torin ruined her for all others?

  "You no longer hate him?" she asked.

  "Oh, I hate him." He grinned coldly. "I'll always hate him. He was once one of my closest friends, if not the closest. But he didn't trust me, still believes I'm the one who revealed our plan to steal Pandora's box to Zeus."

  "Didn't you?"

  "Of course. But did you not hear me? He should have trusted me."

  She rolled her eyes. "So you, the guilty party, got angry at the innocent party for daring to react to a betrayal with hurt and anger. Typical."

  Unashamed, he nodded. "That about sums it up, yes."

  "And you, the guilty party, hold a grudge."

  His grin returned, but this time, there was a hint of warmth to it. "I like that you get me."

  Another eye roll. "Why are you here? And if you tell me you're crushing on me and want a go at me, I will seriously gut you. I belong to Torin. He said so." And he better not have changed his mind. There would be hell to pay!

  "That's good, because you aren't my type."

  Hey! "You don't like spunky girls with temper issues?"

  He playfully flicked the end of her nose. "You aren't Legion, so, no." He thought for a minute, frowned. "I suppose I should call her Honey. That's what the Lords are calling her. Apparently, she reinvented herself. Part of her recovery."

  Bits and pieces of their past conversations drifted through Keeley's mind, and she sighed. "This Legion slash Honey chick." An enemy who'd given him her virginity--and then tried to kill him. Not just teasingly, but truly poisoning him. Then she'd run away from him. He'd gone after her, intending to mete out revenge, only to be slowed down by the war with the Lords. During that time, Legion--Honey--had somehow ended up in hell, where she was tortured mercilessly. "You're here to steal her away?"

  He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. First, I just want to talk to her."

  "Well, do me a solid and don't. Not yet. These people just got Torin back and just met me. Not to mention the battle with the Unspoken Ones. They're a bit overwhelmed, I'm sure, and won't react well to another disturbance." Plus, she didn't really want to explain her association with Galen right now. She and Torin were finally making progress. No reason to screw that up.

  "I won't hurt her," Galen said. "She's been hurt enough. And no one else will ever know I'm here, you have my word. But I need your help. There's some kind of block on her room and I can't get inside."

  It was one thing to help lead him to safety, but quite another to allow him to roam freely through Torin's home. "Give me some time. Soon Torin will owe me a few favors, and I'll be able to set up a Lords of the Underworld approved meeting with you and Honey."

  Galen narrowed his eyes, shadows making the blue appear black. "Slight problem with your plan. I don't want to wait."

  She patted the top of his head. "Poor brain-damaged male. Did you think I was giving you a choice?"

  He opened his mouth to respond, but she held up a finger in a demand for silence. Her ears were twitching... Footsteps, she realized! Someone was approaching the bedroom door.

  "Later," she said, and flashed Galen to the other side of the world. She could have flashed him to another realm, trapping him, but she did have some scruples. They were tarnished, but they were there.

  Maybe.

  She hurriedly finger-combed her hair and smoothed the newest T-shirt Torin had dressed her in--"Reyes is the Biggest Pain"--preparing for her next visitor. Which she really hoped was her Charming. They had a few things to discuss. Galen, yes. But also about their relationship. Things had changed. They both knew it. Soon the harder decisions would have to be made.

  What was he willing to do to make this thing between them work?

  What did they want from each other?

  How should they proceed?

  She was excited about the possible answers, but also leery. As feared, he could have changed his mind--again.

  Well, she would show him!

  Keeley flashed the broken furniture away and replaced every piece with something of her own. I'm moving in, and that's that.

  Try to get rid of me, Charming. I dare you.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  TORIN POUNDED UP the staircase, his every nerve scraped raw. Too many of his friends trailed behind him, and he wondered why the hell he'd been so eager to return to their midst.

  "I just want to talk to her," Sabin said. "I'll be nice, I swear."

  Maybe he would. But Sabin's version of nice meant leaving his opponent alive--on the brink of death, but alive. The guy didn't yet realize Keeley's nice made his seem like a day at the spa.

  "Forget it."

  "Let me thank her for saving Gideon," Scarlet said.

  "Later."

  "Let me talk to her about finding Cameo and Viola," Aeron said. "I know we couldn't speak to her while she was healing, but she's better. Right?"

  "Right. But I'll talk to her about it."

  "What about Sienna's power?" Paris asked. "Keeley promised answers."

  "And she'll give them. Just not today. So what happened to Taliyah?" he asked, changing the subject before anyone else could protest. "Anyone find out why she wanted the fortress we had in the Realm of Blood and Shadows?"

  Taliyah was Gwen and Kaia's older sister and, quite frankly, colder than ice. He was pretty sure he'd gotten frostbite just by having a conversation with her. Which was why she was the only woman on earth he'd ever requested William "do that melting thing" to.

  She was also th
e only woman on earth William had ever refused to touch.

  "We still don't know," Strider replied. "Taliyah needed it sooner than expected, and we can't get to her. She won't even come to us."

  By her choice?

  "What of William? Does he know of my return?" Torin was astounded by just how badly he missed the guy.

  Strider shook his head. "Not yet, but don't worry. He'll show up sooner rather than later. He doesn't leave Gilly and her birthday-party planning for long."

  "Dear diary," Anya muttered. "It's been three hours since I killed someone. Needless to say, life sucks. My gorgeous fiance refuses to let me kill the most loathsome creature ever. Won't even let me give her a few superficial stab wounds. I'm thinking about breaking up with him."

  "I wouldn't recommend it," Reyes replied. "He may not ask for your hand in marriage a second time."

  She gasped with outrage. "Lucien. Tell him!"

  "I'd ask again," Lucien told him.

  Okay, so maybe it was kind of great to be back amid the weirdness.

  "Anyway," Anya said. "Torin, do you remember those kids we saved from Galen and his crew a while back? The ones with the supernatural abilities? Well, even after we found them new homes, I kept in touch, watched over them. I'm awesome like that. And they're doing well, by the way. Except for one. He ran away. I need you to tell the Red Queen to find him."

  "I'll ask her." A small smile played at Torin's mouth as he reached the door to his bedroom. "Okay, everyone. This is where we part ways." Amid boos and hisses, he shouldered his way inside. Holding a tray piled high with breakfast, he kicked the door closed.

  He lost the smile as he computed the condition of his room. What. The. Hell? There were piles of gold and jewelry in every corner. So much he wasn't sure how the floor could possibly withstand the weight. There were potted plants hanging from the ceiling. A wealth of female clothing spilled from his closet. Gowns like the one Keeley had worn during the fight, looking like a porn-star version of an evil queen, totally rocking his world. There was an animal-print chaise longue with a blanket of black velvet draped over the edge. A table made of cobalt porcelain and brass flowers. A large oval mirror with cherubs dancing around the sides. And taped over his many computer screens were reminders to maim or kill certain people.

  "Surprise!" she said. "I've saved you the trouble of having to ask me to move in. You're welcome."

  His Sugar Plum Fairy reclined in the center of the bed, the covers plumped around her. Excitement glowed in her baby blues. Golden hair tumbled all the way to the mattress.