CHAPTER 16
Kobal
River’s shoulders slumped forward, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she stood before me. Looking at her now, I saw her eyes were a lighter shade of violet than the normally deep, amethyst hue I’d come to know so well. The difference in color was so subtle, I didn’t think a human would have been able to detect it, but I knew something had just happened to her.
I stared at the hand she’d hit me with as it slid down my chest. My heart accelerated when her fingers brushed over my stomach before falling back to her side. The heat of her touch had burned through my shirt to become a fiery brand on my skin. I barely managed to refrain from grabbing it and flattening it against me once more.
Her eyes slowly returned to their normal hue as she stepped further away from me.
I had to know what had just happened.Nohuman had ever landed a hit against me, and only a handful of demons had ever managed to do so. Only one creature had ever landed a blow on me more than once, and I would see him dead by the time all of this was finished.
Granted, I hadn’t been going at her full force, but by the end of our skirmish, I’d been near full speed and she’d still been deflecting me. I could easily overpower her, but there were many demons who wouldn’t be able to do so, many who were smaller and slower than she just was.
The inhalation of breaths around us alerted me that the others had all been watching and following us. I glanced at Bale and Corson; their eyes were riveted on River as she stood before me unmoving. The three of us had been working together long enough for me to know they were thinking the same thing as me…
If River wasn’t the progeny we sought, there was still something different about her. She had an ability of some sort that we may be able to use to our advantage.
I was struck with a brief second of uncertainty as to whether I wanted to use her in any way, before quickly shaking off the ridiculous notion. Of course she would be used. The whole reason she was here to begin with was because there was a possibility she could aid us in this war. I would make sure she did what had to be done if she was the progeny.
River blinked and her gaze slid over the crowd creeping toward us before coming back to me. Before I could say or do anything, her eyes rolled back in her head, all the color drained from her face, and her knees buckled. Leaping forward, I caught her in my arms before she hit the ground.
People surged forward around me. A young girl with short blonde hair hovered at her side before Mac pushed her out of the way to get to River. She felt so small in my arms as she lifelessly slumped against my chest with her eyes closed and her hands dangling at her sides.
Human. Mortal.I had no idea why, but my fangs pricked and a rumble of discontent slid through my chest at how fragile and precarious her life was compared to mine. The impulse to make it less so caused my hands to tremble against her slender frame.
Mac took hold of River’s wrist before resting two of his fingers against her neck. Leaning over her, he pressed his ear to her lips. “We have to get her to the infirmary, now.”
“What’s wrong with her?” I demanded.
“I think she has a punctured lung.”
Not waiting to hear anything more he had to say, I shoved through the crowd gathered around and ran as fast as I could across the field. Wind whipped my hair back, tore at my clothes, and whistled through my ears as the world sped by in a blur. I ignored the startled looks of the people within the town as I bolted past them toward the small medical clinic that had always been a part of this town.
I smashed through the doors and ran across the blindingly bright tile lining the floor. “You!” I barked at the first person I saw. “I need help.”
***
Kobal
“What happened?”
Closing my book, I placed it beside the bed and leaned forward at the sound of River’s hoarse voice. I didn’t think I’d ever heard anything more pleasing in my life. She blinked at me before her fingers flew up to the tubes in her nose.
“Leave them,” I told her, taking hold of her hand and gently placing it back at her side.
Her eyes crossed as she tried to take in what was stuck in her nose before her gaze traveled around the room. Her fingers twisted into the sheets beneath her. “Where am I?”
“The infirmary.”
Her eyes flew back to me. “Why?”
“You broke a rib during our skirmish; it punctured your right lung.”
“But you didn’t hit me.”
“It broke before our last sparring match, when you hit the ground the second time.”
“Oh.”
