Free Fate Forsaken by Chauntelle Baughman

consciousness.
    Eldon turned back to Lukas. “She’s not allowed to travel alone anyway.”
    With calculating eyes, Lukas studied the air around Rho then scowled. “The aura is dark around her.”
    “She has a death mark.”
    Lukas inhaled sharply. “Why? Who’s done this to her?”
    “They did it to me, actually. And while I was unconscious, she asked Jess to transfer the mark to her instead.” The sharp spear of fresh guilt pierced his gut as he spoke those words. She’d taken on his burden like the warrior she was, and he still couldn’t believe she’d done it. But that was who she was. Brave, beautiful, and brazen to a fault. Exactly why he loved her. But he’d never be able to rest until he knew that spell was lifted.
    “Your sister would actually transfer the mark to another?” Lukas’s tone gave away his surprise.
    “Would you do it for Evette?”
    Lukas pursed his lips then nodded.
    “I’m not happy about it, either.” Eldon gave Rho a quick once-over. “But she’s a vampire. She’s handling it better than I did.”
    “Have you been watching her?”
    “Like a hawk.”
    “Good.” Lukas nodded his approval. “She needs to be monitored. Have you considered taking her to a magickal specialist?”
    “I was hoping to see Trinador while I was in town.”
    Lukas stiffened. “That may not be the best idea.”
    Yeah, he’d thought the same thing himself. Damn Nick and his ideas. But Nick was right. Trinador could be their only hope. “She may be able to help.”
    “And she may be eager to… see you.”
    “Knock it off.” Eldon shot a quick glance at Rho before pinning Lukas with a hard stare. She didn’t need to be troubled with his past rendezvous. Especially when his relationship with Trinador was long over, and Rho had a death mark to worry about.
    A clucking sound came from Lukas. “You play with fire.”
    Eldon lowered his voice. “That relationship is over. The bridge burned a long time ago.”
    “Bridges can be repaired.”
    “Not that one.”
    “Are you so swift to turn away from one of your own kind?”
    And there it was. The one thing Rho’d worried the most about from the beginning of their relationship. The one thing he knew she still worried about.
    “Race is irrelevant,” Eldon said.
    Lukas arched a brow. “Race is very relevant. You know this as well as I.”
    “I’ve moved on. Trinador has, too.”
    “Are you sure about that?” A grin smeared across Lukas’s smug face as he settled back into his chair.
    The captain chose that moment to interrupt their conversations with several long announcements about their descent then turned on the fasten seatbelt sign with a loud ding . They were only a few minutes away from landing.
    Eldon swallowed. No, he wasn’t sure about where he stood with Trinador at all. To him, the relationship had ended the day he’d left Paris. She’d been a big part of his life at one time, and he hadn’t seen her in three years. He’d avoided her on purpose.
    A very talented emulator and healer, she was an undoubtedly attractive woman. Back then, he couldn’t trust himself to be around her. She’d always had some sort of hold on him, captivating him with her presence. They weren’t right for each other, no matter how strong his attraction to her, but it had taken him entirely too long to figure that out.
    He glanced at Rho, still asleep on his shoulder. Her mouth was parted, and although she didn’t breath, he knew she was alive. Her eyes always moved when she slept—when she dreamed.
    The Big Bang Theory played on the screen in front of him, the action rolling silently since he wasn’t wearing his headphones.
    His relationship with this vampire was nothing like what he’d had with Trinador. Rho was fire and fury and passion, all wrapped in a deceitfully hard package. Trinador had just been soft. Sweet.
    Rho stirred against his shoulder, and he kissed her on the forehead. Then he squeezed her hand as hard as he could. “Time to wake