by S. Young
“Yes. But ye’re different. I’ve heard good things about ye. When Selena is impressed, I’m impressed.” Abruptly, he released me. “Bird!” he called beyond me. Almost instantly, the tall, skinny boy who had served us food earlier—the one who had stared at me in detachment—appeared before us. Tiger put his arm around the boy and grinned. “This is my adopted son, Bird. Say hello, son.”
Bird smirked at me. “Hello, son.”
I almost rolled my eyes at his rehearsed insolence.
“Bird,” Tiger continued, “is one of the Glava.”
“Another mage?”
“Ye said it yerself, I’m a collector. I found Bird when he was five years old.”
I moved as if to lunge at him again and was surprised to find Wolfe’s hand on my wrist, squeezing it in restraint. I bared my teeth at Tiger. “You mean you took him.”
“Semantics.” Tiger waved my fury away. “Bird, show ’em what ye can do.”
His eyes laughing, Bird turned and looked at the Cael gypsy girl. She emitted a frightened yelp as we watched her hair float up into the air, strand by strand. She whimpered, and the two women beside her chortled and scooted away as first one arm popped up into the air and then the other. Finally, her entire body rose from the log as if held up by unseen hands. Panic suffused her, and she thrashed and screamed as she rose steadily higher.
“Stop!” she shrieked in terror. “Make it stop!”
None of the nomads seemed too distressed by the sight, although I noticed a few on the other side of the campfire glaring at Bird in disgust. I, too, was disgusted and was just about to reprimand Bird when Wolfe snarled, “You’ve had your fun. Let her go.”
Bird arched an eyebrow at Wolfe’s demand and then looked to his father. Tiger smirked at Wolfe. “The boy thinks he’s a hero.”
“Please,” I added, pleading with my eyes. Tiger frowned and then nodded at his son. He dropped the girl, and she fell with a hard thump onto the log and let go a howl of pain. “You bastard!” I yelled, forgetting myself.
“Now, now,” Tiger admonished and seemed to share a look with Vrik. “Ye’re right, son, perhaps she would do better for ye. I’m not sure Bird can handle her spirit.”
“Then give her to me.” Vrik reached and wrenched me to him.
“No!” Wolfe tried to come for me but was dragged back by the two Iavii. They held him fast and tight as he violently resisted.
Bird shrugged. “She’s not much to look at, Papa. I don’t care if ye give her to Vrik.”
I trembled in disbelief as these men casually decided among them which one would rape me.
Vrik trailed his fingers across my cheek. “I didn’t see the appeal at first either, but the more she snaps and snarls at ye, the prettier she seems to get.” He chuckled and then ran a hand down my waist and around my hip before he squeezed my bottom. “Plus, she’s luscious enough to bear healthy children.”
I winced at his manhandling, afraid to look at Wolfe who struggled and cursed at them all.
“I’ve changed my mind.” Bird turned to his father like a petulant little boy who had just discovered the boring toy he had given away did something interesting. “I want her.”
“Very well,” Tiger agreed. “We’ll do the handfasting on the morrow.”
Marriage!
I struggled in Vrik’s arms as he argued, “Papa, she clearly doesn’t want him—give her to me.”
“I don’t want any of you!” I screamed, fighting against him, but he wouldn’t yield. “You can’t do this to me!”
Tiger strode forward and pulled his hand back. I braced myself. His palm cracked across my cheek with a slap hard enough to roll my eyes back in my head. Harsh heat shot up the left side of my face and my eyes watered at the needles of pain. “You’ll be given to Bird. The Glava marries the Azyl.”
So that was Selena’s game, telling me I would marry one of the Glava.
Old, manipulative witch.
Suddenly, a shriek echoed around the campfire and I opened my eyes to see the fire in the center of camp roar high, high into the night as if it had been jerked awake from a deep slumber. The Iavii stumbled away from it, fleeing the site as the flames licked out at them like arms trying to snatch them back into the scorching death of its embrace.
Wide-eyed, I looked to Wolfe and found his eyes narrowed in concentration. Bird screamed and Vrik released me as a wall of fire encircled his father and adopted brother. Ignoring the blazing heat stroking my skin, I stared at Wolfe, feeling the crackling of his magic.
His magic?
His magic!
Wolfe was one of the Glava.
He reached for me, his arms encircling my waist as I was pulled into him, his chest to my back. Another fire shot up around Vrik and his men, another around the tents. Wolfe, still holding me, strode forward and grabbed the girl from the Caels who sat immobilized in shock. He dragged the child from the log and holding our hands, he began running, a wall of fire rearing up in our wake to block the Iavii from following us.
Wolfe headed to the house where two horses grazed. The girl seemed to come out of her frightened daze at the sight.
She ran toward the mare and jumped into the saddle like an acrobat. She grabbed the reins expertly, turning the horse to the west. Her eyes caught Wolfe’s and they swam with gratitude. “Thank you!” she yelled and then kicked her heels against the mare’s flanks and bolted away.
“Where is she going?” I yelled against the noise of the chaos behind us, still cold with shock despite the heat of the fire at my back.
“Back to her clan,” Wolfe grunted. “Come on, Rogan, move.” He vaulted onto the stallion and then reached a hand down for me. I just stared at him, still not believing what he had done, how powerful he was.
“Rogan!” he yelled and pulled at my arm. Shaking myself of my stupor, I reached for him and let him pull me onto the horse. His arms came around me, squeezing me tight, as he took hold of the reins and pushed the horse into a gallop.
Chapter 14
We rode in silence, pushing the horse to his limits to get as far from the Iavii as we could.
Wolfe was correct—we were very close to the border and soon, just as the stallion’s coat was beginning to sweat, we came to a stop on a hill. We stared down on a valley in the distance where the glass factories of Vasterya shaded the border. It had grown much bigger since I was a child, lots of dark, crooked buildings surrounding the factories. This was the rookery.
“We need to be extra careful here,” Wolfe warned, his voice pinched with tension. He dropped the reins, and I turned awkwardly to see what he was doing. He was shrugging out of his emerald military jacket. He threw it on the ground behind us.
“Won’t you be cold?” I asked, trembling a little myself.
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. From now on, I don’t want anyone to know who we are until we’ve returned to the Guard.”
Seeing wisdom in that, I nodded and let him move the stallion forward. I still hadn’t asked about the magic. For the first time, I felt real and true anger toward Wolfe—not angry at him because of who his father was but hurt and angry at him for his deception.
No one knew Wolfe was one of the Glava. Evidence suggested he was a powerful one too.
I stiffened as I began to understand why I was so mad at him.
“You all right?” Wolfe asked. I nodded, trying to ignore the heat of him at my back and the way my body wanted to relax into his.
I was angry because somewhere along the way, I had begun to trust this man. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I? Were the nightmares, the memories, that huge gaping hole in my heart not enough to remind me not to trust a Stovia?
I stewed in silence, sensing Wolfe’s tension. He was probably on tenterhooks waiting for me to ask why he had hidden the fact he was a mage. Dear haven, what awful vengeance he must have been planning.
And yet, why would he save me from the Iavii? Vengeance seemed incongruous to the man I’d come to know.
; Stop it! I yelled at myself. I didn’t know him, I didn’t know him at all, and it was that silly kind of girlish thinking that was going to get me killed.
Wolfe was keeping me alive because I was the only one who could save Haydyn.
Not long later we were inside the walls of the rookery.
The change in atmosphere was intense. Something ominous slithered over me and clung to my skin, causing chill bumps. There was a malevolence here. People hurried past, not even glancing at us, their heads down as they determinedly rushed to get inside out of the dark, dank, dirty streets. Urine and horse manure mixed with the smoke and smells from the glassworks. Houses and shops were shabbily constructed, soulless and frightened-looking buildings jammed together in crooked rows. There was little light here, streetlamps sparsely spaced between streets.
I could feel Wolfe’s shock matched my own. This was unbelievable.
“How could Markiz Solom Rada let this happen?” I whispered and turned to see Wolfe warily eyeing a boy who was staring at us.
“I don’t know,” he bit back. “We should have been told. We would have stopped this.”
“We will stop this,” I murmured, determinedly. “For now, we need a plan to return to the Guard.”
“I have a few coins I kept hidden. The Iavii didn’t get them. We’ll find somewhere with lodging so we can eat, rest, and send a message to the Guard in Ryl.”
“Will they still be there?”
“Yes. They’ll send some men out to search but they won’t move perchance we return to them. I’ll ask Lieutenant Chaeron to bring the men and meet us in Caera at Vojvodkyna Winter Rada’s home, as planned.”
I gave a brittle nod, thinking his plan sound, and sighed, deciding to trust him. For now. “We need to get a move on. We’ve already lost too much time.”
“I know.”
Wolfe had to stop and ask someone where the nearest inn was. We were pointed in the direction of a drinking tavern we were told had rooms above to rent. There were stables behind the tavern and we secured the horse, handing over coin to the stable boy who kept guard over the clientele’s horses.
Chilled as the night grew later, we headed into the tavern. We garnered the attention of all its occupants and conversation hushed. I was surprised when Wolfe’s hand slid into mine; I jolted at the fissures of pleasure that shot up my arm at the feel of his rough, warm fingers entwined with mine.
He gave a slight shake of his head, his blue eyes startling in the light of the barroom and warning me not to make a scene, to just go along with the hand-holding. I responded with a subtle nod and he relaxed a little, leading me past the chairs and tables, ignoring the other patrons. The noise rose again as we approached the bar, and the burly barkeep came over to us, a wide grin appearing in among his massive ginger beard.
“Well, good evening. What can I get you?”
I relaxed at this warm welcome, such a jarring contrast to the streets outside.
Wolfe nodded congenially. “Good evening. We would like a room, if you have one available.”
The barkeep’s eyes lit up, I gathered at the thought of earning the extra money from renting a room. He looked me over before turning back to Wolfe with a wink. “Aye, I’d be wanting a room, too, if I were you.”
I flushed despite being used to overhearing such talk among the Guard and servants back at the palace.
Wolfe squeezed my hand and shrugged at the barkeep. “My wife and I are tired—we’ve been traveling a while,” he lied, and I knew it was for my sake and my sense of propriety, a sense that seemed a little redundant considering everything we’d just experienced. “I’d like a room and some food sent up. Also, we had a little mishap on the road. You wouldn’t have some clean clothes we could purchase from you?”
“Not a problem, lad.” He reached under the bar and brought up a key. “Room 2 is available.” He pointed to stairs hidden in the shadows of the room. “Just up there. I’ll have my wife bring you a dinner plate and some clothes.”
“And some hot water,” I interjected, desperate to wash at least some of the grime off my body.
“Of course. That’ll be three and twenty.”
I tried not to gape at the outrageous charge, knowing we were deliberately being ripped off. Did we really look that desperate? I noted Wolfe’s irritation in the slight tensing of his jaw. However, Wolfe handed over the money and took the key, and he almost dragged me out of the barroom and upstairs.
“Are you trying to pull my arm out of the socket?” I snapped as we stepped onto the landing. Wolfe didn’t acknowledge my comment until he’d hauled me inside Room 2 and slammed the door shut with the heel of his boot. He locked it.
“I was trying to get you out of the bar before I had to fight those bloody men over you.”
My eyes widened as he strode toward the fire in the room and set about lighting it. The room was small with only a double bed (I noticed with a strange thump of my heart), but it was clean. “What are you talking about?”
Wolfe snorted. “These people have been left to live in squalor for too long. We should have known about this. Instead we sit on our plush cushions in Silvera, thinking the world outside happy and adoring and at peace. This isn’t peace.” He pointed outside the window as he glared at me. “Where have we been, Rogan? We’ve let our people come to this and we dare to look down our noses at them. Those men haven’t seen anything as fine as you in a long time, and I was making bloody sure we were out of there as fast as possible before they took it upon themselves to have you.”
“I didn’t notice.” I shook my head wearily, falling onto the bed. “I look a mess.”
Wolfe sighed and looked away, provoking the fire to life. “Wearing rags, you would still carry yourself like a lady.”
Ignoring the silly flutter in the pit of my belly, I tried to force our old dynamic and retorted stupidly, “I’m not a lady, Captain. I’m a farm girl.”
Wolfe stood and strode toward me, his eyebrow arched. “You are a lady, Rogan. Even if you’d remained on your farm, it’s just who you are.”
I desperately wanted to say something droll to quell the sudden tension between us but his compliment flustered me. His strange behavior struck me mute, and I was grateful when our supplies arrived to divert our attention.
The barkeep’s wife and two barmaids brought us food, clothing, and hot water, and then quickly departed, but not without the girls throwing come-hither looks at Wolfe. Dear haven, it was ridiculous how much female attention he garnered wherever we went. Ridiculous and irritating.
He didn’t seem to notice and as soon as the door closed behind the women, he locked it again. Without so much as a glance in my direction, he picked up the dress they had brought and threw it at me. “Get cleaned up and dressed. There’s a screen behind you.”
I tried not to blush at the thought of stripping naked in the same room as Wolfe. Pretending the same indifference he seemed to feel about the situation, I strode, head held high, across the room and disappeared behind the changing screen.
“There must be some stationery in here,” Wolfe muttered, and I heard him pulling at drawers and rummaging. At his sound of triumph, I was relieved to realize we would get word to the Guard. It had been a number of days since we’d been taken in Ryl, and I missed the comforting presence of Lieutenant Chaeron and the rest of the men.
A crash sounded from downstairs and I jumped, my dress falling to the floor. “What on Phaedra …?”
Wolfe grunted as yells followed more crashing. “Tavern brawl.”
A tavern brawl? My goodness, we were far away from home, weren’t we.
The noise below made me tense, and I tried to concentrate on the sound of Wolfe’s quill scratching against paper. If he didn’t seem too concerned, then I gathered I shouldn’t either.
My undergarments were in need of a wash, and I peeled them off with a sigh of relief. I’d just have to leave them here and make do with the rough blue dress the barkeep’s wife had brought me. It would scrat
ch my skin but I’d rather that than have to put dirty undergarments back on. I draped them over the top of the screen, vaguely aware that the scratching of quill against paper in the background had paused.
With the cloth and hot water the barkeep’s wife had provided, I gave myself a quick scrub, trying to be fast so the water wouldn’t be too cold when Wolfe used it. After a moment or so, I thought I heard Wolfe make a strangled sound and then the scratching of quill against paper resumed.
“Nearly done,” I told him, thinking perhaps he was getting impatient. I drew on the blue dress, a demure, work-worn thing, but it was clean and not too rough against my skin. Without my undergarments I’d feel the cold, but perhaps I could get Wolfe to procure a cloak for me.
When I stepped out, Wolfe was staring at the screen as if in a daydream.
“You better hurry,” I said, taking my undergarments off the screen and rolling them into a ball. “The water’s getting cold.”
He nodded, his lips pinched tightly. He brushed past me, barely sparing me a glance. I arched an eyebrow at his behavior but said nothing, having now given up on trying to understand anything about the man.
Speaking of which …
I tucked into the food that had been left, my trembling stomach glad for it, and waited as Wolfe, once clean and changed into a rough-looking pair of trousers, shirt, and waistcoat, ate his meal. Then I couldn’t stand it anymore. We were both sitting by the fire, enjoying the tranquility of the moment, and I couldn’t stop myself from ruining it.
“So, you’re a Glava?” I asked, even though there really was no question of it.
Wolfe stiffened. When he made no reply, I grew irritated.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I don’t want to talk about,” he dismissed, standing to take some coverings from the bed to make another bed on the floor.
“Seriously?” I stood. “You just destroyed an entire nomadic camp and you don’t want to talk about it?”
“No, I don’t.”