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A beat of wings echoed through the snowfall.

Aster dropped us deeper into the water and flipped me around, caging my body against the wall. Protecting me against whatever was about to descend upon us.

“They’re here,” he whispered, pressing his forehead into mine. “Wait here while I kill them.”

I groaned and pushed him back, still coming down from the high he had given me. But I had no intention of being naked when they found me and dragged me to some far-away library to fix their book.

24

I flung my clothes on; my wet skin made the woollen material damp and heavy, but I needed all the protection I could get if they were going to take me and throw me in one of those cages again. The dress Ember had made for me was rolled up back in the bedroom. I hadn’t had a chance to wash it, but even with the blood covering the neckline, it would keep me warm out in the snow.

“Wren…” Aster called after me, “wait!” But the spell was broken, and reality had settled over me as I climbed the stairs. He was a Celt of the Ruckus now. Which meant that sooner or later, those oaths he had made could be used against us. No one could know what we were to each other, or they would use it.

All those thoughts ran through my mind as I hurtled up the next set of stairs, even with the imprint of his lips still on my skin.

By the time I collided with the workshop door frame, two towering figures with jet-black hair were leaning over the book on the table. My breath caught, then eased when I spotted my little book still hidden on the shelf behind them. They both straightened and faced me, flames flickering in their eyes in the dim light.

My heart thundered in my chest, and my muscles went rigid. Fuck. The glint in Kit’s eyes told me that trouble had arrived.

Torran took a meaningful step forward. He studied me the way men examine wildfires spreading through dry forests. Evaluating the oncoming destruction. Calculating the best way to stop it. Deciding whether to extinguish me now before I became totally out of control. And really, he should, because given half a chance, I would burn them all to the ground.

But Kit placed a hand on his arm and stepped forward first. “Easy.” His murmur was only just audible.

With one hard glare, Torran retreated until he was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed over his chest, his gaze hard and watchful.

“This isn’t where you’re meant to be, princess.” Kit’s voice hummed with amusement as he took another step. I locked my legs so I wouldn’t retreat, but I couldn’t help but flick my gaze over my shoulder to see if I had time to flee. “Truly are Annatalian, aren’t you? Do whatever you want and think there are no consequences.” My shoulder burned deeper the closer he came. “You must really want to get into one of those cages again.” He smirked. “And getting you in there last time took some persuasion. Caused pain…” His gaze flicked to my neck, to Torran, and then back to me.

He wasn’t bluffing. It could all play out the same way again. Those Riders did love their fucking cages.

I had gouges on my neck, bruises on my ribs and shoulder to prove it. And if Kit chose to haul me back to some other library with more Masters ‘overseeing apprentices,’ there wasn’t much I could do about it. Not against two Riders.

I studied Torran and then Kit, trying to learn their tells, and kept my mouth shut.

“Just grab her.” Torran motioned to the door. “This place is unstable. Too much magic in the walls, you’ll all get Yule madness here. Then she won’t be able to do her Gods-damned job.”

“Maybe not. She’s been working with this sort of magic for years. She’s fine. We’re staying.” Aster was behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me back against his chest. I shrugged him off. I was tired of him trying to fight my battles for me. What we had just done in the hot spring didn’t change what I had become in the years apart.

“Fine is relative. She killed a Master and tried to kill a Rider. Fine isn’t what you call cold-hearted killers.” Torran uncrossed his arms and pulled off a glove. A small black flame ignited on his index finger and then jumped from one fingertip to another like a magic trick. But it wasn’t a trick; it was a small but brutal Skyworld warning. For my crimes, death by fire was all that awaited me in the end, and his glare told me that he would gladly be my executioner.

I stepped forward and reached for the hairpin… that wasn’t there. Then my dagger, which was on my thigh, but I didn’t want them to know I had it.

“Enough.” Aster’s voice was almost a growl. “It doesn’t matter where the book is mended as long as it’s done and done quickly. This was the closest place with enough old magic to do it,” he said, but his gaze was focused on Torran as if they were having an entirely different conversation. “Going somewhere else wastes time.”

The tilt of Kit’s lips told me that he was going to wind up Aster. Just as he used to all those years ago at the mountain camp when they first met. “We can fly her there in half a day. You can trot along on your little pony and join us.”

Aster reached for his blade. “Touch her again, hurt her again. And this silver will find its mark.”

However much I wanted to see a blade embedded in either or both of those Riders. I had made an oath, and it needed satisfying. I grabbed Aster’s arm, stilling him, and directed my words at Kit and Torran. “I’ll restore the book here. If you want it restored. You put me back in the hands of those Masters, and I’ll forget all my book restoration training. Same goes for if I’m put in one of those cages. No more flying through the YuleMots. I won’t go crazy here. But you will, so it’s best you leave before you turn on us.”

A flash of hurt crossed his face before he buried it, as if I wasn’t the first to make that dig.I changed the subject, unsure why I wanted to give him that… a better spy would have dug deeper.

“When the book’s done, Bronwen will know.” I held up my arm, the green oath mark embedded there clearly visible.

Kit had regained his glint of trouble and focused on Aster. “I’m sure you intend to do quite a few things here.” He raised an eyebrow at us. “Your new mistress will be very unhappy that the Masters can’t oversee her work. Find out why she can mend books that they can’t.”

So that was one of the reasons Bronwen had let me off so lightly. She didn’t just want the book; she wanted the knowledge of the craft of restoration as well. And Aster had known and denied her… Interesting.

But while I was focused on Kit, Aster’s blade had spun and was now between his fingers, and then it was flying through the air towards Kit’s chest. It was a trail of smoke that sent the knife off course and clattering on the stone floor.