The Shadow Princess (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 6)

“Thalia,” Kieran says from behind me, and then he helps me to my feet as I clutch at the rags of my shirt.

Bastien hits Snyder once, twice, three times, and then he hauls him up.

I’m surprised that’s all Bastien is going to hand out because I know he’s got a deep sense of moral justice. Perhaps he wants to interrogate him.

“Don’t look, Thalia,” Kieran says as Bastien spins a disoriented and bloodied Snyder around.

“But… why?” I ask, my eyes pinned on the two men.

My question is answered when Bastien clamps his hands around Snyder’s head, and with one swift, violent move, he breaks the man’s neck.

Bastien drops the man without a second glance and strides toward me before Snyder’s body even hits the ground.

His expression is heated, and he looks mad as hell. I realize I’m trembling, and all my instincts tell me that Bastien is dangerous right now. I try to back away, but Kieran is a wall behind me.

I’m stunned when Bastien reaches out and pulls me into his arms. Crushes me against his chest with one hand around my back and the other cupping my head. My fear melts as I relish the comfort this man offers. The feel of his body, his smell, the way his chest rises and falls—it’s everything I need right now.

I wrap my arms around his waist and burrow into him, ignoring the slight tensing in his arms. But I take heart when he whispers in an unsteady voice, “Are you okay?”

The words won’t come, but I manage to nod against him. I close my eyes in rapture when I feel him press his lips to the top of my head, an intimacy I’m so starved for, my legs go weak.

“You scared the fuck out of me,” he grumbles. His arms tighten around me, and my heart soars. I don’t understand how magic—no matter how strong—could’ve ever made me forget how good it feels to be held by this man.

But my elation is short-lived as Bastien releases me. Expression once again grim, he looks at my ripped shirt I’m holding closed across my chest and frowns. “I killed him too quickly.”

Bastien pulls his own shirt over his head and helps me thread my arms through.

“There are two others,” I say, forgetting about Ferelith’s men who were off hunting.

“They’re dead,” he replies as I tug his shirt down. It practically swallows me. I’m grateful for him protecting my modesty when I wouldn’t have thought about it myself. Too busy shaking like a leaf.

Bastien lifts my chin, taking in the iron collar at my neck. His fingers move around it and he finds the hinge. It releases, and instantly, my magic fires up and sizzles in my veins.

“Ferelith imbued it with some type of magic that completely nullified mine,” I say as he examines it.

His eyes snap to mine with concern, because that’s unheard of. Sure… someone like me can have my magics contained briefly with spells such as what I was hit with earlier, but there’s nothing known in our histories that would completely deaden someone’s magic.

“Is your power back?” he asks hesitantly.

“Yeah… it feels fine. Came back strong the minute you took that off.”

Bastien nods and whistles for Greta, who trots over to him. He tucks the collar in a side pack, assuredly for the Conclave to study later.

When he turns back to face me, his expression is set into that flat impassivity.

Once again, he’s choosing to distance himself.

CHAPTER 17

Bastien

The quaking violence within Bastien was almost impossible to suppress as he rode with Thalia back to Clairmont. Kieran stayed behind to help tend to the dead—both Ferelith’s men and Clairmont’s—as well as see to a healer for Archer’s injuries.

After Bastien assured Thalia that Archer would be fine, she slumped against him in the saddle and was surprisingly quiet on the journey back.

He was thankful for this because he imagined that if she had the energy to talk, she’d want to talk about their relationship.

Bastien had never been so blindingly mad as when he’d seen that man on top of Thalia, knowing his vile intentions. He wasn’t even that mad when the soldier had cut off little Sam’s leg, and back then, he thought the rage would consume him.

Yes, he killed the man too fast. He should have ordered him back to Clairmont where he could torture him over and over again, for days and days, and then maybe some of his fury would diminish.

The question needed to be answered, though… why did Bastien feel so strongly? He shouldn’t have that depth of emotion where Thalia was concerned. The magics that had stripped his love ensured that.

And yet, he could no more help himself from pulling her into his arms for comfort than he could give up oxygen to breathe. It was just… natural.