Font Size:  

"I don't necessarily think you think about anyone else."

"I don't know, I feel like I was thinking about you when I agreed to help you get your people out of enslavement. I feel like I was thinking about other people when I decided to help the gods kill all these awful queens. I think that I think about other people quite frequently actually. And honestly, I'm thinking about you right now."

"You are?" He arched a brow.

"Yeah, I'm thinking about punching you right in that square jaw of yours."

Shelby closed the chest in front of him, plunging them back into darkness, and headed back out of the room. He paused somewhere before the door, Ace guessed. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, but I'm gonna do some magic real quick. Okay?"

"Gotcha. Do you need some space?" She nodded and took a step back, her feet settling in a shallow puddle. The edge of her lips tugged down as she noticed. "Do you need a pinprick of blood? Or a stray donkey hair? Maybe a—"

"Just shut up. I have to be able to concentrate.” He cut her off.

Ace pursed her lips, choosing to keep quiet as she waited to see what he would do. Blue light expanded from Shelby's palms. It glowed against his skin and pulsed inside the small space. Shelby stared down at the orb in his open palms.

Light danced across his features and through the cave. Ace looked down at her own hands to examine the way that it was reflecting off of her skin. As quickly as the orb had appeared in his hands it was gone.

"That's it?" Ace said, reaching out toward the wall to follow Shelby.

"That's it? What were you expecting? Song and dance?" Shelby said somewhere ahead of her.

"Something like that. You didn't even chant a spell or anything. How boring."

The moment he stepped into the main vein of the cave she was able to see his dim outline with what little light made it around the edges of the waterfall. He reached up, grabbing the straps of the backpack and stopped. No witty response, no returned jab. Nothing but silence.

Ace paused, genuinely surprised that he wasn't continuing the back and forth. A tingle started up at her fingertips, working its way over her shoulders, and down her spine.

"Smells a lot like unsanctioned magic in here," an unfamiliar voice said. "What an interesting little hideaway." Her spine went ramrod straight as she forgot how to breathe. "Where's the evil-eyed woman?" the voice pressed.

Evil-eyed woman?!Evil-eyed woman?!He had to be kidding. Her eyes might be unnatural and totally terrifying to encounter but nothing about them was evil. What Ace had inside of her…that was holy fire.Holy.

Shelby said nothing. He gripped the backpack and didn't so much as look in her direction. Did whoever was out there realize Ace was there?

"You know she left behind an awfully messy trail. It was very easy to track. So where is she?"

Apparently not.

Rubber soles squeaked against the wet stone as the man started forward. Shelby stayed still.

What is Shelby doing? Shouldn't he be doing something? I don't know, maybe magic??

"You can tell me or I can cut it out of you? The queen wants you returned but does not care if you remain alive and I've been dying to cut up one of you warlocks just to see what makes you so different." Ace couldn't catch the sound of metal and leather but she didn't doubt by his tone that he was holding his blade in his hand already.

"She isn't here," Shelby finally said. "You just missed her, she already left."

Why was he doing this? Ace stayed nestled in the dark, her hands settled on the walls on either side of her. She didn't dare move for fear of making a noise and revealing herself.

"What a shame. I was hoping to bring back both you fools for the favor of the queen. Though she doesn't seem near as worried about you as she does your little friend. That does provoke the question, why?" the man said.

Queen Sienna was interested in Ace? That…that's not possible. Why would she be interested in her? That couldn't be the truth.

"I don't know,” Shelby said quietly.

That's when Ace finally caught it. The tip of a dagger was already under Shelby's chin. He took a slow step back and the man followed, still talking. A chatty guardsman, he was. And if Shelby hated one thing, Ace thought, it was a chatty person.

"You must know something. You two conspired together. You can't really tell me there is solidarity between thieves, beggars, and liars, now can you?"

Shelby didn’t speak. For a few sweat inducing seconds, the only sound was the water crashing on rocks outside the mouth of the cave. Ace could do nothing but watch as the two of them backed up again and again until the guard was in her line of sight. No matter how she squinted she couldn't make out enough of his features to recognize him.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like