drops of dark color. When he stared at her his world was upside down. Her simple questions had wrought a change that would never be undone.
He was aware of everything—the coolness of the interior, the blue of the ice, the dramatic sweep of architecture formed thousands of years earlier. He was mostly aware that her hair was a rich brown, dark and glossy, the strands, several shades of brown, so many he hadn’t even known the colors existed. Her eyes were a cool gray and her lashes and brows matched her hair color. Her mouth was wide and curved at the corners, teeth small and very white. There were laugh lines around her mouth and eyes hinting at her sense of humor. Her skin was light gold, burnished by the sun.
He was seeing in color. After hundreds of years of a bleak, gray existence, living in a world without color or emotion, there she was. The other half of his soul. Staring down at him with curious eyes and an amused grin. There was blood on her shoulder and bruises on her face, and she seemed to be wearing a bizarre, thin-looking gown that didn’t cover much.
His eyes narrowed, trying to see what injuries she had. She’d mentioned a hospital. “What happened to you?”
She smiled at him as if those injuries were nothing at all when they’d set his heart pounding in fear and dread coiled his belly into tight hard knots. She had no idea how important she was. His lifemate. After so many endless years.
“I was shot.” She touched her face, wincing as if it hurt. “Someone smashed me in the face. It’s all a little hazy. They’re giving me drugs and I’ve never reacted well to them.”
For the first time her body shimmered and she appeared transparent.
“Wait! Don’t go.” He nearly leapt to catch her, but knew his hand would pass right through her if she wasn’t really there.
Traian had never panicked in his life. Not that he could remember. He’d been in countless battles, but whether she was real or not, he was seeing in color. He was feeling. Emotion. Real emotion. He knew that much was real. Was it possible he was caught in a hallucination? He had lost a lot of blood—too much blood—and there was nothing in the cave to replenish the amount he’d left in the ground. He couldn’t imagine that he could ever conjure something like this up.
Fear. Elation. Shock. The emotions were far too strong to be memories. She had to be real. He had no idea how she’d traveled to the cave, but she was real enough to bring him color and emotion. He couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not after searching the world over for her. He had to find a way to keep her with him.
A small shudder went through her body as she made a visual effort to stay with him. “I can’t do this for too long. But,” she frowned at him, “you’re hurt too. Do you often go swimming in the mud with a gaping hole in your shoulder? You have heard of infection and gangrene, haven’t you?”
“A small run-in with a group of unsavory ruffians. I was uncharacteristically slow.” He kept his voice light, dismissing of his own wounds.
“Does this sort of thing happen often?”
He knew she had a good sense of humor from the laugh lines around her mouth. He liked her mouth, that quirky little smile that reached her eyes. “Unfortunately very often. And you?” He felt himself go very still waiting for her answer.
“Same thing. In my line of work, it’s one of the hazards you just live with.”
He inhaled but couldn’t catch her scent, telling him she truly didn’t have a physical body present in the cave. “We must do similar work.”
“But,” she flashed another wide smile, “you’re here in this cave and I’m in a hospital. What does that say about you?”
His own sense of humor welled up. He hadn’t bantered with anyone since his childhood and he barely had managed to remember those days. “I’m eccentric?”
Her laughter seemed a melody playing over his body like the soft brush of fingers. “You seem a bit underdressed for a cave,” he pointed out.
She looked down at her body, one eyebrow arching. She seemed to be in some sort of a hospital gown. She’d forgotten to clothe herself properly in her astral flight. She shrugged, her laughter soft and inviting. “Yes, well, a lady likes to know she looks her