She slumped to the ground beside Effie, nodding wordlessly. Felicks bounded toward her without needing a command and stood on his hind legs, licking her exposed wound. Magic saliva dripped from his chops and sewed her skin together.
Leena shivered. An iron fist wrenched my heart, and I sank to the ground beside her. No doubt the scratchy feel of this beast’s tongue was calling up memories she’d rather forget. Right on cue, her shaking fingers went to her legs. I caught her hands between my own and placed a kiss on her knuckles. After a moment, Felicks stopped and Leena rolled her shoulder, wincing slightly. The skin may have resealed, but the knife had gone clean through. Muscles would take longer to heal, even if Felicks’s saliva had dripped through to the bone.
Effie paced beside her, continuously tossing glances back to the open clearing where Calem slumbered. Felicks cocked his head to the side, tracking Effie’s movements, and then offered a soft nudge into her side as she passed. She practically wilted into him. Felicks didn’t seem to mind her added weight, and instead began licking the length of her neck, preening her feathers.
A soft smile touched Kost’s lips before he looked past them to the red-haired assassin, Brody, lying frozen on the ground. He glowered. “What are we going to do about him?”
Pulling Leena up with me, we towered over him. “Stand.”
Without hesitation, Brody stood, compelled by my blood. Wide eyes shifted between us. “Are you going to kill me?”
Kill.Gods, I wanted to. The languid red sheen threatened to close over my thoughts, but I steeled my ire and reached for Leena’s waist. The feel of her warmth and steady beat of her heart grounded my senses. I’d need to tell her—tell all of them—about the voice I swore I heard…but now wasn’t the time.
“That depends entirely on you.” I glanced at the decimated bodies of the fallen assassins. They had once been my brethren. I’d never wanted to kill them. But if it meant protecting my own… “You will answer all my questions. What was your mission?”
He shifted uncomfortably, but couldn’t resist the command of my blood. “After I saw you enter Midnight Jester with minimal forces, I reported to Darrien.” Swallowing hard, he ground his teeth together. Muscles jumped along his neckline.
Anger flared deep. “Fight it all you want, but you won’t succeed. Why did you attack us?”
Brody’s eyes bugged. “To capture Leena.”
“Me? Why?” Leena frowned. “For the bounty? Even if you killed me, you wouldn’t know who to present my body to. Not to mention the Crown of the Charmers Council has pardoned me, even if they haven’t found the Charmer responsible. It would be futile.”
No. That’s not it.Her wound wasn’t fatal. If they’d wanted to collect on the bits, no matter how futile she insinuated it’d be, they would have killed her first instead of distracting us with Gaige. This wasn’t an attack on her life, but a kidnapping in the making. “You wanted her as collateral.”
Brody nodded. “So you’d relinquish Zane’s power to Darrien.”
As if I’d ever do such a thing. And yet… My gaze drifted to Leena. My greatest weakness. I would do anything to keep her safe. I’d been willing to give up Cruor before if it meant being with her. And after commanding Darrien and my men to aid in her rescue after the Gyss wish went south… He knew exactly what he was doing. And he’d continue to exploit my love for Leena until he got what he wanted.
Kill.My fingers quivered. “Count yourself lucky that you were the last one alive. Run back to Darrien and tell him this: Come near me, Leena, or Cruor again, and I won’t stop at eliminating his forces. I’ll come for him. I’ll come for him, and I won’t stop until every last drop of blood has been drained from his body. Understood?”
Brody paled. “Understood.”
I jerked my chin over my shoulder. “Go. And don’t ever come back.”
Falling into a world of shadows, he bolted north along the Kitska Forest. Kost watched the whole thing silently, but his damning green stare said more than enough. The weight of his gaze sat heavy on my shoulders, and I rolled my neck from side to side. I’d never used my blood command so freely before, and he knew it. Forcing Brody to obey had been soeasy. As if the red haze claiming my senses had somehow lessened my inhibitions. It wasnecessary. I had to protect Cruor. My family. Leena.
With a thick swallow, I met Kost’s hard gaze. He could reprimand me later. Leena looked back and forth between us, her brows pinching together. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but was interrupted by a groan from Gaige. His eyes fluttered open. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he stared uneasily first at the mangled remains of assassins and then at his leg, where Kost’s hand still rested right above his healing wound.
A sly, if weak grin claimed his lips, and he cleared his throat. “Looks like I’ve been in…capablehands.”
Kost furrowed his brown in confusion, until he followed Gaige’s probing stare. I bit back a chuckle as he immediately jerked his hand away and stood. “Felicks attended to your wounds.” At the use of his name, Felicks sauntered over and plopped before the men, a happy tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
Gaige worked tufts of fur behind the creature’s ears, but his eyes never left Kost. “Thanks, Felicks.”
Footsteps sounded behind us, and Dez came to a halt a few feet away. He’d smartly stayed out of the battle and had just now moved away from the safety of Midnight Jester. He set Leena’s duffel gently on the ground. The jagged scar on his cheek twisted as he grimaced and studied her shoulder. “You all right?”
“Yeah.” Leena graced him with a genuine smile.
I tried to be nice, but my voice came out sounding curt. “We’ll take care of the bodies. You can go back to your business.”
Dez flattened his lips. “And what about him?” He yanked his thumb in the direction of Calem. During my interrogation, he’d apparently shifted back to human form and was sleeping in all his naked glory. Effie perked up and took off toward her master, flying in excited circles around his head.
Relief washed through me at the sight, and the last, lingering threads of red in my peripheral vision seemed to fade entirely. Calem. He was human again, but for how long? What kind of triggers would we have to watch for? He’d always launched into battle without hesitation, but this time, it was different. He was immediately unreachable, unable to discern friend from foe. And that was a dangerous thing.
Leena jerked her gaze upward and away. “We’ll take care of him too. Sorry about the commotion.”
Dez ran a hand over his scalp and gripped the back of his neck. “Yeah, okay. Take care, all right?”
