All he could focus on was Nynia lying in the ground, holding their baby to her breast. Of the fact that he wasn't there to protect her, to warm her. To take her by the hand and lead her wherever she was headed.
He felt a tiny hand on his shoulder.
Looking up, he saw the small face of his sister. Ceara had seen more than her fair share of tragedy.
"I'm still with you, Speirr. I won't leave you alone.
"
Talon wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her close. He held her as he wept. She was all he had left. And he would defy the gods themselves to keep her safe.
He hadn't been able to protect Nynia, but he would protect Ceara.
No one would harm her without dealing with him…
Talon came awake just before sunset with a sick feeling in his stomach.
He felt so alone.
His emotions were raw and tattered. He hadn't felt like this in centuries. Hadn't hurt like this since the night Acheron had taught him to bury his emotions.
Tonight, he truly felt the solitude of his life. The aching burn of it sliced through his chest, and he had to struggle to breathe.
Until he caught a whiff of something strange on his skin and in his bed.
Patchouli and turpentine.
Sunshine.
His heart instantly lightened as he thought of her and the way she stumbled through her vibrant life.
Inhaling her precious scent, he rolled over and found his bed empty.
Talon frowned. "Sunshine?"
He looked around and didn't see her anywhere.
"Would you leave me alone, you walking pair of boots!"
He cocked a brow at Sunshine's voice on the other side of his door. Before he could get up, the door swung open to show Sunshine fussing at Beth and the alligator hissing back in protest.
The two of them struggled in the doorway.
"Let go of my easel, you refugee from a luggage factory. If you need some wood for a toothpick, there's
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) a bunch of it on the porch."
The side of his mouth quirked up at the sight of them battling it out, Sunshine inside his cabin and Beth on
the porch.
"Beth," he snapped. "What are you doing?"
Beth opened her mouth, releasing the easel. Sunshine stumbled backward, into the cabin, with her easel in her hands. The gator hissed and snapped at him, swishing its tail and eyeballing Sunshine irritably.
"She says she was forcing you inside before it got dark and something decided to eat you," he told Sunshine.
"Tell Swamp Breath I was headed this way. Why was she…" Sunshine stopped and looked at him. "Oh jeez, am I really having a conversation with a gator?"
He grinned. "It's all right. I do it all the time."
"Yes, but no offense, you're kind of weird."
If that wasn't the pot calling the kettle black…
She shooed Beth out, slammed the door, then put her art supplies in the corner.
Talon watched her with interest, especially since the denim of her jeans cupped her rear rather nicely as she leaned over.
"How long have you been up?" he asked.
"A few hours. What about you?"
"I just woke up."
"You always sleep this late?" she asked.
"Since I stay up all night, yeah."
She smiled at him. "I think you've taken being a night owl to a whole new level."
She moved to sit on the futon beside him and rubbed her paint-stained hands against her thighs, drawing his attention to just how perfectly shaped they were and how much he would love to run his hand up the insides of them to the center of her body…
He hardened at the thought.
"Would you like me to make you some breakfast?" she asked. "There's not much in the kitchen that's not guaranteed to kill or rot you, but I think I could scrounge up an egg-white omelette."
He grimaced at the thought of what an egg-white omelette would taste like. It would probably be worse than the soy cheese.
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Jeez, someone needed to introduce this woman to chocolate Reddi-wip shots. And on the heel of that thought came the question of what Sunshine would taste like covered in chocolate—he'd never gotten the chance to do that with her last night.
Oblivious to his thoughts, she continued her tirade. "Haven't you ever heard of bran flakes? Whole wheat?"
"No, I haven't." He trailed his hand up her arm to her neck where he could tease the softness of her skin with his fingertips. Hmmm, how he loved to touch her flesh.
She continued to lecture him. "You know, eating the way you do, you'll be lucky to live another thirty years. I swear there's more nutrition in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory than anything I found in your kitchen."
Talon just smiled.
Why was he so fascinated by her? He listened to her voice as she lectured him, and instead of being irritated, he actually enjoyed it.
It was nice to have someone concerned enough about him that they would bother telling him what to eat.