“Yes. I’ll take you both back to the castle. We wouldn’t want to be here if they decided to come back.”
He paused helping Leisha climb onto his back. He was going to carry me in his arms once he shifted back to his dragon form since I couldn’t walk.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
His eyes shuttered, and he whispered too soft to hear. I pulled my hands from around his waist and it’s then I noticed the blood.
The sound of galloping horses and war cries pierced my exhaustion and shock. They were close, not so much that I could see them through the trees, just enough to know if he didn’t get us out of here, we’d both be dead.
“We can’t be that far from the castle,” I told Rhys. “Can you fly?”
“You should go,” he said. He spat blood onto the snow. My fingers stilled on his arm and he started to slide down. I hefted his weight back up and he smiled morosely, blood smeared across his lips. “Dragon’s bane,” he whispered.
Our pursuers weren’t the fae, coming to finish us off.
They were humans. The same men who’d attacked us in Braeden. The same humans who had already tried to kill Rhys.
The ones who’d just shot him with a poison-tipped arrow.
20
Rhysander
Another arrow cut through the air, grazing the fleshy part of Elena’s cheek, then lodged in the tree’s trunk in front of us. My dragon roared at the sight of her blood staining her skin. But his roar was already growing weaker.
The dragon’s bane wasworking.
A second and third arrow joined the first in the space of a few seconds. Elena spun to take stock,and found a fourth aimed straight for me. Without hesitation, Elena pushed me to the ground and put herself between the arrow and its intended target.I wanted to stop her, but my reflexes were nonexistent. All I could do was crumple to the ground and watch helplessly as the arrow flew straight toward her.
The impact threw her forward, and she caught herself on her hands and knees. She screamed in pain, the sound tearing straight through me, and clutched at where the arrow was protruding from the side of her leg. If I could move, I would have ripped every one of them apart with my bare hands. I would have roasted them and left them for carrion.
“Elena!” I shouted. Or I thought I did.
She shook her head as though to clear it. Once her vision refocused, her eyes widened, and she scooted to my side, throwing her torso over mine to protect me from anystray arrows.My little mate. Protecting me. I would skin her hide for putting herself in danger if I ever survived this. The other girl, Leisha, had escaped, I think. I hoped she made it back to the castle without running into any humans.
“What are you still doing here?” I asked, though it cost me. My breathing was shallow, and my vision kept fading in and out.
“I’m not leaving you here.” She studied the arrow and gritted her teeth. “Now do be quiet so I can save your hide before they strip it from your bones.”
The arrow went clean through, so all she needed to do was break off the back and pull it the rest of the way. She ripped off a section of her cloak to use for bandages, wincing at its dirtied state, and threw it over her shoulder. With unsteady hands, she gripped the base of the arrow with her left hand to stabilize it and wrapped the other around the end.
“This may hurt,” she told me.
Shouts and arrows came from behind—both at rapid speed—so she didn’t have more time to waste. Instead, she took a few short breaths, then snapped the back of the arrow. I was so weak, I could only grunt in pain, even though it seared through my body like I imagined fire seared through my own victims. Without another moment’s pause, she used her right hand and pulled from the front. I let out a high-pitched keen as the arrow tore through muscle and tissue.
Once the arrow was free, Elena took the strip from her cloak as quick as her numb fingers would allow and wrapped it twice around her leg to staunch the flow of blood, then used another strip to bind my shoulder. I watched her through a dense fog, only half aware of what she was doing. I wanted to tell her my wounds didn’t hurt anymore, but didn’t have the energy to speak.
She levered her body under my shoulder and used her good leg to get me on my feet, though it took some doing. Even as a human, I was still nearly twice her size.
“C’mon, they’re getting closer,” she urged.
“You smell so good,” I said, nuzzling her hair as I leaned heavily against her side. “You always smell so damn good.”
“Now is not the time, Rhys.”
“I love it when you call me that.” My voice was dreamy, dazed. This felt like a dream, like I was flying. I liked flying with her. “Do it again.”
“I’ll do it as many times as you like if you keep moving. If we can get over the hill up there, the main gates shouldn’t be much farther. We can signal some of your men for cover until we get inside the castle walls.”
