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Chapter
Fifty-Seven
Torq
Ibent over and put my hands on my knees, bracing myself while I sucked in a breath. The air was cold and burned my throat, but the trees from the forest shielded me from the worst of the wind. I swept my gaze from one side to the other, searching for more clues that Jess had passed this way, but there was nothing as evident as her hair clip, which I held tightly in my palm.
The metal biting into my flesh was a solid reminder that I would find her, so I straightened and started forward again. Ahead, the trees became sparser, and light crept in, so I moved faster toward that. Jess would have walked toward the light. She would have been moving higher to chase the water. At least that’s what the other Assassins had been doing.
I tried not to panic that I hadn’t found her yet or that her hair clip had been lying on the ground. I did not want to think what it might mean. Why would her clip have come out and why would she have left it behind? Was there a struggle? Did Dom find her and knock her out?
I shook my head roughly, refusing to accept that. Jess was fine, and I was going to find her. And then what? Did I tell her I was following her because I was sure she was being stalked by a Blade determined to inflict pain on me? Would she believe that? Did she have any reason to believe anything I said?
I emerged from the woods and blinked a few times as light streamed down from a break in the clouds. Water poured down from the start of the mountain range, pooled in a shallow basin and then spilled from that down to the start of the stream that cut through the land toward the Restless Sea.
My gaze went from the waterfall to the two figures standing near the overhang. My heart leapt as I realized I’d found Jess; then it crashed when I saw who was standing with her.
My hackles instantly rose when I saw how close he stood to her. Then he moved even closer and curled an arm around her waist, yanking her body flush to him. I tasted bile in the back of my throat as I watched him hold her, touch her.
“I would hate to have to fight him for you,” Dom said, his voice dampened by the sound of the water.
He meant me. They were talking about me. Fury pulsed through me, even though I had no right to be angry. I had been the one to send Jess away. I’d been the one to tell her I did not want her. But I had done it to protect her. I’d done it to protect her from him.
Dom’s words echoed in my head. I will take what you love.
He did not intend to hurt me by harming Jess. He wanted to hurt me by taking her for himself. I should have been heartened by that. At least she wasn’t in danger. He wasn’t trying to kill her. Then rage pulsed through me. He was trying to kiss her. Not because he desired her or loved her, but because he wanted to make me suffer.
Jess pressed her hands to his chest and pushed him. She was trying to stop him. She did not want him or his kiss. I was not so arrogant anymore to believe that this meant she loved me, but I did know that she did not want him.
A growl rubbed from my chest, unbidden and uncontrollable. They both stiffened.
“Release her,” I ordered, my hands in hard fists by my side.
Dom twisted his head, smiled at me, but did not release Jess. “You are interrupting.”
I locked eyes with Jess and saw fear in them as she pushed harder against him. “If you do not let her go, I will make you.”
“Are you challenging me?” His arms slackened. “Shall we fight over her?”
“I will fight you to release her, but she is not an object to be fought over.”
Without glancing at Jess, Dom dropped his arms, and she stumbled back and away from him. He did not pause to barrel toward me, his eyes blazing with hatred. “You are all wrong for her. She knows that now.”
I dodged his first punch, spinning to the side and beyond his reach. “She does not want you.”
He huffed out a breath and charged me again. “Not yet, but she will. I will enjoy watching you suffer as I make her mine.”
The Drexian was delusional, but that made him dangerous. “Leave her alone. Your issue is with me.” I dove to one side as he lunged forward. “Actually, it is with my brother, but I am the next best thing, right?”
His face was red as he swung around, panting. His fury was tiring him. “I have been fantasizing for so long about making your brother pay for killing my brother. Imagine my surprise when you showed up at the academy. I could hurt him by hurting you.”
“You do not know my family,” I muttered as I crouched in a defensive stance to await his next attack. “My brother would not care if I died.”
Dom’s brow furrowed, but he shook his head as if to rid himself of any truth that might alter his quest for vengeance. “Your brother has gone into hiding like the coward he is. You will have to suffice.”
I was vaguely aware that Jess had not run off. She was watching us, which meant that she was still not safe, although now I did not fear that Dom would kill her, and I was fairly certain she was in no danger of losing her heart to him. That did not mean I couldn’t lose my life to him if he decided that it would be easier and simpler to kill me, after all.
I flicked my gaze to her and caught her worried expression. Even though I had been sure she despised me, she was concerned for me, which made me happier than I should have been in the middle of a fight. Her look of concern quickly shifted into shock, her mouth opening as if she was preparing to scream. That was when Dom plowed into me from the side.
