The Guardian Read Online Free PDF Page B

sinister
    by the black and red lines on his white face.
    “Is that how you speak?” he asked her.
    She nodded.
    He cursed under his breath.
    Using Charade movements instead of sign language, she tried to tel him that if he could return some of
    her powers, she’d be able to talk to him.
    His frown deepened. “What? The ceiling? What about it?”
    She let out a frustrated breath and tried to think of another way to il ustrate her powers. She waved her
    arms around like smoke.
    He grimaced in distaste. “This is annoying.”
    The demon had no idea.
    She stopped as she tried to think of something else to try. There had to be a way she could write …
    Before she could blink, he manifested in front of her. The sheer size of him, and shock at his sudden
    appearance in her face, made her gasp. At a distance, he’d been fierce. Up close like this, she could
    literal y feel his powers. They were like an electrical current in the air that made the hair on the back of her
    neck rise.
    He absolutely dwarfed her and it wasn’t due to the armor bulking him up. He was this large.
    Those blue eyes scorched her with a coldness so frigid, it was a wonder she didn’t have frostbite.
    In the next heartbeat, he wrapped one wel -muscled arm around her and pul ed her into his arms. His eyes
    glittered an instant before he lowered his lips to hers.
    For the merest nanosecond, she was stunned by the warm softness of his lips. The gentleness of his
    embrace as he swept his tongue against hers in the sweetest kiss she’d ever known.
    Until she remembered he was a demon who’d been torturing Solin. Her fury igniting, she bit his lip with
    everything she had.
    He pul ed back with a curse.
    “You bastard!” Lydia froze, wide-eyed, as those words flew out of her mouth instead of the empty breath
    she normal y spoke. Shocked, she clamped her hands over her lips and throat.
    Had that real y been her ? Was that what her voice would sound like? It was alien and foreign, and …
    Unbelievable.
    The demon’s eyes turned deadly as he wiped the blood away from his lips with the back of his hand.
    “You’re lucky I don’t kil you for that.”
    But that wasn’t her greatest concern. What had he done to her? How could he have given her a voice
    when no one else had been able to do it?
    No one.
    Not even Solin.
    With a sinister snarl curling his upper lip, he licked the area where she’d bitten him. “You can speak now.”
    “How?” The sound of her own voice made her jump.
    He rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip, then grimaced at the pad that was coated red from his stil -
    bleeding wound. It matched the red lines bisecting his face. “I have al kinds of powers. That’s just one of
    them.”
    “Is that why you kissed me?”
    His gaze turned even more glacial. “Not at al . I had yet to have my lip busted open today so I thought I’d
    better see to it. Thank you so much for being kind enough to oblige me.”
    His sarcastic humor caught her off guard. For a moment, she didn’t see him as a terrifying demon. He
    almost seemed …
    Human.
    Disturbed by that thought, she looked around nervously. “What other powers do you have?”
    Her question brought the scary right back to him—with interest. When he spoke, he growled out his words
    like the demon he appeared to be. “Pray you never find out.”
    Fine. If he wanted to play that game …
    “Why did you bring me here?”
    His gaze drifted in the direction of the bed.
    Heat scorched her cheeks. “You can forget it. Unless you’re into necrophilia, it ain’t ever gonna happen.”
    “Necrophilia?”
    She steeled herself for the probability of his attack. “I’d kil myself before I let you touch me.”
    Seth went completely stil at those words as they struck him harder than a blow and took him straight into
    the past. You rotten piece of filth, you’re beneath me . She didn’t say that, but her tone and indignation
    implied it. Suddenly, he was a young man again, being laughed at for