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Chapter Seven
“Though she be but little, she is fierce.”
—Helena, Act 3,A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sai was losing too much blood. He could feel the heat of life seep out of his body with it.
Even immortals could die when wounded badly enough. Especially if they’d already been weakened from millennia of torture and starvation.
Perhaps he’d finally meet his end in the human world, after all this time.
His first thought was that he wished he could die in his dragon form deep beneath the seas that he loved so well.
He wished he could breathe the salt air and feel the rolling waves embrace him once more like loving arms. All these millennia the Master had kept him imprisoned on dry land, in that spike-filled pit. They’d taught him to detest salt, for there had been no soothing water to accompany it. By itself, it made his wounds a thousand times worse.
His second thought was that at least he wouldn’t die alone.
Brigid sat right beside him. He no longer had one arm wrapped around her waist in protection, too busy using his limbs to put pressure against his wounds, both to slow the bleeding and to hide the worst of it.
He couldn’t show weakness in this strange, potentially hostile world. Who knew what other creatures the Master sent. There could be more enemies lurking in the grove of trees at their back.
Nevertheless, Brigid managed to commandeer one of his hands in both her own, peeling his stiff fingers from the reins of the phaeton. Her warm palms wrapped tightly around him, somehow infusing him with a strength he didn’t know he had.
“What the fuck just happened?” Ben demanded.
Sai gave a sharp shake of his head as he gritted his teeth against a sudden stab of pain.
Had the demon punctured something vital? It felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing his insides with a sizzling hot iron straight from the forge.
Ben led the horses, his own and the ones pulling the phaeton, to a more secluded section of tall hedges where the four of them could barely be seen by passersby.
Sai immediately surveyed all entry and exit points.
Though they were cast in shadow by nearby trees and the hedges themselves, he had a clear view of their surroundings from his higher vantage point on top of the phaeton. This was as protected as they could be in the middle of a busy park.
“Look, I’ll get directly to the point,” Ben said quickly in hushed tones.
“I can see things for what they really are. Suspend disbelief a moment and hear me out.”
Sai didn’t need to suspend disbelief. He glanced at Brigid. The determined look on her face showed that she was ready to listen as well.
“I know you’re dragon,” the young human said, staring intensely at Sai.
“I know all about dragons and other Immortal Kinds. So does Annie. But that’s a story for another day.”
He looked back at Brigid.
“I don’t know what you are, Lady Brigid, but you have a strong magic in you.”
“She does?” Annie asked, looking mildly surprised, but still perfectly willing to believe the assessment.
Ben gave one nod of conviction, keeping his gaze on Brigid.
“I saw you make the bouquet that was brought to the houseglow. I’ve never seen flowers like that before. They’re not even from this world.”
She merely blinked at him, not interrupting or asking clarifying questions. As if she knew exactly what he was describing.
“I saw you turn those…weird wraith-like horses into unicorns—”
