Is your family all right?
Yes. I have linked with them all, and they are safe. Have you heard from Daniel?
No.
Be careful.
And Tizoc was gone. I refocused on Salazar who was still inspecting my face, a sneer oozing beneath his moustache as he licked his dry lips.
“I have been without the company of a European woman for too long. Much too long,” he whispered. “It is not only gold that I seek. I will be a rich man when I leave this city in shambles. You could have whatever you desire if—”
“I have what I desire. More actually.” I feigned interest in one of the feathers on my vest.
“I think you are settling, my dear. A life among savages is no place for a woman like you.”
“The only thing out of place here is you.”
“Such a sharp tongue on one so fair,” Salazar chided. “You have been here too long. Forgotten your English courtesy. Fortunately for you, I plan to rid the area of these barbarians and claim the land for Spain. It is in need of a competent, powerful monarch. It will be full of civilized colonies.”
I was about to exchange another barb—cripes, they were coming so readily—when another Spaniard charged in. Salazar scowled at the man’s intrusion but stepped toward him. They spoke in hushed tones so I could not hear, and my mind raced for what my next move should be. I had to get to Tizoc. Get us out before anyone else got killed. Find Daniel.
“Well, bring him in then,” Salazar said. He turned to me. “Seems a small party of warriors did not listen when they were called off. We’ll have to make an example of them. Can’t have the brutes raging against us. It would simply ruin my plans.”
He came closer to me again and resumed his examination. “Your eyes, my dear. They are like the sweet Mediterranean. I so miss home.” He laughed to himself. It was a grating sound, not at all jovial or warm.
I stood before him, aloof, with my hands folded across my chest. My calm was beginning to annoy him, which was the only plan I had cemented in my mind. A jump out any window would leave Tizoc in Spanish custody. A scream would only bring more Spaniards into the room. An assault on Salazar would hurt him, but there would still be his men to contend with. I couldn’t take them all on at once.
As my mind calculated and recalculated every escape angle, the shuffle of booted steps approached then stopped in the doorway of the room. When my gaze shifted to that doorway, my heart missed several beats.
Dragging between two of Salazar’s men, blood trailing down the side of his face and along his left leg, was Daniel.
My Daniel.
“Oh, God!” I choked, rushing to his side. “Daniel. Can you hear me?”
His head flopped about his shoulders as the Spaniards held him limply between them.
“Let go of him!” I screamed at them. When they didn’t make a move to heed my demand, I glared back to Salazar. “I’ll do whatever you want. Tell them to release him now.”
He motioned with his chin, and they let Daniel drop to the stone floor with a thud. I slid my arms underneath his head, cradling it in my lap. Pushing his hair back away from his face, I inspected the gouge glistening blood at his temple. I ripped my feathered vest off and tore a piece of fabric from my shirt underneath. Bunching it up, I pressed it gently to Daniel’s head, and he moaned.
“Daniel,” I said again, touching my other hand to his cheek.
His eyes fluttered open before settling on mine. “Charlie…” he rasped as he pulled his hand up to his temple. Touching my hand holding the fabric to his wound, he winced and closed his eyes again. Bone showed through the wound in his leg, and I was certain it was broken. As I moved to inspect his leg, Daniel’s body stiffened. He heaved in a huge breath then went stone still in my arms.
I waited for his chest to rise and fall again. Waited for him to take his next breath. Waited for his eyes to open. Waited.
“No!” I yelled, shaking his lifeless body. “Don’t leave me, Daniel. No.”
Pain flooded through my body. Too much to bear. The room swirled. I hugged Daniel’s head to my chest, great sobs sending tears pouring down my cheeks. I shook with grief sharper than any sword blade.
I peered up at Salazar through a torrent of tears, my words almost buried by the bawling. “You took him. You took him from me.” When would the world stop taking people from me? First my mother. Now my Daniel. It was too much.
I lowered my head and pressed my lips to Daniel’s. “I love you, Daniel.” I couldn’t imagine taking another breath without him.
Cihuapilli. I barely heard Tizoc’s call through the sorrow.
Charlie. Louder this time.
He’s gone. They’ve killed him. My head pounded. Blood pulsed loudly in my ears.
No. He’s not gone yet. Calm down and you’ll feel it yourself. Energy still rests in him.
He’s not moving. I don’t hear him breathing. Don’t feel his heartbeat.
We can bring him back, but you must focus. You must calm down and focus.
I took in a deep breath, trying to believe what Tizoc said was true.
How? I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and looked down at Daniel’s still face. To have come this far with him, to have loved him this much, and to lose him now… it hurt. Oh, God, it hurt.
Remove his vest and shirt. Put your hands on his chest, near his heart.
I shifted Daniel’s head a bit on my lap and did as Tizoc instructed.
Now what? My mind was fuzzy, and I struggled to clear it. To focus.
Think of all the things you love about Daniel. Everything. Every detail. Leave nothing out and no matter what, don’t take your hands off him. Understand?
Yes.
A shudder worked its way through my body as I held my hands in place on Daniel’s smooth, cool skin. I concentrated on the first time I had seen him down on the beach in Southampton. His uncle had called him the tall boy. I had developed a connection to him so easily, so quickly even though he hadn’t wanted me around initially. The thought that I had lost him overwhelmed me.
Charlie, Tizoc’s voice gently warned. Focus on the good.
I shook my head and pictured the day Daniel found out I was a female. I would never forget the look on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was angry with me, and then that slow half-smile of his set everything right. Since that moment, my life had been so much better, so much more.
You have to live, I thought for Daniel’s ears only. We have so much more to do together.
The heat that rushed to my fingertips was so fast and hot that I yelped aloud but kept my palms on Daniel’s chest. Raw, untamed sunlight passed through my hands directly into him. For a moment, I was so utterly connected to Tizoc and Daniel, could feel them both somehow. The radiance was coming from Tizoc, and it siphoned his strength to do what he was doing for Daniel.
For me.
When my hands could no longer take the heat, which had risen to a near scorching level, Daniel’s eyes snapped open. His heart jumped in his chest. His lungs filled with air. Tizoc’s mind faded away from mine as the heat left my hands.
“It worked!” I shouted around more tears, joyful ones this time.
Daniel clasped my hand with his own and fixed his bright blue gaze on mine.
“What happened?” he croaked wearily, furrowing his brows.
“You died…” Salazar interrupted, and I spun my head around to look at him, his voice startling me. “And she… she brought you back.” His face was as white as a ghost’s as he shakily stepped toward Daniel and me.
I kissed Daniel’s forehead and brushed the hair off his temple. The gash near his eye and his broken leg were completely healed as were the scrapes on my hands. “I had help.”
Nodding, Daniel propped his left arm up underneath him to sit up.
I stared into Daniel’s eyes. “I’m so… I can’t believe it worked.” I threw my arms around Daniel’s shoulders and squeezed him to me. “I thought you were… oh, Daniel!” I tightened my hold on him again and
breathed him in, making him such a part of me. I didn’t ever want to let go of him.
Cupping my chin in his hand, Daniel brushed his lips across mine, but hands clamped down on my shoulders. I was ripped away from Daniel, my own feet dragging on the floor. Two Spaniards reached down and hauled Daniel to his feet as well. I tried to go to him, but Salazar’s men held me back.
“If you hurt her…” Daniel began.
“If I hurt her, there will be absolutely nothing you can do about it, boy,” Salazar shot back, some of the color returning to his face. He had evidently recovered from what he had witnessed, though he kept glancing at Daniel’s leg and temple. Shaking his head, Salazar waltzed over to where Daniel was restrained and slapped his empty sleeve. He let out a mocking chuckle and turned to face me.
“Females and one-armed warriors… what are these savages thinking in choosing their allies? You’re not doing them much good now, are you?”
The Spaniards in the room joined in with Salazar’s laughter, enjoying a hearty round. I wanted nothing more than to unloose arrows into each of them. It was the most violent I had ever felt in my life.
What was happening to me?
“Throw these two in with that yellow-eyed native,” Salazar roared. “We’ll deal with the two males when we get to it and…” He stepped back over to me. “You have healing power, which is as intriguing to me as the prospect of riches. I’ve heard of fountains of youth, but what you just did could be useful too. I’ll send for you, my lovely girl. Right now, however, there’s more gold to amass. Fortune first, pleasure later.”
Daniel lurched forward as Salazar fingered the ends of my hair, but the Spaniards had too tight of a grip on him to let him free. As Salazar snickered, we were led out of Dimazuno’s private chambers and marched down the darkened hallway to the lower levels of the palace.
I was behind Daniel and the Spaniards hauling him. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He had almost died in my arms, but there he was, walking in front of me with all his injuries healed. I still couldn’t believe it.
What had Tizoc done? What had it cost him to do it?
We arrived at the palace’s dungeon, dark and windowless. Only the small glimmer of a row of torches along the wall illuminated the dank area. A guard opened the first cell and threw Daniel in.
“Ladies next,” one of the Spaniards said, sneering at me.
I braced myself to be tossed inside as Daniel had been, but the guards holding me simply let go of my arms and pushed me forward. Stumbling into the cell, I managed to keep my balance and turn around as the stone door slammed shut. Two of the Spaniards remained to guard the door while the other two left.
“Cihuapilli?” Tizoc’s voice whispered.
“Where are you?” My eyes struggled to adjust to the dim light of the cell.
“Against the wall, to your right.”
Chains clinked from that direction, and I took a few steps closer, my hands out in front of me.
When my palms hit the stone wall, I lowered myself to a crouch and inched forward until my knee touched skin. Moving my hand down, I discovered a hand, a wrist with a thick iron ring around it, a muscled forearm intertwined with chain links, a smooth bicep, and finally a shoulder.
“Tizoc.” Touching him comforted me somehow. “Are you hurt?”
“Just weak and bruised. They chained me because they’re afraid of me.” He pressed his cheek into the hand I had rested near his face. He sounded exhausted.
My eyes had grown accustomed to the lack of light, and I scanned the small cell. A dark mass moved along the far wall.
“Daniel…” I scurried over to him.
“I’m fine. Thanks to you both.”
I helped Daniel scoot over and lean his back against the wall next to Tizoc. My hands shook as I touched Daniel, the reality of him still being alive overwhelming me.
“We’ve got to get out.” Tizoc coughed raggedly, as if he couldn’t take in a deep breath.
“There are guards everywhere,” I said.
Tizoc shifted and groaned at the movement.
“Are you sure you’re not seriously hurt?” I placed a hand on his shoulder again. He was warm—too warm.
“Yes,” Tizoc said. “I’m just tired and uncomfortable. My hands are numb from being chained above my head like this.” He looked up to his hands.
“We have to get free,” Daniel whispered. “That has to be our first step.”
“Agreed,” Tizoc said. “The guard has the keys.”
All three of us looked to the two guards outside the cell door.
I got up before Daniel or Tizoc could stop me. I walked to the cell door, smoothing down my disheveled hair.
“What is she doing?” Daniel said to Tizoc.
“I honestly don’t know,” Tizoc said. “I can’t get a link. I’m too weak to be in her mind right now. Too weak to heal myself too.”
“Excuse me,” I said. Both of the guards whipped their heads around to look at me. “Sorry to bother you, but I refuse to stay in here with that… that native. I am a wealthy English woman and should be treated like one. I demand a separate cell if you’re going to keep me locked up. This savage frightens me.” I thrust up my chin and narrowed my eyes at the guards.
One of them walked over to the cell door.
“I thought you were fighting with the brutes.” He checked me over with a mix of suspicion and interest. A slow smile formed on his lips as his eyes traveled the length of me.
“Why would I fight with them? Doesn’t that seem the least bit odd to you? More likely they forced me to fight with them or they’d kill me, don’t you think?” I pressed myself up against the cell door.
The Spaniards looked at me then at each other.
“You’d do the same,” I said. “Look, I’m not asking you to free me. I know your leader would be upset with you if you did that, and I don’t want to get you into trouble.” I pouted my lips a bit. “I’m just asking you to put me in that cell over there.” I motioned to the dark cell across from the one I was in.
I lowered my voice to a whisper, and the two guards leaned in closer. “Please. I’m afraid of him. Look at his eyes. He’s not human.” I shivered for dramatic effect, and the two guards bristled as well.
“No harm in moving her over there,” one guard said to the other, casting me an understanding smile. I could hardly keep my stomach from lurching.
“Guess not,” the other one said with a shrug.
“Go open that one,” the first guard ordered as he maneuvered his key into the lock of my cell door.
“You go open it.”
“I’m going to let her out, so I can’t open it. You do it.”
“I could let her out and you could open the other cell.”
Cripes. We didn’t have time for this nonsense. I cleared my throat while they bickered with each other. Finally the second guard folded and shuffled to the cell across the way.
When my cell door was unlocked, I shot my arm out of the bars and grabbed a fistful of the guard’s tunic. He sputtered something but never got the chance to finish. I pulled him up to the bars so fast and with so much force that his forehead collided with the stone. He let out a wail before dropping in a heap to the floor. The other guard spun around wildly at the commotion, dropping his keys, but he was too slow. I already had the cell door open and aimed his partner’s pistol at him.
“Turn around and get in that cell,” I ordered.
“Now, missy, I don’t think—”
“No, you don’t, and that is your downfall,” I said. “Get into that cell in one piece or get into it with holes in your gut. The choice is yours.” My whole body wanted to shake. I had never held a gun in my hands before, but somehow I kept it and my voice steady.
Daniel came up behind me. “I’d do as she says. She’s a good shot, which would be a bad shot for you.”
Glancing down to his unconscious partner, the other guard let out a huff and walked into the unlocked cell. Daniel closed the cel
l door, locking it shut. While I aimed the gun at the guard on the ground, Daniel took the keys and freed Tizoc. Within moments, they were both beside me and dragging the downed guard into the cell we had vacated. Securing him inside, I loosened my grip on the pistol and focused on it in my now trembling hands.
“I’ll take that.” Daniel pried the gun from my fingers and drew me into an embrace. I collapsed against him, burying my face in his chest. “You’re full of surprises,” he said into my hair as he rested his chin atop my shoulder and squeezed me closer.
“Good thing I couldn’t get into your head.” Tizoc rubbed at his raw wrists. “I never would have let you do that, Charlie, if I’d known.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” I lifted my head from Daniel’s shoulder.
Tizoc flashed his eyes at me. “You’ve outshined many of my warriors with that one, Cihuapilli. I’ll not forget that you called me a savage, however.” He raised his eyebrows. “Come. We have to get out of the palace, regroup with the other warriors, and decide our next move.”
“We haven’t lost to Salazar yet,” Daniel said.
Chapter Thirty
We moved ghostlike through the streets after leaving the palace unnoticed. Tizoc’s movements were labored so we stopped a few times for him to catch his breath. His eyes were a dull yellow. He’d used so much of himself helping Daniel.
On one of the stops, as Tizoc sat on a stone wall, Daniel looked to him. “What did you do back there for me?”
“I’m… not sure… exactly. When I felt Charlie’s grief wash through me, I only knew something had to be done. I wasn’t certain we could bring you back, but we had to try.”
My throat stung as I thought about almost losing Daniel. His death would have left a hole too big to patch. Looking to Tizoc, I struggled to find the right words to thank him, but how could mere words express the depth of my gratitude? By saving Daniel, Tizoc had saved me. Words didn’t have enough power for something like that. I stared at Tizoc, trying to send him my thanks, my strength, my love. He smiled, some of the honey color returning to his eyes.
“I know, Cihuapilli. But we are even. You freed me.”
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