I groan. “That didn’t work so well the first two times, brother. It’s a bad idea.” And a good one at the same time.
Seth clears his throat a little too loudly. “How are any of you three going to live with her?”
I look down at my own seal, aging at the same rate as Pax’s, Seth’s, and Killian’s. The clock is ticking.
“More sigils,” Seth suggests, having no idea how impossible that sounds. Like putting a single sapling in the desert and expecting it to survive.
But Pax nods. Long, slow head movements.
“The sigil is helping. If she were stronger, things would be different. If she could look after herself just a little bit, I might have time to work things out.” His fingers stroke through her tangled hair as he talks. The room is heavy with the desire to protect. “But she’s so fragile, and our seconds are limited. How long do we have?”
I’m sure he just did the math himself, but I confirm it anyway. “Until our seals dissolve? About two days, give or take. They’re never exact.”
He shakes his head, so I try again.
“Her bubble? I don’t know. I can’t work out why it’s shrinking. It’s got no rhyme or reason.”
“Is she safe in here from Hyll?” Pax asks, Thane growling behind the words.
I scrub a tired hand down my face. “I’ll double the magic. Eydis has a potion up there to add a key to her wards. If we use that, I won’t have to leave the domain and personally escort every triune in, and that will save time. No one would be able to get in without a key.”
“Do it,” Pax orders.
“How’s Thane handling it?” Seth asks.
“I know she will never fully be my mate. Thane does too. He’s a bit more stubborn about how we can overcome that hurdle, but I’m pretty sure he’ll accept the fact that this is as close as we’ll ever be.” Pax pauses, his brow creasing like Thane is saying something. “Yes, you will. We’ve talked about this,” he says to the wolf.
His eyes flash gold, accompanied by a deep growl, then settle again, enough to let Pax talk. “You can’t make her strong enough. No matter how much you try, she’s no stronger than a mortal,” Pax says, before continuing with our conversation, “And that makes keeping her alive all the more important. Demanding. Desperate.”
The room takes a collective sigh. All of us looking at the sleeping Kitten, lying with her head in the lap of a wolf.
“And it is making her ability to get herself into trouble so much more irritating,” he grumbles, his eyes flashing yellow in agreement. “We should get to work now, then eat, and sleep tonight. We’re dangerously close to needing it, and I don’t want to leave her unguarded once more Sabers begin to arrive.”
Seth claps his hands, making Kitten stir and roll over, nuzzling her face into Pax’s crotch.
“Mallow,” she mumbles.
Pax inhales sharply, slipping from beneath her with a muffled groan, and sticking a cushion under her head.
“Sorry,” Seth whispers, standing up. “What’s a mallow?”
“A man-pillow,” I answer.
“When do I get to be one?”
I ignore him. “Seth, stay with her. I need a break. I’ll bring you down some books.”
He moves to settle back into the couch, saying, “I can do that. Mallow time.”
“No, over there,” Pax orders, pointing to the single seat that Killian was in before he went hunting.
“My power isn’t going to hurt her, brother.”
“Concentrate,” Pax’s chest rumbles, then takes himself and his ignited lust out of the house. “We all need to concentrate.”
Seth watches him leave, then looks between his ordered seat and Kitten. Pax has let him choose – and the guy isn’t great at choices that aren’t impulsive. I almost laugh at the frown on his face, waiting for Seth to look my way. Waiting for his full attention before I start talking.
It takes a beat, and I’m pretty sure he’d almost forgotten I was here. Then he raises a questioning eyebrow.
“We’re running out of time. Even if Thane was at full power, none of us have more than a one week window from the moment our Release Seals dissolve to the time our souls ripping free from our bodies becomes very real. We can’t fight the Return Seal’s pull for long. If I break that time up, we have to reverse this bubble, organize a rebellion, and ride back to the castle. Then deal with Lithael’s temper tantrum and whatever punishment he is going to try and demean us with. On top of that, I don’t even know how that sigil on Pax’s chest has changed things; he might be weaker – might run out of the ability to fight the Return Seal quicker than usual. And there’s Eyv. Lithael can’t attack us in the castle, but Eyv can bloody try.”
Dealing with the potions might be our top priority, but it’s not the only thing on our plate.
“None of this is easy, brother,” Seth says, his eyes lowering to Kitten on the couch. Then he turns and drags the single seat closer to her.
I know there’s more to his sentence, something he’s left unsaid.
None of this is easy, but we’re still going to do it anyway.
Eleven Paces
When I stir, it’s dark. The night outside the window is lit up by a large fire burning beside the stream, where Killian’s carrying an armload of really big logs to the edge of the licking flames. Then one by one, he tears them apart with his bare hands.
I’m mesmerized by how easily he rips them in two. Who needs an axe?
Roarke’s nearby in one of the chairs, and Seth’s in the other. Both are reading, or rather, flicking through pages with grim determination, with piles of books on the floor beside each of them. Roarke has made stacks of three or four
