Unveiled (Raven Daughter Book 1)

by A. D. Trosper

  Bethany’s voice calling my name finally cut through the weird fog in my brain. I looked at her curiously. “What?”

  The pain hit and I almost passed out. Bethany kept me from falling over. “Should I take it out?”

  “Don’t touch it.” Any movement made it hurt worse.

  In the clearing, bathed in the bright moonlight, Caius stood in the middle of the trampled snow surrounded by bloody chunks. He morphed back into his human form and sank to his knees, head hanging in exhaustion. I caught a glimpse of bone through the gaping tear in his side and he wasn’t breathing right. The rips across his abdomen still oozed blood down his front and his right leg was soaked in it.

  I searched the clearing for his cloak and saw it laying several feet from where I sat. Panting past the pain, I looked Bethany in the eye. “Okay, never mind. Pull it out.”

  “What?” Panic filled her voice.

  “I’m not going to try to walk around with this stuck in me and I need to get to him.” I gritted my teeth and tried to stay calm.

  “But it’s in your chest!”

  “I don’t think it hit anything other than muscle.” I gave her a smile that was probably more of a grimace. “If I’m wrong…you can have my sister.”

  “That’s not funny.” She looked at Caius then back at me. Resolve hardened her eyes and she grasped the slender branch in a firm grip. I swallowed the moan that tried to escape. With a quick jerk, she yanked it out. Blood, held back by the branch, spilled down my chest. The world went dark.

  “Jo! Oh god’s, Jo! Wake up.”

  My eyes opened and the blurry world slowly came into focus as the shudder-worthy taste of replenisher flooded my mouth. I swallowed it down. It wasn’t enough, it would take more than one vial to fix me, but it might make me functional long enough. I looked toward Caius. I still bled, though not quite as bad, and Caius still kneeled in the center of the clearing. Good, I’d only been out for a few seconds.

  “Get his cloak.” I pointed in the general direction of where it lay.

  While she went to grab it, I forced myself to get up, amazed that I could. It wasn’t easy, but despite passing out for a second, I was still riding an adrenaline high. Taking the cloak from Bethany, I staggered to Caius’s side—my brain was having trouble with the whole balance thing—and dropped to my knees in the muck. Reaching into one of the pockets in his cloak, my fingers closed on his vials of replenisher.

  Caius turned weary eyes in my direction, his face almost gray from blood loss. And then he collapsed backward into the snow. It cut through some of the fog still clogging my head.

  “Don’t you dare even think of dying, you stupid demonborn!” I yanked the stopper off the first vial and tipped it into his mouth. It trickled past his lips and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw him swallow it.

  “Fighting a Sentinel,” I growled and pulled the stopper off the second vial then poured it into his mouth. “And then taking on a bunch of asshole demonborn.”

  The wounds on his leg and abdomen started to close, and the one on his side looked better. The stopper came off the next vial. This time, his hand met mine and took the vial from me. He downed the contents on his own. I opened the next one while he glared at me through narrowed eyes.

  I glared right back through the one eye I could see out of, the other was still blurry. “Don’t look at me like that. You have no right to be pissed off at me. I wasn’t the one trying to kill everyone at once. I’m not the one on the verge of death.”

  Weakness made my hand shake when I shoved the next vial at him, furious that he dared to glare at me while I saved his life. The anger took the edge off my own pain which was starting to get worse now that my high was wearing off.

  He sat up and drank the next vial. The slash in his side was nearly healed and the puncture in his chest that had mirrored mine was gone. His glare only became more intense and he snapped, “I wouldn’t have died. I would have been down for a while, but not dead. I don’t die easily.”

  “Well good for you.” Ticked at his attitude, I stood on shaky legs, whirled around, took two unsteady steps and face-planted in the snow. Oh, duh. I hadn’t healed just because he had. I heard Caius getting up as I barely managed to roll over.

  “Josephine.” Irritation filled his voice. “It doesn’t help to try and save me while you continue to bleed.”

  He knelt and held my head in his lap while he dug in my pocket for replenisher and opened the first vial. “You know, you could have stopped and taken some of this.”

  I swallowed when the nasty liquid hit my tongue. “Bethany gave me one.”

  “She should have dumped several down you.” He gave me another of mine then opened one of his own vials. At my questioning look, he said, “You are going to need both to fully heal. Too much demon blood.”

  I nearly gagged when he dumped his replenisher down my throat, the taste of tar familiar from when I completed the partial bond. I also had a vague memory of it from the cave. He poured another dose of his into my mouth. The two doses of demonborn replenisher burned through my veins like a flash fire.

  Thankfully, it didn’t last as long or hurt quite as much this time. Then the napalm sensation faded and I was able to sit up on my own, the pain nearly gone as everything finished healing. Even my head felt normal except for the sticky mess of blood all over one side of it.

  “Well, at least we’ll both live.” I tried to stand and ended up back on my butt. “I thought that crap healed.”

  “It heals wounds and can tide you over if you’re in need of food. It doesn’t put blood back in your veins,” his voice was heavy with the weariness from his own loss.

  I leaned on him. “How short-sighted of the people who concocted it.”

  He chuckled and slowly got to his feet, shrugged into his cloak then pulled me up beside him. Together, we managed to support each other as we staggered to the edge of the clearing where Bethany stood watching us with wide eyes. Caius flopped down in the clean snow next to a tree and leaned his back against the trunk, resting his head on the smooth bark.

  I sank next him, leaning on his arm. “Where is everyone?”

  Silence reigned in the forest as Bethany scanned the area around us. “I don’t know.” She used the bottom edge of her cloak, wet with snow, to wipe the blood off my face. “Do you think it’s safe to go looking for them?”

  “I don’t think any enemies are still around,” Caius said.

  I looked up at his face, his eyes were closed. “What about the one who threw the branch? He took off while you were still fighting the others.”

  “I know.” Caius didn’t open his eyes. “I saw him shift and then take to the sky. Probably to take the news of our biggest weakness to the others who want to see us dead.”

  “Our biggest weakness?” I frowned.

  He opened his eyes briefly to look at me. “If they attack me, they hurt you and the other way around. If they kill one of us, they incapacitate the other.”

  The implications hit me hard. He was right. I might have done better against the demonborn that attacked me if I hadn’t already carried his injury and then been inflicted with his others. Likewise, he would have been better off not getting the same stab or scalp wounds as me. All they needed to do was get one of us, not both.

  Bethany gave a weary sigh and said, “I’m going to go traipse around the woods then and see if anyone else made it.”

  I nodded. “Don’t get eaten by wolves.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me and walked away. I chuckled and moved closer to Caius. Now that the adrenaline rush was all over, the fact I was sitting in snow started to register. I closed my eyes, too exhausted to hold them open. I didn’t sleep though. Tired though I was, I kept my ears tuned to the forest around us, listening for signs of my friends. And even Caius’s family. Lilly had saved my ass, twice, after all.

  The cold seeped around me as we sat there in the dark, my breath coming out as vapor. I tried to keep any shivering to a minimum so
I didn’t bother Caius. Apparently, I didn’t do a good enough job because, without a word, he opened his cloak, dragged me onto his lap and wrapped the cloak around both of us, his arms locked over me.

  I was too tired to protest. I just laid my head on his chest and let the heat radiating off his body soak through my own cloak and warm me. With the sound of his heart and even breathing in my ear, and the spicy, earthy scent that was uniquely his in my nose, my lids drifted shut. As I faded into sleep, I thought I felt the brush of his lips on my forehead.

  ***

  “Her determination to save my life, even when I didn’t truly need it, warmed me even as her disregard for herself irritated me.” ~Caius

  Chapter 39

  I came back to awareness slowly, though I didn’t bother to open my eyes; they still felt like lead weights were attached to the lids anyway. Something had roused me. Talking, that’s what it was and it was still quietly going on.

  “Didn’t work out too well last time,” someone said. Malik? It sounded like him.

  Caius’s voice rumbled in my ear that was pressed against his chest, “It’s under control. There is nothing for you to worry about.”

  “Doesn’t look like it from where I stand.” Malik’s tone was a mix of amusement and apprehension. “And what happened last time will be nothing to what will happen if you do this.”

  “I didn’t ask for your opinion. Or for you to remind me of the consequences.” The rough edge of anger entered Caius’s voice. “Like I said, I have it under control.”

  “And, like I said, doesn’t look like it.”

  “What was I supposed to do, let her shiver half to death?”

  “Ah, brother, if this was all I wouldn’t say a word. But I’ve seen the way—”

  Extra heat flared off Caius as a low growl rumbled deep in his chest, cutting Malik short.

  I heard a frustrated sigh. “Fine, brother. You have this under control.”

  Was Malik upset Caius was keeping me warm? I ran through their conversation once more and I knew what Malik had been about to say because James had mentioned the same thing. I tried to think of a time I’d seen Caius looking at me the way James and Malik seemed to think he did and couldn’t remember one.

  What I could remember was how I felt when I thought he was dying and grudgingly admitted to myself that he was growing on me. He wasn’t just some powerful demonborn I was bound to. And for me, he wasn’t just an ally or friend anymore either. I didn’t know exactly what he was to me or how I felt about him, but it ran deeper than that.

  I drifted back to sleep while still trying to identify what he was to me now.

  When I woke next, it was light. Voices filled the area around us, conversations overlapping each other. Caius had shifted away from the tree at some point and stretched out. Still wrapped in his cocoon of warmth, I was flat on my stomach on top of him, my cheek resting on his chest, my legs on either side of him, and his arms still around me. Heat crept into my face at the intimate position. I lifted my head to look around.

  Rowen stood several yards away, his eyes on me and a scowl on his face.

  “Good morning,” Caius said quietly.

  “Morning.” I started trying to figure out the best way to get up without making it more compromising than it already was. To distract myself from that thought I asked, “How long did I sleep?”

  “About five hours.” Amusement threaded his voice and I looked at his face. His head rested on someone’s balled up crimson cloak as he watched me with the same amusement reflected in his eyes.

  More blood rushed to my cheeks as I tried to shift to the side, there had to be a way to untangle myself from his cloak without…touching anything.

  With a chuckle, Caius opened his cloak, gripped me around the hips and lifted, dumping me in the snow next to him. The shock of the sudden cold drew a gasp from me and I scowled at him.

  He chuckled again and said, “You looked overheated. Your face was flushed; I thought maybe you needed to cool down.”

  The reminder of what had me blushing in the first place raised another one and I looked away before Caius could witness my face spontaneously combust. I tried to convince myself it was no big deal that I’d been sprawled on top of him when I woke. We were both completely clothed. Just staying warm. Never mind that I’d never even come close to a position like that.

  “Hmmm, guess being too warm wasn’t the problem.” I heard him sit up.

  The teasing note in his voice only made me blush worse. For once, I didn’t have a sarcastic remark to fling back at him. I wanted to run and hide. Unable to be a complete coward, I schooled my expression into something neutral before finally looking at him. He sat with one knee up, his arm draped across it. I cleared my throat and said, “Thanks for letting me sleep with you.”

  His lips curved into a slight smile and he arched an eyebrow.

  Heat completely filled my face when I realized how that sounded. Retreat was the best option. Especially with the way his golden eyes turned molten and sent unfamiliar, yet not unpleasant, warmth curling into my stomach. I got to my feet, mumbled something about checking on my friends, and walked quickly away.

  The churned, bloodstained, half-melted snow and scorch marks in the center of the clearing showed where the shredded demonborn and dead Sentinel had been burned. The sight was like a bucket of cold water. The night before came rushing back. I scanned the people around the edge of the clearing, spotting Malik and Lilly among Caius’s family. It looked like they all fared well.

  My thoughts jumped to Hannah, James, and the rest of my friends as I hurried to where they were resting in a melted area among several fires that burned a few inches off the ground. It seemed Caius’s family was taking care of mine.

  Rowen’s dark gaze followed me as I drew closer to them. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Hannah, curled up in a pile of crimson cloaks and sound asleep. I guess the demonborn decided to let my side use their cloaks since the cold didn’t affect them. My side. Their side. I wasn’t so sure there were sides dividing our groups anymore.

  Rowen moved to intercept me as I walked toward the fire that Bethany, James, and Aaron sat near. I could guess from the scowl I’d seen when I woke up, he wasn’t happy about me warming up with Caius. Heat crept up my face again at the way that sounded in my head and I tried to correct it. Sleeping with…Sleeping on. Oh for Charon’s sake. It was better if I just didn’t think about it.

  “I need to speak with you, privately,” he said as he strode past me and farther into the trees.

  With a sigh, I followed him. I decided to act like nothing was wrong because technically it wasn’t. Yes, I’d been embarrassed when I woke up. And I was pretty sure Caius flirted with me only because he found my embarrassment funny.

  Rowen finally stopped when we were far enough away the others couldn’t easily overhear and said, “This can’t go any further.”

  I frowned, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “What?”

  “Whatever is happening between you and Caius. It has to stop, right now.” His dark eyes bored into mine as if he could lift how I felt about the demonborn from my mind.

  I shrugged. “There’s nothing happening.”

  “Then what was that?” He pointed in the direction of the clearing and I assumed he meant the way I had slept.

  “It was cold. I nearly died. Caius nearly died. We were exhausted and I was freezing. He kept me warm.” I crossed my arms, feeling defensive.

  “He could have started a fire for you, just like the other demonborn did for the rest of us.” Rowen paced in front of me.

  “He was in pretty bad shape before I dumped replenisher down him, so maybe he didn’t want to use his energy creating fire when he could keep me warm with body heat.”

  Rowen came to stop. “This kind of relationship isn’t allowed. Children, angels, and demons do not have relationships with each other.”

  “Yeah, well, that didn’t stop Elijah.” He was starting to irritate me now. It wa
sn’t that I thought I was ever going to have a relationship with Caius. It was the fact that he was telling me I couldn’t that raised a rebellious streak in me.

  Rowen took a step closer. “And look how that turned out.”

  “Yeah, I exist. I know that sucks for everyone.” Rowen opened his mouth to speak, but I overrode him. “Look, I’ve already been marked for arrest and likely death by someone with the power to make that decision. At least one bitchy Archdemon wants to kill me, and a bunch of demonborn would like to do the same. I broke all the rules just by being born. There were plenty who thought maybe I shouldn’t be allowed to live just because of that. I played by the rules, became the best reaper I could be, and did what the Head of Reapers requested of me and it got me this.” I motioned toward the clearing.

  “So,” I continued, “whatever I decide to do, or not do, in the future will not be based on the rules set by people who want me dead because I exist.”

  Without waiting for his reply, I turned around and headed back through the trees until I reached the fires at the edge of the clearing. I hadn’t meant to say so much to Rowen, but his attitude got the better of me. Still fuming, I flopped down next to Bethany and glared at the flames. None of them said anything for a long time, which was good. I needed to stay angry for a little while longer or I would cry and I wasn’t about to do that in front of everyone.

  Finally, Bethany glanced at me. “What’s up with you and Caius?”

  I let out an exasperated sigh. “There is nothing up with Caius and me.”

  “Okay, okay.” She held up her hands in surrender. “It just looked…”

  “He kept me from freezing to death. That’s it. Everyone is free to let it drop now.”

  James bit his lip and I could tell he wanted to say something. I shot him a glare. He wisely kept his mouth shut. I was already tired of everyone assuming Caius and I were a thing. Other than that bit of flirting, Caius gave no indication he wanted a thing with me. And, honestly, I didn’t even know how I felt or what I wanted. Or if what I wanted even mattered. When he was just the demonborn I was bound to, it hadn’t been so damn confusing.