Oath of the Alpha - Eva Dresden Page 0,49
free.
“You are insane,” Aida whispered through chattering teeth as he lifted her back into his arms and carried her toward the bank.
“If I am, it is only because you make me that way.”
“Liar!”
“I have given you nothing but the truth, Omega,” Er’it hissed in her face as he set her down in the lush grass. “I have not lied to you.”
“You treat me like the scum on your boots and then say quiet words of comfort after you hurt me. You are insane, and it is not my doing.” Aida sniffled hard, swiping the back of a hand over her cheek.
“I did not do this to you.”
“You did, if not with your actions, then with your words. You offer me kindness and cruelty with the turn of a hand.”
“I told you nothing has changed, and you try to work your magic on me. Magic you cannot control,” Er’it snarled, feet slapping the wet grass as he paced away.
“But you can, after you steal it from my lifeless body. Is that it?” Aida brought her legs up despite the stinging pain, covering as much of her nakedness as she could, though she pushed her hair back to keep him in view. “Why tell me all of those things if it ends the same? What purpose is there in making me feel this way?”
“Put the tunic on. We are leaving this place.”
Er’it crossed his arms over his chest, imperial and cold in a way Aida did not expect. His anger burned, molten and cruel, and she had grown used to its vicious heat. This new austerity scraped raw nerves, shards of ice ripping into the delicate strands that still worked their way through her. The cobwebby threads connecting her to Er’it thinned to faint glimmers. The frozen ocean of her sorrow rose within her chest, cooling whatever fires burned between them.
Brows drawing down, his arms eased from their stern pose and drifted to his sides as Er’it came a step toward her, casting his long shadow over her shivering body. Years of being under Otaso’s rule flared in the back of her mind, causing her to duck her head and cower. Aida hugged her knees tight to her chest, presenting a small target for the hand coming toward her, no matter its slow procession. The slap of his palm made her flinch, though it was against his thigh. Strides carrying him away from her, Aida swore she could feel the earth trembling beneath her with each of his heavy footfalls.
“Rise and dress. We depart now.” Tone no less curt, he kept his distance, giving her a wide berth as he stalked around the bank. Eyes turned toward the patch of lush forest in the direction of their small camp, his brow furrowed deeper still.
Struggling into the soaked tunic, Aida wrapped it around her body. Wet fabric turned sheer and sucked at her skin, showing the soft terrain of her body and leaving her feeling more exposed and vulnerable as she climbed to her feet.
Aida followed in his wake with head lowered as Er’it crashed through the undergrowth to the camp, causing a trail of destruction that hurt her heart more than seemed warranted. Chilled to the bone from the soft breeze whispering over her damp skin as much as the frozen wasteland that resided within her chest, tears trickled down Aida’s cheeks as she stroked the broken branches and stems as they passed. Apology and grief sitting thick on her tongue, unspoken words clogged her throat.
Er’it grabbed her about the hips as soon as she cleared the last line of torn bracken. Lifting Aida high into the air despite her sputtering protests and slapping hands, he slung her weight over Kal’s broad back to sit astride his wide shoulders. Unable to even scream for the pain radiating from between her thighs, Aida collapsed over Kal’s silky mane, fisting the long strands in both hands as her body trembled and clenched.
“What is wrong with you?” Er’it demanded in a low hiss, hand enveloping Aida’s arm to pull her upright.
“Hurts.” Voice little more than a hiccup as a sob caught in her throat, Aida squeezed her eyes tight and tried to ignore the shimmering bands of sickening crimson rolling through her.
“Serves you right for acting so foolish.” While the words stung, his tone did not match them. Strangled down to a prolonged rumble, it failed to impart the vicious bite.
Springing from the ground onto Kal’s back, Er’it startled at Aida’s breathless wail when he