The soldier relieved enough of the pressure to allow me to look up into Lucan's slanted eyes. “You are making this much more difficult than it has to be, Maeve.” He snickered, a devious smirk pulling his lips up.
I could hardly see him through the redness coating my irises as vital fluid expelled from my skull. I raised a finger to my face, and gagged in response to a piece of hanging flesh on my forehead.
Dizziness overwhelmed me for a few moments, but I blinked through the tunnel of darkness—there was no time to show any weakness.
Lucan crouched down to where I laid under Calvin's hold. “Tell me. These visions you wrote about, has there been any truth to them yet?”
“Wouldn't you like to know,” I gargled through a mouthful of blood.
I needed a way out of this, though there weren't many options. My dagger was on the other side of the corridor, my magic inaccessible, and I couldn't move due to the two-hundred and fifty pound man on my back.
Despite my best efforts to stay awake, I bordered on the edge of blacking out. My face swelled rapidly and blood expelled from so many parts of my body that I’d surely be too weak to move any minute now.
I was going to die. Unless Calvin granted me mercy and healed me, but why would he bother? King Beaumont would rather me alive, but he didn’t need me to be. As long as he cut my gemstones out before their magic died with my vessel, he could access my power.
I tried one more attempt at fighting my way out of Calvin’s hold, but with no luck, I stopped moving, allowing my body to reserve any energy I had left.
Calvin sensed my retreat and moved his body off of mine.He grabbed me by the backs of the shoulders, and picked my limp torso off the ground, holding me upright as Lucan approached me.
“I was planning to keep you alive to use you during the battle, but I can reconsider. Stop fighting and come with me.” Lucan held a hand out to me.
Staring at it, I slowly processed what he was telling me to do, and used the last of my energy to clasp my palm around his.
Then I broke his fucking wrist.
My hand squeezed his in a death grip, and I jolted my arm to the right, snapping his in one fluid motion.
“You fucking bitch!” he growled out in anguish, clutching his wrist in his other hand as he gave Calvin permission to destroy me.
The soldier pulled me into his chest, turning me to face him just so he could slam me into the cement even harder than before. The back of my skull hit the ground, and I made out muffled voices as my head bounced.
The two of them stood over me, staring at my borderline lifeless body. I made out the glint of a blade hovering inches from my face. Lucan said something, but my ears rang so loudly that I couldn't make it out. Then, their eyes widened and their bodies vanished.
Shallow, labored breaths were all my lungs could expel as I choked on the metallic taste of my own blood pooling in the back of my throat.
I turned my head as much as possible towards the door, letting the blood dribble from my lips. My eyes settled on two pairs of dress boots, and I scanned up their owners' legs. The fog in my brain prevented me from putting a name to the faces, but I recognized the two men.
The one with darker hair approached Lucan and Calvin at once, blade extended. The other vanished, only to appear by my side moments later.
His mouth moved, though his words were unrecognizable. He gathered me into his arms, lifting me from the cement that was cooling the pain within me.
I didn't fight him—I couldn't move. I couldn'tfeel.Blood stung my eyes, so I let them close, succumbing to the darkness that had been trailing me.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
SEBASTIAN
Itook one look at her, and that was all the motivation I needed to explode on the two assholes standing over her mutilated body.
Her face was almost unrecognizable from the mix of bruising, swelling, and bleeding. She was still awake, but so lifeless that it wouldn't be long before she was completely comatose.
I gestured to Sawyer with my head. “Take her upstairs and send someone to find Pia. I'll take care of these assholes.”
It took everything in me to not stay with her, but I needed to ensure these two got what they deserved. And for the sake of my sanity, I needed to be the one to do it.
Sawyer nodded and rushed to Maeve's side. I watched him scoop her safely into his arms, then didn't allow myself to focus any more attention on her—not right now. I had business with the royal advisor to take care of.
