Chapters (42)
- Title Page
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Acknowledgements
- Also by Kim Harrison
- Copyright
- About the Publisher
- Cover
“For land’s sake!” Pierce exclaimed, pulling up and away from me. “You’re awake!”
The warmth cut off, and I felt the energies in my body jump, feeling the lack of what had been a ley line running through me. There was a scrabbling of noise, and my back went cold as Pierce’s light flashed an alarmed brightness. I sat up, grabbing the blanket and skittering to the other side of the small underground room to stare at Pierce in the green light.
That had been a line! Had he been pulling a line through me? While I was unconscious? Not a power pull since my chi was empty, but something else? Who did he think he was?
Pierce sat with his head a foot below the ceiling, his back to the opposite wall, one leg bent on the earth, the other propped up. He was fully clothed, but wearing almost nothing—his coat and clothes were hanging on pegs hammered into the wall with a puddle of mud under them. A white shirt and matching trousers covered almost all of his skin, but I could see the outline of his body well enough.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his expression alarmed and his eyes wide. “I didn’t take advantage of you. Rachel, you were cold. I was trying to warm you up. It wasn’t a power pull.”
“You were pulling a line through me!” I said, angry. “I was freaking unconscious! What in hell is wrong with you!” Sure, I’d been dying of cold, but I didn’t even know what he’d been doing. It sounded close to what a witch did with a familiar.
Pierce looked at the ceiling. Now that the light was brighter, I could see it was of wood so old that roots were coming through it. “It wasn’t a power pull. Lower your voice.”
“I will not!” I shouted, starting to shiver. “I’m not your freaking familiar! Pull a line through me again, and I’m going to … sue you!”
His lips tightened, and he frowned. When he shifted as if to come closer, I flung out a hand in warning and he rocked back. “You have a right to be in a fine pucker, but I’d sooner die than impugn your honor. I didn’t pull a line through you, I simply included you in my communion with one. I’d never seen anyone in all my born days as cold as you, and it was to warm you. It was a mistake to take you into the water. I didn’t know you were susceptible to cold. And lower your voice. There are dogs in the woods.”