Why would Hudson think such? Hudson was a duke. Had he lost all opinion of himself? Then again, she lost her good opinion of him. This was a disaster. She needed to do something. But what? She bit her lip.
Hudson turned and stared directly at her.
She tried to pull her head back behind the boulder, but her muscles would not obey. She couldn’t move.
Hudson vanished as she stared at him.
She blinked. What?
The leaves above her rustled. Her muscles strained and released. She looked up.
Hudson descended upon her as if from the tree itself.
She screeched, turned from him and ran. The cloth of her skirts tucked between her calves and wrapped about her feet. She stumbled. The earth rose hastily up toward her. She kicked her foot out and regained her momentum.
She would not look back. Her skirts tangled again. Her balance wavered; the fabric of her petticoat gripped a bit too tight to her thigh, and she wavered again. She jerked up her arms, but the ropes about her wrists bit into her skin. There was no way to catch her fall.
No. No. No. She could not fall.
Tingling warmth tightened her stomach and shot down her legs. In an instant, her footing caught hold. She burst down the path. Jordan would catch Hudson before Hudson caught her. Of course he would. There was a light ahead.
A clearing or something…
She was almost there…
She ran out into the clearing. A beach.
Fingers wrapped about her waist and pulled her up and back against a puffing chest.
She dangled, kicking her feet and twisting her body.
“Shush now. Do not struggle.” Hudson’s grip tightened. “The last thing I am going to do is hurt you.” His smooth, polished tone grated against her ear. He spun her about and stepped forward, then jerked and stumbled. Celeste grabbed on to him as he landed off center as if teetering on something, but there was nothing but smooth beach before them. He balanced and then toppled. They fell toward the pebbles.
Celeste’s bound arms flailed as Hudson’s grip on her waist released, tossing her to the beach. The pebbles and water’s edge rushed up at her. She screeched. Her knees hit first on the damp shore. A stinging pain shot up her thighs. Her still-bound hands hit in a hard thud that splashed water onto her face.
The water ran down, tickling everywhere it touched. She forced herself onto her back, and her skirts and back drank in the moist sea.
Hudson groaned and staggered up to a seated position four feet from her.
If only her hands were free, she could fight back and run faster.
“Isslange,” Carmen’s voice demanded.
“Isslange?” What was that?
The water on her body glowed and shimmered. What was happening?
A tendril of water swirled up beside her in a long, thin cone. Her eyes widened, and she stilled. The end of the cone tapered and solidified into a shard of ice. An ice snake. In hasty jabs, the snake stabbed at the rope, which split and separated, freeing her hands.
She was free, and how that happened, though concerning, mattered not one bit. As she scrambled to her feet, water rushed down her legs and into her slippers, creating ripples on the shore’s edge. She glanced about. A breeze tickled the tree branches, and her vision warped in a circular wave of multicolored light. Her breath caught in her throat.
The beach she stood upon was not the same beach she’d run out onto. Wreckage littered the shore from one end to the other. What had happened here?
Hudson sat to her right, between a large, split-open cask and a piece of ship mast with tatters of sail still attached. Blood trickled down his forehead from a long, thin gash. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against his knee.
The sound of a male throat being cleared came from the trees’ edge. She jerked her gaze in that direction. Jordan stood there. Then was gone. The water heated next to her, and she turned toward the intense warmth. Jordan stood next to her, in the water. She jumped.
“How did you break Ferrous’s cloaking spell?” His voice was calm and questioning.
“Pardon?” This was all a bit vexing. How did he appear from the water? How did she break what?
“All is well. We shall figure it out together.” Humid waves lapped in the air between them. Her body trembled, wanting to feel his strength about her to protect her from the oddness and fear that pulsed through her conscious mind. She needed him.
“What happened here, Jordan?”
“This is the beach I found you on.”
No. She shook her head. No, the beach she’d woken on had been clear, and she’d darted into the woods… Clear as this beach had been only moments before. Her stomach dropped to the soles of her boots.
“You were barely alive.” His voice came softer. “I thought to give you peace, so I bit you.” He protectively wrapped his arms about her shoulders. The heat of his skin against her provided no comfort. “Every woman I have ever bitten has died. I-I had no inkling you would live… I never would have left you, if I had known.”