“Guys,” Seth calls into the pelting rain.
As I approach Pax, half a step in front of Killian and half a beat faster than I would normally walk, I notice two things. That the cold sting of the rain is driven back by my fear for Kitten, and that Pax is in turmoil.
Something went wrong at Tanakan.
“What did you find?” I call out, not waiting until I’m standing next to my brother.
“Nothing,” Pax growls – then Thane adds, “Not a single Seed.”
The man turns to face me, his eyes glowing gold and the wolf clearly in control of the movement. They swallow hard, struggling with their balance, or something they’re about to say – or both.
“What?” I demand.
“There was one last Hyll,” Killian says.
My stomach drops, hard enough to make me want to vomit.
I searched their estate. I looked at each body that Thane had torn to pieces. Mostly, they were unrecognizable. So, logic is, the Cataclysm who removed Pax’s child from existence could have been alive all this time.
Possible, but not likely. Thane hunted for years, and it’s been decades since.
“In Tanakan?” I ask to check that I’m drawing conclusions from the right facts.
Because if she was locked away, then that would explain why we haven’t seen or heard of her since Thane slipped deep into Pax’s darkness and left the man to clean up the mess.
“And Lithael put her there?”
He’s the only person I can think of who would hide someone in a prison.
Killian nods in agreement.
“She’s hunting Kitten?” I ask, the words torn with a whole new kind of fear.
Thane roars in anger, but neither he nor Pax moves. They don’t shift. Don’t break stuff in a maddened rage. Nothing.
“How did you manage to drag him back here?” I ask Killian.
Pax pulls his shirt across to reveal a sigil on his chest, but it’s Thane who rumbles, “Leash.”
A circle, a cross, six slashes, two dots, and what should be a half swirl of a moon phase – but it’s eaten at the edge. Everything to do with Silvari magic is fluid, so something that should last one moon phase can be burned through in a day. I just hope this sigil is stronger than Pax.
I hold my hand out and both of them stare down at it.
“Give one to me.”
“We only had one,” Thane growls.
Just one? I don’t know where or when they got it – but they can’t have acquired just one! “You don’t understand – I can’t keep being around this woman. She’s going to get herself killed, and I’m going to be the one left holding the body.”
Thane retreats, taking the golden glow of Pax’s eyes with him, leaving Pax wide-eyed with shock.
Oh, shit – that’s what that look is saying.
“I should have,” he says, running a tired hand through his hair. “Should have purchased every one that the guy had made. Should have purchased him and brought him with us.”
Pax looks at me properly for the first time since I walked out here, his brow furrowing at my lack of clothing.
“He was in bed with her,” Killian says.
Pax’s jaw clenches, ready to bite.
“She’s unharmed,” Killian adds.
At exactly the same moment I blurt out, “Nothing sexual happened – I need a damn sigil – why do you think I’m worried?”
“She’s unharmed?” Pax repeats, hearing our brother’s words, but clearly not what I just said.
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?” Pax demands.
Killian just nods.
I want to say that I didn’t harm her, but that’s not entirely true. I want to explain that it wasn’t my fault, but that, too, is not what I’d call accurate.
Pax rubs the back of his neck. He looks tired. We all are. Drained and at the end of our limits. His jaw relaxes, and his sharp breaths grow longer and less aggressive. The sigil’s at work, and it’s impressive.
Thane’s gaze pulls past me and settles beyond the cottage, on the giant sequoia. There are only six of those trees in the kingdom, and based on size alone, I should have spotted all of them before. I’ve ridden nearly every part of this realm. But I’ve only seen one other, at the Veil Spring. Before the Potion Master there threw our grieving asses out of his domain.
“You should go into town,” he finally says. “You need a tumble in the sheets. You’ve had your power locked down for too long.”
Killian grunts, nods, and adjusts his weight.
“And you’re volunteering to go with me?” I ask him, in the kind of shock that makes my eyes go wide.
Killian nods.
“You can’t fight who you are. If it keeps Shade safe…” Pax trails off.
I rub the back of my neck. What they’re proposing is murder – given the chance of an Elite Saber just wandering through the nearest town is slim-to-nothing, and anything short of a bloody powerful Elite Saber is going to die in bed with me. Doesn’t make them any less beautiful or desirable, and my power has latched on to every level of Saber and Silvari in the past. I’ve lived for a very long time. Just makes my actions murder and my soul black with bloodstain over bloodstain.
Is this what I need to do to keep her safe? Exhaust my power somewhere far away?
“Cinnamon and roses,” Killian says. “Your threads are alive with it.”
“Anything else?” I press.
Just cinnamon and roses? Neither of those are precursors to someone dying in my hands.
Killian looks across to Pax. “Nothing is burning.”
“I want to tumble in the sheets. Tumble in the bloody mud – I don’t care. But I want that with her. My power isn’t flaring to life at the idea of anyone else. Even Teegan…” And Teegan always satisfies me for a few hours, sometimes even a few weeks. I sag under the weight of having to tell them everything, and start with my power knocking her to the floor in the attic, then retreating and letting me kiss her. Then, after filling in all the blanks, I finish with, “I
