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“High Cliff scum,” were the first distinguishable words to reach my ears, however. “We should burn that filthy tattoo right off the side of your face before we end your miserable life.”
I slowed to a stop when I realized they’d captured a High Clifter. They’d tied the poor sot up to a pile of stacked wood, where they were going to burn him at the stake.
I immediately sought my own mark with my fingers, hoping it remained concealed.
The lead tormentor waved a lit torch in his captive’s face. “It’s the fault of your people that we’re so destitute, you know. King Torrance drained our coffers to pay for the war you caused by stealing our alliance with Donnelly. Now my children are starving in the streets.”
“Aye,” another voice called from the group. “And I lost two of my brothers in those damn battles.”
“Sounds like a problem you should take up with your king, then, not me,” the High Cliff man said mil
dly, as if he weren’t concerned in the least about the imminent threat to his life.
My eyebrows furrowed over that voice, though. It was odd, but he sounded exactly like—
But that couldn’t be.
Could it?
“Well, the fucking king isn’t here right now,” the enraged Far Shore man growled. “And you are.”
I darted to another tree to see the High Clifter’s face. But I could already tell who he was.
My mouth fell open. What in the world was Indigo doing here?
“Light him up,” came the roar from the mob.
Oh, hell. He was about to be burned to a crisp.
“No!” I shouted, leaping out from behind my tree. “Stop!”
Surprisingly, they did. About a dozen faces turned to gape at me incredulously.
“Where did you come from?” someone in the crowd asked just as Indigo jerked his face up from atop the cone-shaped pile of wood he was tied on top of and gasped, “Nicolette?!”
“Who the fuck are you?” the man dumbly holding the torch asked as he jabbed his fire in my direction.
“You heard your captive,” I supplied. “I’m Nicolette. And this High Clifter belongs to me. So you’ll kindly release him now or pay the consequences.”
I dramatically pulled the Colt from my pocket and aimed it at the torch-holder’s head.
He blinked at me. When he decided the small, blunt metal tube I pointed at him held no threat, he threw back his head and laughed uproariously.
“What do you plan to do to me with that thing, you loony bitch? Poke me in the arse with it?”
As the rest of the mob began to cackle, I sighed impatiently and rolled my eyes. Some people had no imagination, I swear. When I glanced toward Indigo, he shook his head as if agreeing with my assumption.
Stopping soon enough, the ruffian waved his torch. “Someone grab this crazy bit of fluff. We’ll have a little fun with her before burning her with her High Cliff lover.”
“No!” Indigo shouted as three men immediately stalked toward me. “Nic, run.”
Oh, please. Ignoring my bodyguard’s directive, I shifted the aim of my Colt to the man closing in on me the fastest, and I shot him through the head. The second, I caught through the heart.
The third pulled up short, raising his hands in surrender as the resounding report of the Colt still echoed through the trees and his two friends fell dead at his feet.
“What the hell?” one of the others in the horde behind him murmured in awe.
I focused the Colt back on the torch-holder. “Now,” I started again. “As I was saying, free my brother before I unleash the power of my beast on everyone else here, starting with you.”
