“Bitch!” I made to move past Quinn, outstretched arm or not, but he grabbed me, pinning me to his naked body. “Let me go!”
“Wait,” he whispered in my ear.
Wait? Wait for what?
“We couldn’t just kill you. We had to come up with a story for the villagers. I used what was left of Mali’s magic to contact Callabus and tell him our plan. He was supposed to come to the village and say he was a mystic who foretold the future, but the great lug fell in the woods and scratched himself up. He ended up telling the woman who found him that the Spades were coming instead.”
“So that’s why you told me we needed to come this way. I had wondered.” Quinn spoke to his brother.
“I craned my head around, and when I couldn’t see him, I pushed myself away from his arms and turned to him.”
“You knew about this plan?” I put my hands on my hips. It was so difficult to have a conversation with a man you just met when he was standing naked right in front of you looking magnificent. It also didn’t help that his mother, my now biggest enemy was standing behind me. Anger was swirling around inside me, but I didn’t know where to direct it. Quinn put his hands on my shoulders, which thankfully, made sure I was close enough to him to only see the upper part of his body. It didn’t matter that the lower regions were indelibly marked on my brain. I tried not to think about it.
“Cal and I lost our jobs because of the Hearts. A lot of us did. It was he that encouraged us to fight them. We were angry, and it sounded like a good idea at the time.” He looked down. I fought the urge to do the same. “We were only going to ask for shelter for the night. It’s a long way to the Heart Kingdom, and some of our men are on foot.” He looked up, and it was then I noticed his amber eyes. They were framed by the longest lashes I’d ever seen on a man. They were also staring at me, pleading with me almost. He wanted me to believe him. This man that I barely knew cared about what I thought, how I felt. I told myself that it was only because the actions of his family had turned my village into a war zone, but I wished it was more. I hoped it was more. What a situation to find myself in. It occurred to me that I cared more about what this strange man thought about me than the fact that the guy I’d been helplessly in love with for the past three years was laying dead, not thirty feet behind me. The spell was finally broken. It was time to leave.
“Do you still want to get to the Heartlands?”
“I can’t leave the village like this. My people have a lot of making up to do. A lot of cleaning up. We’ve done you a great disservice. It would be wrong of us to leave you all like this.” He let go of my shoulders now whilst fantasies of riding off into the sunset with him dwindled to nothing.
“Men,” he shouted out across the village green. “I cannot ask you to stay, but I hope you will see the wrong we have done to these people. Innocent lives have been lost, and it is largely our fault.”
“It is not your fault, Quinn,” shouted back one of the Spades. “It is the fault of your brother who lied to us all and of her,” he continued, indicating Sandy.
“We do not blame you either.” I looked over to see Aspen appear from the woodlands. When Bryony saw him, she ran into his arms. “You have lost just as much as we have.”
“Thank you. I will never forgive myself for what we have done to your village, but I hope you will permit me to stay and help you rebuild.”
“Me too,” agreed the Spade, who had spoken previously.
“All of us!” Another Spade stepped forward. I watched as the rest of the Spades nodded their heads, one by one.
“What about them?” Equi stepped forward, indicating Sandy and Callabus.
“Can you take them back home? Pass them over to the police. They deserve nothing more.”
“I don’t think so!” screeched Sandy. “I’m your mother! I was here first, and without Mali in charge, I am the only person who can rule over this village. I was his second in command. I know all the ways of the temple and the enchantments Mali used. No one can do this like I can. You villagers need me. Without Mali, you are nothing; and without me, you will stay nothing. I am the Divine Goddess!”
“Actually, bitch, I think you’ll find that position is already taken by Iris.” I had to laugh as Bryony walked right over to Sandy and punched her square in the face, knocking her to the ground. She was saved any retaliation by Equi pulling Sandy to her feet and tying her hands behind her back with a piece of rope. One of the other Spades did the same to Callabus. I watched as they were both marched out of the village, but I didn’t stay on the green long enough to see what they did with Mali’s body. I just didn’t want to know. Mali was in the past and what was done was done.
Someone found some clothes for Quinn, so he could walk me back to my house. As he left me on my doorstep and turned to leave to help with cleaning up the village, I realised that I didn’t want to leave Yelpish at all. Everything I needed now was right here.
The end
Other books by J.A.Armitage
WAR AND SUITS
Two of Clubs
Three of Clubs
Four of Clubs
Five of Clubs
Six of Clubs
GUARDIANS OF THE LIGHT
Endless Winter
Infinite Spring
Eternal Summer
Autumn Ever After
Guardians of The Light Boxset
LABYRINTHIANS
Labyrinthans
Labyrinthian Diamond
Labyrinthian Escape
MURDER AT THE BITE CAFE
Bloody Mary Murders
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Six of Clubs (War and Suits Book 5) Page 11