Free Mystic's Touch by Dena Garson Page B

too.
    Don’t bring your mother into this.
    I will if it helps my case.
    A laugh bubbled up. I really need to work on my mental
self-control.
    I don’t know. I kind of like it.
    She sobered. There are things you are better off not
knowing about me.
    Danet, did it not occur to you that there are things in
my head that you do not need to know about also? Things that I have been
working to keep hidden.
    Yes. That is why I have been trying to stay out of there.
    Do you not realize that some of those things might get me
killed if they were to become known? There are the things that I have seen and
done that would make an innocent like yourself run for the hills. I don’t want
to do that to you. I don’t want you to be afraid of me.
    That makes two of us.
    Well, aren’t we a pair?
    I guess so. She looked at his unmoving body. Once
again she was struck by an overwhelming need to cure what was wrong with him.
It was an urge more powerful than anything she had ever experienced with any of
her patients.
    Come. Work your magic with your fingers. You may not be
able to fix everything right now, but you can take your mind off your worries
and make me feel a lot better.
    She sighed. Yes. I can at least do that.

Chapter Eight
     
    On a lounge across the room from the prince, Danet lay
wrapped in what had to be the softest blankets ever made. For the first time
she tried to remember what it was like to sleep beside a man and wake in his
arms. Okpara had not been much for cuddling, but she imagined it would be a
wonderful experience with the right man.
    Moonlight spilled onto the foot of the prince’s bed,
allowing Danet see the occasional twitch as he dreamed.
    A rustle from somewhere behind was her only warning that she
was not alone. Her heart began to pound, making it hard to listen for other
sounds.
    Wha… What’s wrong? the prince asked.
    I’m not sure. I thought I heard something. Did it wake
you?
    No, your fright startled me.
    You can sense that too?
    Yes. What do you see?
    Nothing from here, I was afraid to sit up and alert
whoever might be in here.
    Do you have a weapon?
    I have a couple of instruments that could be used as such
and the knife I kept from the dinner tray.
    He grumbled something unpleasant. Where is the knife?
    In the fruit bowl on the desk.
    He mumbled another expletive. If you are attacked, you
yell loud and long for the guards no matter what they tell you. Understand?
    Yes.
    A face appeared above her, startling her. She took a deep
breath to scream, but a hand clamped down over her mouth.
    “Danet. It’s Gehiji,” the man whispered.
    She blinked and tried to make sense of what was happening.
    Ceros released a couple more expletives.
    “Don’t yell. I’m not going to hurt you,” Gehiji said
quietly. “Do you understand?”
    She nodded.
    “I’m going to uncover your mouth. Nod if you understand and
won’t scream.”
    She nodded again.
    As soon as he released her, she sat up on the lounge and
whispered, “What are you doing here in the middle of the night? And how did you
get in?”
    “You said you needed to speak to me. I figured now would be
the only time I’d be able to get you alone.” He shrugged. “As for how I got in,
let’s just say I have a talent for it.”
    He does, actually.
    Gehiji sat at the other end of the lounge. Danet scrambled
to pull her blanket out from underneath him and wrapped it firmly around her
body. She had left her clothes on in case something happened with Ceros during
the night. Now she was grateful for that foresight.
    “What did you want to talk to me about?” he asked casually.
    Despite his relaxed posture, she could sense he was poised
for most anything.
    Go ahead. Tell him, Ceros encouraged.
    “Ceros wanted me to tell you something,” she blurted.
    Gehiji blinked a couple of times. “What did you say?”
    “Ceros insisted I tell you he was awake, alert actually,
inside his body and that I can talk to him.”
    Gehiji looked to where the prince lay prone