Destiny Redeemed (6 page)

The
thought of her blind heartlessness made her shoulders droop and the regret she
suddenly felt overwhelmed her. Sadly, she explained, “The Council ordered all
healers to not help you. Under no circumstances were any of us to heal you.” As
she spoke the words of the edict, she felt guilty not because she had helped
him, but because for the first time in her forty-five lifetimes she’d truly
lived up to her nature.

“But
you did. Not that we gave you a chance to follow your orders.”

“Now
I don’t know what will happen to me. When they find out what I did...”

Thea’s
voice trailed off as she thought of how the Council would punish her for
healing Amon. As she winced at the thought of her reprimand, Amon clenched his
fists at his side. Thea saw the anger in his expression and wasn’t sure how to
react. She was reasonably sure his anger wasn’t because of her, but something
in him had changed.

“Are
you in pain?”

Amon
relaxed his hands. “No.” Slowly, his face returned to the handsome, albeit
bruised, expression he seemed to usually have. Thea stepped forward toward him
and carefully placed her hands on both sides of his face. She didn’t know why
as he’d said he wasn’t in pain, but something in her pushed her toward his
bruised face.

The
swollen left eye had returned to normal, and she felt the gaze of his ocean
blue eyes on her as she coaxed the pain out of his features. Gradually, the
slash under his eye closed until all that was left was a faint pink line. The
light purple bruises that marked near his jaw and above his eyes, remnants from
a prior assault than the one on his last night in Nil, faded under her light
touch as the pads of her fingertips softly glided over his skin.

Amon
sat stunned by her unsolicited help. As she focused on healing him, she saw him
study her, his breathing turning to shallow pants and sensed his desire when
she saw him lick his lips.  As a healer, she wasn’t gifted with the ability to
read minds, but her power came with the complementary ability of being able to
read others’ reactions better than other Aeveren.  

That
something inside her that had pushed her toward him now told her to kiss him,
and she leaned in and gently pressed her lips to one of the pale black and
purple marks on his forehead. When she finally pulled away, she saw his eyes were
closed and his face was calmer than at any time since she’d met him the night
before.

Her
mind raced. Should she apologize for kissing him, even if it was just on his
skin? She’d never wanted to do anything like that ever before with anyone else
she’d been charged to heal. But nothing about being near this man was like
anything she’d ever experienced before.

Unsure
of how to act, she found it difficult to know what to do next, and words began
to tumble out of her mouth. “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean...I don’t know why...”

Amon
opened his eyes as Thea felt the color rising in her cheeks. She may have been
saying she was sorry and claiming she didn’t know why she’d kissed him, but she
was still positioned right next to his face.

“No
need to apologize. In fact, there’s no need to stop.”

A
sound of surprise escaped her lips and her eyes grew wide at the idea that there
was more to come. Her heart pounded in her chest as his deep blue eyes stared
into hers. Would he kiss her now? All at once, she realized she wanted so much
to feel his lips on hers.

Chapter Five

Amon
watched as the pale green flecks in Thea’s blue eyes seemed to dance. He hadn’t
noticed how beautiful her eyes were before—how incredibly breathtaking she was,
overall. Her face was so close, her pink lips just inches from his...

He
certainly didn’t mind her touching him anywhere since her touch was naturally
pleasing to start with and only became more so because he wanted her. And he
didn’t mind the feel of her soft lips on his skin, either. In fact, he had a
number of other places he’d like her to visit with those lips.

As
he looked into her eyes now, he saw not only beauty but desire and insecurity.
What a wonderfully interesting woman this healer was!

Slowly,
Amon saw the insecurity disappear from Thea’s eyes, leaving only desire for
what he offered. Need filled his cock, making it impossible to leave their
little interlude unfinished. Months of loneliness had made him respond to her
touch far more than he ordinarily would have, he reasoned. This was nothing
more than the simple need to sexually be with another.

But
he’d seen the look on her face before, when Sevine had come to him and found he
was her destined one. That was impossible with Thea, though. He still had a
destined one, regardless of how she’d manipulated him with magick to escape
him. He couldn’t be another’s destined one as long as his still hadn’t finished
her fifty lifetimes.

He
knew it wasn’t right for him to lead Thea on if she wanted more than he could
give, but she was so close and she’d felt so good next to him earlier. All
those painful nights in Nil had left him with an emptiness he yearned to fill,
and he wanted Thea to heal that too.

Leaning
in to her, he caressed her soft lips with his before increasing the intensity
of his kiss. Afraid she would back away, he cradled her face in his hands as he
slipped his tongue into her warm mouth.

She
returned his kiss with a passion that signaled she wanted him. When she moaned
into his mouth, Amon knew he didn’t want this to end with a kiss. As she began
to feast on his mouth, he guided her onto his lap, setting her up against the
base of his rigid cock. Realizing her position, she pulled away, frightened,
but with his hand on her lower back, he trapped her against him.

“Please
let me go,” she begged.

“Why?”

“I
can’t do this.”

Amon’s
mind listed the reasons why she possibly couldn’t, crossing off all but one.
“Do you have a destined one?” he asked, searching her eyes.

Thea
dropped her eyes to look at his chest and stopped trying to get away from him.
Quietly, she answered his question. “No, I don’t have a destined one. I’ve never
had one in forty-five lifetimes.”

“Never?”

Amon
couldn’t imagine what mistake of nature had been made to ensure the sweet
creature that sat on his lap remained ultimately alone for so long. He’d been a
heartless fuck for many of his forty-seven lifetimes, and he’d had three
destined ones.

Thea
said nothing but continued to avoid his gaze.

“Why?”

As
soon as he said it, he hated himself. She most likely wouldn’t know why every
life promised her she’d be alone. 

“I’m
a healer. It’s uncommon for us to be blessed with destined ones. Our calling is
more important than our individual happiness.”

Every
word she said dripped duty and loneliness between them. Amon looked up to see
her eyes filled with tears, and his heart broke for her. He’d often thought of
how unfair his life had seemed in the past year, but he knew he’d done more
than enough to deserve his sentence in Nil. Thea had done nothing to deserve
her fate.

He
wiped the tear that had dropped onto her cheek with his finger and lifted her
chin to make her meet his gaze. He couldn’t just sleep with her now. The look
on her face showed him that she mistakenly believed she’d finally found a
destined one in him.

“I’m
sorry, Thea.”

Thea
began to cry, her tears flowing down her face from his rejection. God, he felt
like a fuck!

“Let
me go,” she said sadly as she pulled away from him.

Amon
knew he should just release his hold on her, convinced her emotions were bound
to begin affecting him at any moment. But he couldn’t. He was responsible for
much of her sadness and needed to do something to fix what he’d done.

Putting
his arms around her, he pulled her upper body to his, holding her tighter as
she resisted more. As she sobbed into the side of his neck, her body softly heaved
against his. Wanting more than anything to make her feel better, he stroked her
long blond hair while her crying flooded his ears.

Amon braced
himself for his reaction. He’d always fed off the emotions of others and used
them to his own benefit, careful to minimize his exposure to sadness. He
vividly remembered Callia’s effect on him and dreaded a replay of that with
Thea as he was sure his body couldn’t take much more abuse, but with relief he
remembered that his destined one’s curse on him only worked if he was in love
with the woman. Safe in his belief that while he’d grown to care for her in the
short time he’d known her he wasn’t in love with Thea, Amon held her until her
crying stopped and she was still in his arms.

Lifting
her head, she wiped her tears from her face. “Why don’t you want me as your
destined one?”

A
lump formed in his throat at the sound of the sadness in her voice. There was
nothing he’d like more in this world than to have Thea for his. But that
couldn’t be.

“It’s
not a choice, Thea. It’s just not possible.”

“Why?”

He
looked into the beautiful eyes of the one who’d already given him so much
kindness and hated what he had to say.

“Thea,
I already have a destined one.”

Amon
saw the shock register on her face. She had been so kind to him, and he hated
having to say those words, more than she could ever know. Obviously embarrassed,
she dropped her eyes and climbed off him, saying nothing.

She
stood on the floor on the opposite side of the bed and straightened herself.
“I...I want to sleep somewhere else. If you’re going to hold me here against my
will, I’d at least like to be alone.”

Amon
felt the sting of her sadness and regretted telling her, no matter how much she
needed to know. But the selfish part of him didn’t want to be without her.

“I
need you here to help me heal.”

He
knew he was being insensitive. He didn’t care. He didn’t want her to leave.

“I
can heal you just as well sleeping in another room,” she said angrily.

Amon
wanted to refuse her again, but the hurt coming from her crushed any desire to
keep her in his room. Concentrating, he silently reached out to Gethen. As he
waited for him, Amon watched Thea with sadness, wishing more than ever their
world wasn’t like it was.

When
Gethen appeared in the doorway, his face was lit up with happiness.

 “Why
so happy?” he asked him, eager for something to break the tension.

“You’re
getting your powers back.”

Amon
realized he was right. “Yeah.” Shifting his gaze toward Thea, he said, “Thea
wants to stay in another bedroom. Can you get one ready for her?”

Gethen
nodded and turned to walk across the hall. “It will take just a few minutes.”

“That’s
okay. I can help,” she said quickly following him.

As
Amon watched the door close, his heart felt like something was squeezing it in
his chest. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. The idea of having a kind heart like
hers wanting him was almost more than he could ever wish for, but that didn’t
change the fact that nature had already given him the gift of a destined one.
That she refused to be with him didn’t matter. As long as she existed and
hadn’t moved on, he’d have to accept that another destined one wasn’t something
he could have.

No
matter how much he wanted her.

*

Gethen
made quick work of readying the other bedroom and when he left, Thea was happy
to be alone. Kicking her shoes off, she lay on the bed. As she fought back the
tears, the reality of her situation came clearly into focus.

I
have no idea where I am. I’m being held hostage at an escaped prisoner’s home,
an escaped prisoner the Council expressly forbade me to help.

Then,
as the tears began to fall, she thought about what was probably the most
frightening part of everything that had happened.

My
destined one doesn’t want me.

“No,
no...” she mumbled to herself as she wiped her eyes. “No, I’m mistaken. If I
were ever to be given a destined one, it would be just like everyone has always
said it would be. He’d want me even if he didn’t want to.”

Lifetimes
of helping others had been punctuated by many brief dalliances, but the end result
had always been the same—each lifetime she could only look forward in sadness
to the next in which she’d be ultimately alone. And now that she truly believed
she’d been released from her lonely prison, the man she knew was her destined
one didn’t want her, and worse yet, pitied her.

But
didn’t he have to want her? Isn’t that how destined ones worked? Thea had
listened with eager ears any time someone had spoken about the topic, desperate
to know, even vicariously, the thrill of having someone meant just for her.
She’d never heard anything about choice. In fact, it had always seemed to her
that the defining feature of destined ones was the distinct lack of choice.
She’d heard many an Aeveren bemoan nature’s choice of a mate for them,
convinced that a mistake had been made, so how did she feel the draw of a
destined one if he didn’t or wouldn’t feel it?

Thea
thought about the scent of his skin, a manly smell that appealed to her.
Everything about him seemed to call her to him. Was she mistaken?  It was true
she had no real knowledge about what it would feel like to finally have a
destined one. Maybe this was just another facet of being a healer—another way
to torture her for being born with her gift.

Unsure
of so much, she sat up on the bed to examine her new room. Very similar to the
one she’d just left, it had dark wood floors, but the walls were a deep
burgundy color and her king size bed was a four poster.

Very
comfortable for a prison
.