I elbowed him. “Easy, cowboy.”
But Carden wasn’t done. He wrapped his arm tightly around me and said, “I don’t need a bond to be close with my wee dove.”
Ronan stared blindly at the vampire’s arm around my shoulder, and the defeat in his eyes broke something inside me. I willed him to look at me instead. I wanted to communicate something to him. Remind him of the connection we shared—Ronan might not have been my boyfriend, but he was, I realized, my best friend.
After a long moment, he finally looked up, but he met Carden’s eyes instead of mine. “It’s always easy for you, isn’t it? It’s always been easy.”
With a grin, Carden tugged me closer. “With the birds, you mean?”
I groaned and tugged away. “Give it a rest, would you? My mom is locked in a dungeon somewhere. I don’t have time for testosterone. I need to get out of here.”
“Actually,” Ronan said, “I’ll be going with you after all. It’s time for me to have a chat with my sister.”
“Och, pup, there’s where you’re wrong. You won’t be with us. Freya orders that you go to her. Now.”
I looked from one to the other, fighting a childish twinge of jealousy. “Freya?”
“You could say she’s our queen,” Carden explained. “We serve her in the fight to take down the Directorate.”
I looked to Ronan. He’d told me about this before, though he’d never mentioned any vampire queen. “She’s Sonja’s sister,” he said simply.
I fought back a chill. “Sonja has a sister?”
“She’s the one who ordered Dagursson killed,” Ronan told me, and the scolding look Carden shot his way gave me pause. “And now she’ll have to wait a bit longer for me.”
“You dare not disobey,” Carden said through gritted teeth.
A charged and silent stare hung between the two men.
I couldn’t bear it any longer. “This is about my mom, remember? Not some pissing match between you two. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get out of here before another minute passes.”
Carden grinned. “Aye, then let’s be off, love. I find myself eager for the sea breeze on my face.”
I felt Ronan deflate. Something inside me dimmed in response.
“Let’s just go,” I told Carden quietly. I needed to get him out of there before his possessive boyfriend bit got any more extreme.
Despite our lost bond, Carden must’ve sensed my sadness, because he surprised me by saying, “You two have your goodbye.” He gave a brisk nod to me and Ronan. “I must go and get my things. ’Twill be a long, cold journey. My wee dove will be in need of my woolen plaid.”
He just had to get in one last stab. Was it love that had him so ragingly possessive? Or just the desire not to let someone else win?
Before I could address the adolescent remark, Carden turned and headed back up the path.
I braced myself, afraid of what I’d see when I turned to Ronan. But I summoned my courage and faced him.
He didn’t seem angry. Just…sad.
That was way worse.
“I’m so sorry about Emma and Yasuo. I’d hoped…” His sigh made him sound about a thousand years old and made me wish I could pull him close one last time. “Well, it no longer matters.” He defaulted to teacher mode and looked down at my boots, where he’d know my throwing stars would be hidden. “You have your shuriken?”
I nodded tightly, studying my feet. I didn’t trust my voice.
Would I have to face his sister? Would I survive it? Would this be our last goodbye?
“Ann,” he whispered. He tipped a finger under my chin to raise my eyes to his. “If it’s Jacob who’s holding your mother, you will be facing many dangers. You’ve your stakes, too?”
I nodded again, throat clenched with a flood of memories. Of the first time I’d seen his hidden stakes…and his bare chest. He’d stripped off his sweater, then his shirt, to tear fabric to bind my injured ribs.
“Yeah,” I managed, my voice tight. “It’s the best thing you’ve showed me.” I wasn’t sure if I’d wanted that to be as suggestive as it’d come out, but somehow suggestive undercurrents had become standard in my every exchange with Ronan.
He gave me a quiet smile, like he knew what I was thinking. The smile faded quickly, though. “Are you sure of this? Because once you run from this isle, everything changes.”
I had no choice. “It’s my mom,” I said quietly. “My actual mom.”
I could see he knew. He understood. Of course he did. It was Ronan—he understood better than anyone. “And you’re sure…you’re sure you don’t need me?”
He was asking a thousand different things with one question. It was too much. I wasn’t ready for goodbye. But I had no choice. I tried to smile it off. “Ronan, you know I always need you.”
His eyes glittered in the moonlight. “It’s no joke. You’re setting onto a dangerous path. Leaving like this…life will never be the same for you.”
I attempted a laugh. “Thank God.”
He gripped my upper arms. “Truly, Ann. Alcántara will be furious. And, despite your successes, it’s quite possible Headmaster Fournier will not allow you back. All of it will be different.”
There was a sharp twinge in my chest. All of it? My voice cracked as I dared ask, “And you?”
“And I?” He clutched me to him then and wrapped me in his arms. “For you, I am unchanging.” Just as I let myself melt into him, clawing the back of his coat like I might never let go, he pushed me away. “You don’t want my help with this, and I must accept that. I don’t know what you’ll find when you get where you’re going.” His focus on me grew intense. “But remember: fear is your greatest weapon.”
“Being afraid?”
He shook his head. “Making others so. Just as fear is your greatest danger, so too is it your most powerful weapon.” He glanced around, making sure Carden was gone. The misericordia appeared in his hands.
He dipped to his knees, and I gasped as his hands slid along my leg. He slipped the ceremonial blade deep into my right boot, nestling it next to a stake I’d also hidden there.
His touch buzzed with warmth even through layers of fabric. My skin pulsed in its wake, the blade such a physical reminder of how we were in this together. How we had secrets and how we’d keep them, even when parted by an impossibly wide sea.
“Are you sure?” I whispered, afraid even to speak about such a powerful weapon. “I thought you were going to get rid of it.”
“It’s too valuable.” He stood and took my hand in his, as though the blade weren’t the only valuable thing he was discussing. “You must keep it hidden. Even from Carden. Vampires—all vampires—desire this weapon above all others. You must not let anyone disarm you of it.”
Anyone. Was he thinking of his sister? Would he realize how I might use this to face her? And yet he was surrendering it to me.
“The misericordia represents unbounded power,” Ronan said. “A vampire, any vampire, would do anything to have it for their own.”
And he had borne this burden for me. He’d risked so much for me. Continued to do so.
“Thank you,” I said, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Keep it safe, and it will keep you safe. There might come a moment when your life hangs in the balance. If there is no other choice, if you wield this blade, you must do so swiftly and with confidence. The misericordia is the only thing that will make a Vampire feel true fear.”
A humorless chuff of breath escaped me. I wriggled my ankle, feeling the weight of the weapon against my calf. “Now you’re making me scared, Ronan.”
He cupped my cheeks. “Just…survive.”
“I always do.” I was afraid he might kiss me again. I was afraid that, this time, I wouldn’t be able to stop.
Ronan’s gruff voice broke the tense silence. “Where are you going? Tell me. I want to know.”
“I…I can’t say.” I couldn’t have him follow me. I couldn’t mess this up. I needed to save my mo
ther, and who knew how Ronan’s presence would affect his sister’s actions?
“Ann? I meant what I said.”
“About?”
“I will find you. I will always find you.”
I pulled back ever so slightly. I saw in his eyes just how deadly serious he was. Too serious.
I tried to lighten the mood by saying, “Of course. You’re a Tracer, right? It’s your job.”
He didn’t crack a smile. Once again, he was completely unknowable to me. Unreadable.
I didn’t know what I had with Ronan, nor did I know what I would find once I left. All I knew was that Carden was still my boyfriend. I cared about him. I adored the guy.
I needed to be fair. I had to give him a chance.
My voice was tight as I said simply, “Goodbye, Ronan.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
I wasn’t even halfway down the rutted path to the beach when a hand clamped over my mouth. Instinct was always only a hairsbreadth away, and my body exploded to life until I was wriggling like a lunatic.
“Surprise,” a male voice whispered in my ear. There was something familiar about it, and yet there was a slight lisp I couldn’t place.
I fought the urge to panic and flail, and went still instead.
Stay calm. Assess.
“I’ve been looking forward to this.” His breath was hot and smelled like curry fries, what they’d served earlier in the dining hall. Definitely human, then. Not vampire. A Trainee.
I didn’t have time for this.
I tapped into my anger, always carried so close to the surface now. The familiar fury washed over me, energizing me. I could face Trainees in my sleep.
“Not as much as I have.” I angled my body to the side as I yanked his wrist tighter across my body. The move was counterintuitive, but it created a small pocket of space under his armpit. Gripping his wrist, I ducked and was free. With a spin, I wrenched his arm behind his back. “You boys should know by now it takes more than—” I finally realized who I was fighting. “Jeez! Rob! I thought you were…”
I was so startled I almost let go, but months of training kept my fingers curled tightly into his flesh.
“You thought I was dead?” He paused in his struggle to look over his shoulder at me. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been left for dead after having his face smashed repeatedly against a fencepost by Yasuo. It finished what I’d started when I’d knocked out one of his fangs. “I’m waiting for you to go first.”
I felt energy surge through his body as he readied another attack, but I was prepared. And honestly, I was probably stronger. His face was still a mangled mess. He was shaky, his eyes shifty. He’d consumed too much blood, I suspected, in an effort to heal. Though how—or what—he drank with just the one fang was something I didn’t want to consider.
I still had him from behind, and as his muscles tensed, I gave a sharp twist to his wrist. I kicked the back of one of his legs, and he toppled—knees, chest, face—onto the sand. He grunted and turned his head to spit out a mouthful of grit.
I nodded to his misshapen jawline. “What unsuspecting creature did you need to drink to fix that? Because I can’t decide if it was enough or way too much.”
I was getting cocky, and so I didn’t hear the other Trainee approach at my back until rough fingers speared through my hair, scraping my scalp as they seized a handful. “Rob, you’re such a fuckup.”
The hand wrenched my neck back.
Josh.
Betrayal stole my breath, gutting me.
“Josh?” I pulled free but fell onto my butt, feeling the plip-plip of hairs as they were torn from my scalp. But the pain barely registered. “What is this?”
My heart thudded back to life as two truths became instantly clear. I’d thought Josh was a friend, but I could see by the joyful menace on his face that he really wasn’t. And, more pressing, Josh was strong—easily stronger than me.
A grin spread across his beach-bum handsome face. “Happy to see me?”
There was a time when I would’ve been.
I crab-walked backward, trying to wrap my mind around this latest betrayal. Though really, the seed of doubt had been planted long ago when he’d forged an association with Lilac, my old roommate and nemesis. And later, even more so, when I’d watched him participate in a sick ritual in the heart of the vampires’ keep. Now my worst fears were being realized.
He was someone else’s ally, not mine.
I forced my heart to harden against this new worldview. “You boys are just full of surprises,” I said, silently cursing the crack in my voice. I didn’t know how much more hardening my heart could take in this world.
He swiped out a hand to grab me, and I dodged him, finally back on my game. “I thought we were friends,” I said, my voice louder now. “What did I do to you?”
Hell, what did I do to anybody to deserve any of this madness?
“We saw Tom readying his boat.” Josh’s Australian accent lilted the sentence into a question. “Headmaster thought it meant someone might be wanting to make an escape, and it looks like that someone was you. We can’t let you do that, can we?”
I popped to my feet and dusted off my hands. He wanted a fight? Fine, I’d give him one. “And you think you can stop me?”
I glanced from him to Rob, who was staring slack-jawed and one-fanged at Josh with unconcealed worship. “You and who, Hermie the dentist here?”
Rob didn’t like that one bit, and his face tightened into a glare of total hatred. “If you think you can just walk off this island, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“I’m not going to walk,” I said with all the bravado I could muster. “All I’ve got coming to me is a boat, taking me away from this freak show.” I’d just have to make it look like I knocked Tom out and stolen it. The last thing I wanted was for the kindly old Draug Keeper to get in trouble on my account.
I summoned my courage and began to stride back down the path. It was a desperate gamble, but I was out of choices. I could only hope Carden was out there somewhere, on his way to me.
A third Trainee appeared at the top of the ridge. “Dude, I told you guys to wait.” He hopped down and popped his knuckles, staring at me like I was a present under his Christmas tree.
I sized him up. The guy was pretty average looking, but I knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving. For all I knew, he might’ve been an MMA champion in his former life.
“Hey. Brian, right?” I spoke as calmly as possible. Meanwhile, I was frantically assessing my situation. “What’s up?”
I realized the moment it came out that it was a rookie thing to say. Sure enough, he grabbed his crotch. “I’ll show you what’s up.”
I had a sassy reply to that, but it stuck in my throat as they closed in.
There was an explosion of limbs—mine, theirs. Mostly theirs. Josh had gotten behind me and was tying my arms behind my back.
Rob skittered closer, kicking at my ankles, trying to hook my feet. His mouth was a tightly grinning line, his lips molded unevenly, grotesquely, over the gaping hole where his left fang should’ve been.
I hopped away, but Brian was there to give me a shove. “Careful,” he taunted.
Josh shoved me from behind just as Rob kicked again.
I lost my balance and toppled.
I was in the dirt and they were over me in an instant, Josh holding my shoulders, Brian and Rob each holding a leg.
I tried to swallow to get some moisture in my suddenly dry mouth. I held very, very still. I wanted to fight them, but I also didn’t want them to find the misericordia tucked into my boot.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, but they weren’t listening. And I hadn’t needed to ask anyway. Rob had tried having his way with me before, and now he was directing the others to pin my shoulders, to hold an ankle. To move aside.
“I see what this is about,” I said, trying to use my sultriest Hey, boys voice. “Why don’t you free my hands? You know, so I can ha
ve free range of movement.”
It was worth a shot. I’d say anything to get my hands free.
“We’re not that stupid,” Brian said.
“Though I know you think we are,” Rob said. “You think you’re so smart. But who’s the one tied?”
“Technically I’m bound, not tied, but whatever you say, Einstein.”
His hand shot out before I could grit my teeth, smacking me hard upside my head. My ears started ringing and my mouth filled with the sharp taste of my own blood.
I stilled for a second, just long enough to come to terms with the fact that I was not going down this way. Sure, I’d go down eventually in my life, but I’d go fighting.
A hand slithering up my left thigh shocked me into action.
Instinctively, I kicked. My foot connected with Brian’s chin. As he fell back, Rob had to readjust, twisting sideways to try to grab and still my legs. I kicked again, and my heel caught the soft part of Rob’s throat. The contact lit me like a lightning bolt, my every nerve igniting.
“Hold her,” Brian shouted up at Josh.
Flexing my arms against my restraints, I became a wild thing, my abs working overtime as my feet flailed, legs bucking and thrusting for whatever body part I could connect with.
“I am,” Josh snarled. “You hold her. There are two of you.”
What I really needed were my weapons, still tucked in my boot. I practically felt the misericordia pulsing at my calf. Beckoning. My hands were behind my back, grinding into the dirt, but if I could reach down low enough and scoot my heel high enough…
If I could reach the blade, I’d be able to flick my wrist and slice through whatever Josh had tied me with. And then…and then the thought of what could happen next was enough to make me light-headed. I’d seen what the ancient blade had done to someone as powerful as Master Alrik Dagursson. What might it do to a few measly Trainees?
I was dying to find out.
I heard myself making crazy banshee noises as I pumped my legs out again and again like a piston, trying to propel Rob and Brian far enough from my feet to tuck my knees and snatch the blade from my boot.
Reckoning (The Watchers Book 5) Page 6