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IF he meditated on it, Jonah could reach down, down, and feel the lick of flame of Lucifer's world below, so close. If he wanted to reach farther, he knew he'd find the essence of Luc himself. Just as he could the Lady if he went in the opposite direction. As above, so below.
But he didn't. He preferred here, this place of stasis, below one Line and above the other. Disembodied, as if his soul had split.
He'd been on his side awhile, perhaps hours, studying the dragon's outline in the wall. At the lapping of the water, he adjusted his chin to see Anna's head break the surface, her long golden hair, which waved and wildly curled when dry, now slick along her skull and bare shoulders. His heart leaped in his throat, disregarding the fact she was ignoring his wish that she not return. No, not his wish. His command. It was not his wish at all.
Another being surfaced behind him and grasped the rock, gracefully lifting itself upon it, despite a strange cloak that made the being unrecognizable. And then he felt . . .
Dark One! It exploded through his system, tripping off all alarms. Here, where Anna was, where Anna could be harmed. Jonah launched himself off the ground, ignoring the searing pain that shot through his back, cursing the fact he almost stumbled from the unexpected lurch it caused. He still moved quickly enough that the creature only had time to let out a feminine shriek and throw herself backward as he reached for a sword that was not there. The fact he was unbalanced was the only thing that made his grip on her neck fall short. Otherwise, he was sure he could have snapped it in a heartbeat.
Then Anna was there, and before he could stop her, she'd flung herself over the sprawled creature, a bundle of rags and snarled black hair.
"Anna, get--"
"No!" Anna tucked her limbs around the Dark One's body like a mother bird with a precious egg. "Jonah, no! This is Mina. She's a seawitch. A healer."
"She's a Dark One."
"Half." Anna said it emphatically. "Her mother was a mermaid. She is my friend. She is not evil. Please, you're frightening her. Step back. Step away."
He struggled with it, gripped in the bloodlust that had been trained to rise to killing level at the barest hint of a Dark One. Only Anna's eyes disrupted it, the plea in her voice.
"Please, my lord. I have known her all my life."
At length, he stepped back, and Anna rose cautiously. Mina straightened to a sitting position. She had the hated red iris of the Dark One in the one eye he could see, almost the only feature of a horribly scarred face distinguishable in the folds of her cowl. That eye followed his every twitch just as closely as he was following hers. As he watched, she uttered several unfamiliar, harsh words. The hint of a serpentine pair of tentacles vanished, giving her the ability to stand on two legs, though he could only see her feet and ankles.
While Anna had said he'd frightened the witch, she didn't show it. Her face was an impassive mask. Stepping outside of the protection of Anna's body, the witch began to move to his left, studying his wound.
"The blade that did this. Did you see it?"
Jonah moved with her, instinctively keeping himself between her and Anna.
"My lord--"
"No, Anna. Stay where you are so he needn't worry about you."
He was surprised at the creature's admonition, and the careful scrutiny she was giving the wound, despite the fact he was making no attempt to help her examine it.
"It was an axe," he said gruffly.
"It was more than an axe." Mina took three deliberate steps forward. "If you are not too fainthearted to let me touch it, I believe the wound is poisoned. I can help."
"You would help an angel." He didn't bother to hide his derision.
"I would help Anna." Mina planted her feet.
"Your filth is not touching me."
"If you want to lie here and let it fester until you rot and die, ratty seagull," Mina responded, "that is no concern of mine."
"My lord, please. Mina." Anna threw an admonishing glance between the two of them, then shifted back to Jonah. "She has come here to help you, I promise. Since I was born, Mina has done nothing but help and protect me."
Jonah knew he shouldn't be surprised. Loyalty was usually a close handfast of courage, and he already knew his mermaid had a foolish overabundance of the latter. Despite that, he had too much experience with Dark Ones to simply go on faith. "She's pretending friendship for the advantage it brings her, getting close to the house of Neptune."
Anna let out an inelegant snort at almost the same time Mina rolled her eyes, bemusing and irritating him at once. "Trust me, my lord," Anna said resolutely. "Being my friend brings no one an advantage."
"Except perhaps you," Mina offered in a dry tone, staring at Jonah with that hated gaze.
But now that he'd had a moment to adjust, he could tell there was something different about this Dark Spawn. His experience with the few that had managed to survive birth was that they were either wholly evil, unable to control or conceal their base nature, or so deformed they did not live long beyond two or three years.
It intrigued him to sense a duality of nature in this one, a strong darkness warring with a flickering light. While it didn't make him less repulsed by her or more trustful, he was more willing to tolerate her presence in the room with Anna. Within limits.
"My lord." Anna was speaking again. "If there is nothing I can say that can make you understand, I'm asking you to respect my judgment, out of courtesy for me. If you feel you owe me a moment of such regard," she added.
He cocked his head toward her, still keeping Mina in his peripheral vision. "Now, you're going for polite. Haughty. And using the fact that you saved my life to make me behave."
Anna opened her mouth, a flush staining her cheeks, but Jonah waved a hand. "The Goddess I serve is female, Anna. I am not unused to such tactics." At a sound from the dark creature to his left, he arched a brow at Mina. "Are you laughing at us, Dark Spawn?"
"I laugh at most everything, my lord," Mina said, the seriousness of her one visible eye altering not a bit.
"Mmm. I shall allow you to examine me." It took a tremendous effort to say it, but in truth, what did he care? What did he have to lose? Of course, that answer was in the cavern, just to his right, watching him with concern in her lovely face. He would not drag an innocent down with him. "I will do you no harm, for the moment."
"Do you promise?" Anna asked.
He shot a narrow look at her. "Using the truths I've told you against me is a woman's weapon as well."
When she blinked innocently, he blew out a breath. "I promise." It irritated him that the clearing of her expression pleased him, so his brow lowered, and he turned back to Mina, not bothering to mask the menace in his voice. "But keep in mind I have destroyed Dark Ones far more powerful than yourself. You cause Anna any kind of harm, you will not live to regret it."
"My exact sentiments toward you, my lord." Mina approach
ed and examined the wound, the attachment of the wing, though she didn't touch him as expected. "You can't use it well, can you? The muscles are not fusing as they should."
He shook his head, wanting this over. Despite his agreement, his heart was thundering, his body tense, ready to react if the creature twitched in the wrong direction toward Anna, no matter the illogic of that, if the two had known each other for some time. But Dark Ones were wholly evil, and the creature stank of their blood, as well as a variety of other disturbing things.
Why couldn't she just leave so he could have Anna to himself? He wanted her safe. But more than that, notwithstanding the fact she shouldn't have returned at all, he found himself inappropriately glad about her disobedience.
"There definitely was a poison in the blade," the seawitch muttered. "Cleverly done, but not irreversible. I expect, my lord, their intent was to disable you for a prolonged period so they'd have a better chance of capturing you. Even now, they continue to look."
"And you brought her back down here--"
"She brought me here, my lord. You can take your ire out on her."
Anna opened her mouth, then closed it, suggesting there was more to that story, but Jonah managed to throttle his reaction down to a glower as Mina continued.
"If you will sit down, I'll put you in a healing circle and use a simple spell to start the cleansing process. The poison can't kill you, but as long as it's in your system, it will hamper the wing's ability to heal."
When her attention flitted briefly toward Anna, Anna saw the unspoken message. And it may be what is causing his mind to be affected so oddly.
"Very well." Anna let out a relieved breath as Jonah took a seat, cross-legged on the flat, wide ledge, keeping Mina in his peripheral vision like a watchful lion as she began to gather loose rocks. Drawing a sharp tool out of the recesses of her clothing, she used it to break them down to a uniform size. As she began to build a circle around him, apparently satisfying him of her immediate intentions, he turned his gaze back to Anna. She'd taken up a position along the dragon's wall, her hips resting on the nervous hands she'd deliberately folded behind her back.
On one hand, she was glad his immediate thoughts had turned from murdering her friend. On the other hand, when he looked toward her, Anna realized how the position tilted her breasts up, drawing his attention even though her long hair tangled forward over her shoulders, impeding the view of her body to the juncture of her thighs.
