Page 27 of The Hood and his Thief

Her face twisted into a combination of a grimace and a chuckle, thinking how she had only ever found herself in this position in very different circumstances. Ansel would be greeted by a remarkable view of her ass if he were to open the door at that moment, but she needed the leverage.

She pushed against the wall, thighs straining next to her ears. The ropes around her wrists creaked at the pressure but showed no sign of breaking. Rhosyn paid them no mind—it wasn’t them she was trying to break.

As she had hoped, the bed, which had already been squeaky and rickety, gave an almighty groan. Rhosyn gritted her teeth and redoubled her efforts, veins beginning to pop in her neck. Splintering gave way to cracking as the bedframe surrendered to her strength.

The entire headboard ripped free so suddenly that Rhosyn almost hit herself on the head with the heavy plank of wood. Before the bed could collapse completely, she rolled sideways, letting her legs fall so she could land on her feet.

Her boots hit the floor so hard the entire downstairs would have heard, but secrecy had flown out the window with the earsplitting groan of wood giving way. She straightened, head whipping back and forth as she absorbed her predicament. Her hands were still bound to the heavy board she had ripped free, but it would be useful as a makeshift club to use against those who would resist her escape.

The hazy light of the lower city filtered in through one grimy window. Rhosyn hurried over to it and grimaced when she saw a several story drop. Scarlett might have made the jump, but Rhosyn didn’t have shadows to break her fall. She wouldn’t be able to climb down with her hands hindered.

No matter. Fighting her way out the front door was more her style anyway.

Feet pounded on the stairs outside and Rhosyn turned towards the entrance, ready for the onslaught. The door swung open, but Rhosyn was already charging, lowering her shoulder to bowl over anyone in her way. Ansel jumped out of the way, but Rhosyn barreled past, straight into an unfamiliar man behind him.

They teetered for a moment before tumbling down a narrow flight of stairs. Lightning lanced up Rhosyn’s limbs as she banged knees and elbows against the walls and steps. She shoved the sensations aside as they rolled to a stop on a landing, springing to her feet.

The man who fell with her tried to do the same, but a kick from Rhosyn left him howling in pain. She spun, finding the next flight of stairs and bounding down them two at a time.

“Rhosyn!” Ansel shouted behind her, but Rhosyn didn’t hesitate.

She leaped down the last few stairs and skidded around a corner, only to be brought up short by the sight before her. A crowded room, filled with young men and women sitting around tables scattered with dice and tankards, stood between her and the exit.

Grimacing, she had the fleeting thought that she regretted being right about being kept in a gang hideout. She didn’t have time to consider what gang it might be before the sound of Ansel pounding down the stairs behind her told her she was out of time.

In the few feet of open space between her and the nearest cluster of people, she took a running start before leaping. She landed on the surface of the first table in a crouch. Shouting broke out as she stood, traversing the length of the table in a few long strides.

She jumped to the next table as people leaped into action. A burly man tried to reach for her ankle, but she kicked a tankard as she passed. It caught him full in the face, and he reared back, spluttering.

By the time her long legs carried her to the next table, a hardened-looking woman stood in her path, fists raised in challenge. Her opponent swung, and Rhosyn lifted her arms, headboard still bound between them. She caught the blow on the wood like a shield, and the woman swore as her knuckles met a surface far more solid than flesh.

Rhosyn pressed the advantage, driving her knee up into the woman’s lower stomach. She doubled over with a gasp as the breath was punched from her. Rhosyn rolled over her back, kicking out as she did so at another grasping hand.

Another jump and she was just a few tables from the door. Her balance slipped as the sole of her boot landed on a deck of cards. She threw her hands out, but the unfamiliar weight of the headboard overbalanced her.

Her knees hit the tabletop with an eye-watering crack. Another man wasted no time jumping on her. She lashed out, smacking him in the face with her plank of wood. He grunted, but the blow had been off center, and he continued to try to pin her down.

With a cry, Rhosyn raised her hands before bringing the board down over the crown of his head so hard, the already-splintered wood cracked in two. At this, the man stilled, dazed from the impact.

“Rhosyn, wait!” Ansel’s voice cut through the crowd, but the blood pounded too intensely in Rhosyn’s ears for her to make sense of his words.

Rhosyn wrapped her calf around her opponent’s, flipping them over and continuing the roll until she landed with her knee at his neck. She pressed down with enough weight to keep him subdued without strangling him.

Her head whipped left and right, hair falling in sweaty tendrils across her face as she looked for her next opponent—her snarl dared them to approach.

“Rhosyn.” Another familiar voice cut through the cacophony of the hideout, but it wasn’t Ansel.

“You have to let him go, Rhosyn.”

She searched the faces around her for the source of the voice, the fury of the fight rushing from her as if somebody had thrown a bucket of cold water over her. The anxious expressions of those surrounding her swam, blurring together until she found him near the entrance—a child that had somehow grown into a man without her noticing.

“Paul?” Rhosyn asked, her chokehold on the man beneath her slackening. “Paul, I have to…”

She had to save him and Olivia. She had to protect her Lion cubs as she always had, even though they had left the Den.

“Just let him go and we can work it all out,” Paul soothed. Rhosyn recognized the rhythmic cadence in his voice that always emerged when he used his Talent. While it had been a godsend when other children in the Den suffered from nightmares, Rhosyn bristled at the realization of what he was doing.

She shook herself, renewing her pressure on her opponent’s neck.