The front doors crashed open, and several injured people stumbled into the room. At once, everyone leapt to their feet, and shadows flanked my assassins as they fashioned blades from the dark. The intruders rushed forward without fear, one man shouting above the rest as his jerky movements caused his blond hair to skate around his shoulders. Muted-red eyes encircled in a mercury ring of magic met mine.
“Calem.” His name was a breathy exhale as I took in the scene. An unmoving woman with sable hair was limp in his arms, and he gently laid her on the now-empty couch. Her face was sickly pale and near unrecognizable, but the sapphire emblem on her hand, though lacking in luster, clued me in: Kaori. Shallow cuts covered her body, and a sweaty sheen dampened her hairline. Her breaths were far too erratic for comfort.
After straightening himself, Calem rubbed his hand along a deep gash that ran the length of his bicep. For the most part, his lacerations were shallow. Nowhere near as severe as Kaori’s, but they sent a wave of panic through me just the same.
Behind him, Gaige stumbled into view before slumping to the floor, hands clutching at his bloodied side. A circular wound oozed blood from his stomach, and he grimaced. It dribbled over his fingers and pooled in the grout lines.
The last person to snag my attention was a woman with infuriatingly familiar crushed-copper hair. She gripped the fabric of her breeches, as if needing to find something to hold onto, and the red symbol on her hand dominated my vision.
“Raven.”
She looked up at me with hollow, sunken eyes, and I lost all rational thought. Lunging across the foyer, I crashed into her. Pinned her shoulders beneath my knees and snarled down at her. Rage took control of my limbs, and I wanted nothing more than for her to suffer. To pay for what she’d done.
“Leena!” Calem leaped to me and gripped my shoulders tight. “What are you doing? Get off her.”
Raven hissed beneath me. “Go ahead. Fucking test me right now. See what happens.”
I attempted to shrug off Calem’s grip, but his arms wrapped around me in a tight cage, and he yanked me off. I pounded my fists against his grip, but he only tightened his hold.
“I’m not letting you go until you calm down.”
“Leena, hold on,” Gaige managed. His voice was shaky, but his gaze was steady. Calem tipped his chin down at me, a silent question, and I tightly leashed my desire to strangle the woman who had brought all this pain down on us. If only for a moment. Finally, he released me.
Oz dropped his battle stance. “What the hell happened?”
Frustration flickered through Calem’s gaze. Mercury pools dominated most of his irises, but there was still a sliver of muted red at the edges. A hint of my Calem. He offered Raven his hand and pulled her to her feet. “We were attacked.”
“Why are you helping her?” My whole body shook with betrayal.
Oz barred me from flying across the room with a firm arm. “Hold it. No one is fighting anyone. Calem, explain what’s going on.”
Everyone went silent. Astrid and Emelia gathered close to each other with Iov only a step away. Kost inched toward Gaige, finally kneeling beside him. They shared a quiet, weighted glance. Then, Kost fished his bronze key out of his breast pocket and summoned Felicks. His beast immediately turned his attention to Gaige. Calem stood in front of Raven, forehead scrunched in confusion.
Slowly, he raked a hand through his hair and fashioned a lopsided bun. “Like I said, we were attacked.”
“And you brought the monster who did it into our home?” I seethed.
Gaige’s head snapped up. “You’ve got it wrong.” His words ended with a wheeze as he flinched away from Felicks’s tongue. Despite his efforts, the wound simply wasn’t healing. A peculiar, purple-tinted sheen coated the gash, and I swallowed. Yimlet poison. One bite from that beast’s maw, and the skin would instantly start to deteriorate. Felicks’s magic had stopped it from progressing, but he wouldn’t be able to reverse the damage that it had already caused. Kost’s expression turned grim.
“What the hell did I do to you?” Raven ground her teeth and glared my direction, pulling my attention away from Gaige’s wound.
I nearly shrieked. “Everything!”
“Leena!” Gaige struggled to his feet, pressing one hand to his side. “It’s not her.”
Kost stood with him, gaze trained on Gaige’s unsteady stance. “He’s right.”
“What?” I pushed around Oz, and he moved after me. “How do you know?”
“When the bounty was first placed, I met with the woman in charge. When she summoned a beast, there was a currant-colored glow around her hand. She wore gloves, but that means her symbol would be the same hue, right? Raven’s is different.” He frowned at Raven’s exposed hand.
“Kost.” Calem pinched the bridge of his nose. “What the fuck color is currant?”
A harsh sigh scraped through his teeth. “It’s a distinct, ruddy shade of red.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry. It’s a very precise color, and she”—Kost nodded to Raven—“does not have it.”
