Immortal Surrender by Claire Ashgrove

Author:Claire Ashgrove [Ashgrove, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fantasy, Gothic, Paranormal
Amazon: B008BU72QQ
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2012-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Noelle sat on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, her chin resting on them. She stared at the torc that poked beneath her short-sleeved shirt. Miniscule bands of red lay beneath the gleaming metal, evidence of the encounter that brought her to her knees. She tried not to think about it. Tried to convince herself the pain she’d experienced was a matter of her arm swelling while she slept.

In her heart, in the most scientific portions of her brain, she knew swollen tissue had nothing to do with the encounter.

Somewhere around the time she’d decided to give up the idea of fleeing and instead simply changed her clothes, the pressure reduced to little more than a firm press. That too defied logic. Inanimate objects didn’t possess the ability to think or to adapt behaviors based on surrounding circumstance.

The damn thing behaved as if it lived.

A thought that made her want to laugh aloud. If someone had said it, she would have. The very concept was as fantastic as believing in the Tooth Fairy or sitting up all night and waiting for Santa Claus to shimmy down a chimney.

And yet, the torc, the pain she’d experienced, was as real as any lost tooth or present under a tree.

She turned to rest her opposite cheek on her knees and gazed out into the empty front room where Scat Cat lounged in the open doorway. Silence filled the small apartment, oppressive and foreboding. Any minute now, Farran would return, and she’d have to face inevitable punishment. Her stomach had balled up so tight over her imagined possibilities that even the pangs of hunger no longer registered.

If he didn’t hurry up, she’d go crazy waiting.

Or she’d go crazy trying to figure out how a metal alloy suddenly acquired the high reactivity of a halogen.

A faint thump outside her door made her jump. Sitting bolt upright, hands fisted into the quilt beneath her, she stared at the door. He was here. Her freedom had come to an end.

Through a grimacing squint, she watched the door slowly open. As predicted, Farran entered. He took his time closing the door and removing his belt. Then, he turned around and his gaze blistered into her.

Damn, oh damn. If she had to be stuck with something magical, why couldn’t it be a bottomless hole she could disappear down?

She closed her eyes, bracing for confrontation.

His footsteps padded closer. A floorboard creaked near the side of the bed he’d slept on. The mattress gave with his weight.

“Noelle?” His deep baritone washed over her, stirring to life the traitorous butterflies in her stomach. “Does something pain you?”

Did something … What? Unconvinced she’d heard him correctly, she cracked one eye open, but didn’t dare turn her head to look. “Huh?”

“You look pained.” His hand fell to her shoulder, warm and weighty. Slight pressure from his fingers guided her to pivot in his direction.

Reluctantly, Noelle lifted her head and braved the fury behind his warm eyes. But when her gaze locked with his, concern probed gently.

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