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Until they took the woman I loved.
My grip shook on the sword. I wanted to believe Gwyneira would be okay. That, yes, Roan had attacked Ozias and Casimir, wounding the vampire and somehow trapping him in human form, but that didn’t mean he’d do the same to her.
Gods, I wanted to believe that. But gambling that someone’s better nature would prevent them from doing the unthinkable was a weakness the war had more than beaten out of my soul.
“Hold!” came a shout from behind me.
I threw a glance over my shoulder. Lord Thomas strode down the street with his bodyguard, Valeria, at his side and at least twenty armed humans following in his wake.
My grip worked on the sword hilt while my mind ran the angles and came up with fighting equaled fucked. Not so much because we couldn’t take them. I suspected we could. But because we needed to get after Gwyneira and not waste time trying to stay ahead of an angry human army at our backs.
The lord took one look at us all and seemed to read the situation in its entirety. “Where is the princess?”
Now wasn’t that the damn question.
My jaw clenched. Thus far, Gwyneira had taken the lead in speaking to the lord and his cohort, with Casimir filling in the gaps as needed. For all our sakes, I’d been willing to let that continue, considering that even the slightest slip-up could have risked her and us alike.
But things had changed. We’d left the castle grounds. We’d revealed ourselves as something other than humans. And yeah, we’d saved dozens of people in this city, maybe more. But even if there wasn’t anything about us that specifically said giant—and even if there were male witches in the world too—Aneira had never been particularly comfortable with magic even when they were using it to raze my country to the ground.
There was no telling what the lord and his people were going to do now.
I glanced at Casimir. The vampire and I may have only known each other a short while, but I didn’t think it was my imagination that we understood one another somehow. We’d both had the lives we thought were ours stolen from us. We’d both trained well in the military arts, and we were both committed to using everything we knew, everything we had, to protect the people in our charge.
And for Gwyneira, we’d cross hell and the empty realms itself.
“Taken,” Casimir replied smoothly, turning back to the lord as if there’d never been any question that he would remain the group spokesperson.
“By whom?” Lord Thomas demanded. “Those creatures?”
“Not precisely. It is a rather complicated situation at the moment, but we intend to pursue her now.” The vampire’s eyes skimmed over the remainder of the lord’s guards, all of whom looked like they’d like nothing more than to lock us up—or worse. “Alone.”
That didn’t go over well. “Why don’t you want anybody with you?” one of the guards snapped, his surly tone clearly meant to disguise his fear—not that it was working.
“Because the creature who took her will understandably view you as quite the threat,” Casimir replied in a grave tone. “It may not think the same of us.”
It was utter bullshit, and I thanked the gods none of my friends—and specifically Clay—laughed.
The guard, however, was an idiot. Never mind the gashes on Casimir’s chest that would have felled a human. Never mind the fact that demon just took out a fucking dragon. The guard still drew himself up like he was glad someone noticed his brilliance.
Lord Thomas’s brow rose. Distrust flashed over Valeria’s face.
Those two weren’t fooled.
“See to the guard stations and the gate,” Lord Thomas said, turning his attention to his people. “I would speak to these men alone.”
Several of the guards hesitated. “But sir…” one began, his eyes darting to us and then back to his leader.
“Valeria will remain with me. Surely no one doubts her prowess in battle nor her ability to defend me if required.”
The guy blanched, which was answer enough. Hurriedly, the guards retreated.
A wry look flitted through Valeria’s gaze—one she aimed at the lord as much as the other humans.
Lord Thomas met her eyes mildly, his brow arching again, before he returned his attention to us. “You have a way with words,” he commented to Casimir.
The vampire didn’t respond.
His sharp eyes scanned over us. “You are not witches or sorcerers. I saw enough magic in the war to know that. But I do believe you are worried about the princess, and that this is because you care for her as a person, not merely as an asset in some scheme. Also, I suspect you are alarmed by her disappearance, though perhaps for a different reason than us. So I would have the truth of what you are.” Tension flickered through his controlled expression. “And what she is.”
