by Linda Kage
She looked my way with wide eyes, and I nodded, reminding her of our first encounter by calling, “Don’t forget: the body has more surface area to hit than the head.”
Quilla rolled her eyes, but I swear a grin was about to follow. Or it would have if horror hadn’t filled her face as she gaped at something behind me.
Realizing I was about to be ambushed, I ducked and heard the swoosh of air above me as a sword swung at the area where my head had just been. So I kicked out behind me, catching some unlucky bastard right between the legs. He cried out in pain and was doubling over by the time I swung around to face him. Figuring he was already suffering enough, I merely used the hilt of my sword to knock him over the head and render him unconscious. As he slumped to the earth, I thrust my sword forward and stabbed another man through the chest.
But another wave of men was approaching, and I knew there was no way to defeat them all.
I lifted my sword anyway, ready to die a soldier’s death.
In battle.
But just before they reached us, a row of hedge bushes appeared in front of me, their bushy leaves and thick branches nearly eight feet high and completely obscuring the small army from view.
“What the hell?” I heard one of the riders shout. “Where’d they go?”
I turned to find Melaina poised in a strike stance, arms lifted toward the hedgerow, knees slightly bent, and face full of concentration as she’d used her magic of disguise to cover us.
Except the wall was only an illusion. If the men only tried to walk through the hedge, they would meet no resistance whatsoever. I swung back, preparing for them to realize nothing actually stood between them and us.
But instead, the caw of a raven filled their air as it dive-bombed our attackers.
Holly.
The unicorn raven landed on the ground in front of us, transforming as she went so that she morphed and grew, shedding her feathers for scales and growing enormous. She landed with such a massive thud on the ground that the earth shook. A great roar emerged from her lungs as she spread her wings, the wind produced from the move totally blowing away the glamoured hedgerow Melaina had just made.
Not that hiding us mattered anymore. The riders who were attacking didn’t seem to care about us with Holly—transformed into a giant dragon—looming before them. She reached out her talons and caught one man by the waist, plucking him from his horse and flinging him to the side. He flew about twenty feet before crashing into the side of a boulder and slumping limply to the ground.
Then Holly tucked in her neck as if inhaling, only to breathe out a stream of fire.
“Holy shit.”
She sprayed the ground in front of our enemies, making a wall of flames separate us from them. They screamed as if she were burning them alive—which she totally wasn’t—and they wheeled around on their horses, fleeing in all directions.
I shook my head in complete awe. “Unicorns are so badass.”
“Yeah.” Quilla appeared at my side. She seemed similarly transfixed by the forest destruction Holly was reaping before she glanced at me in a daze. “So how the hell did you get one to be so devoted to you?”
I shrugged. “I just gave her a backrub and sweet treat.” Then I grinned. “Maybe that’s what I should’ve tried with you from the beginning, huh?”
She groaned and rolled her eyes at my pathetic joke.
“Indigo?” a male voice said from behind me.
I spun around, weapon raised, only to stop dead. “Axel?”
He’d somehow gotten past Holly’s barrier of fire, and instead of running, like everyone else diving for cover was doing, he sought us out instead.
Always so brave, that Axel.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised he would be among a posse that was out hunting Graykeys, but I was.
When his gaze strayed past me, it narrowed with hate, and he lifted his sword for an attack.
“Don’t want to alarm you or anything,” he said calmly, never taking his gaze off Quilla. “But you might want to step this way, cousin. You’ve found yourself in the presence of a Graykey.”
I glanced back at Quilla who was slowly backing away and had found another dagger. She lifted it threateningly, prepared to let it fly.
Turning back to Axel, I asked, “Her? How do you know?”
He crept a few paces closer to her, but since I was still safely positioned between the two, I didn’t stop his approach.
“We set up a magical perimeter around my father’s home. Any Graykey that crosses the boundary trips an alarm to alert us to their presence and turns their eyes black.”
I whirled back to check Quilla’s eyes. “Son of a bitch,” I murmured in surprise. I’d been so busy checking her over everywhere else for injuries I guess I hadn’t looked into her eyes. She still had the whites, but the browns of her irises were all black now, as if the pupil had swallowed them whole. It was kind of creepy to look at, actually.
Returning my attention to Axel, I asked, “Is there any way to turn them back to normal?”
“If she escaped the magic perimeter, they’d return to normal, but we’re not going to let that happen, are we, cousin? We can take her out now. Together.” Then he paused, frowning, and sent me an odd look, finally catching on to the fact that something wasn’t quite as he thought it was with the situation. “Wait.” Straightening, he blinked at me. “Why would you ask that?”
I didn’t have an answer for him. At least, not one he’d like.
“You already knew what she was,” he finally realized. “Jesus, Indy. What’re you doing?”
I lifted my hands, trying to reassure him. “It’s not as bad as you think, Axel. She’s not dangerous.”
“She’s a fucking Graykey. Hell yes, she’s dangerous. Her curse could turn her toward her bloodlust right now. She could kill us all with her magical—”
“No,” I told him. “She won’t. She got rid of her magic. Willingly traded it with a non-magic-bearer. The bloodlust could no more consume her than it could you.”
“Don’t believe her lies, Indy,” Axel begged me, trying to sidestep a wide berth around me in order to reach her but not getting any closer. “You’re better than that. Hell, you of all people have more reason to hate them than anyone.”
I felt Quilla through my mark, moving with him, keeping me in his direct path. So I turned with my cousin, constantly facing him as he walked, making sure he stayed in front of me and she stayed behind.
“She’s not the one who told me about shedding her magic, though. So how could she lie about it? I got the information from five witnesses—one of them being the King of Donnelly and two were High Cliff royalty. I’m telling you, Quilla is not dangerous.”
“Quilla?” he spat incredulously. “You call that monster by name?”
“She’s my true love, Axel.”
That finally snapped his attention away from Quilla so he could gape incredulously at me. I tapped my tattoo, and he sucked in a breath, rasping, “Jesus. Indigo, no. You—you can’t be serious.”
“I am. And so, you’re not touching a hair on her head,” I promised my cousin. “I can’t allow it.”
“Let me kill her for you,” he entreated. “Once your mark fades after her death, your bond to her will die too. I can free you.”
“I’d sooner die myself,” I growled, pissed that he would even suggest what he had.
He shook his head slowly, then answered, “So be it.”
Lifting his sword, he charged. I parried and blocked easily, sighing in disappointment. “Still like the initial bold and direct attack, I see. You haven’t changed much.”
“Neither have you,” he countered. “You still critique every damn move I make.” Then he surprised me by flicking out his sword point and catching me in the side.
“Indigo!” Quilla cried out in worry, and Axel sneered at her.
I lifted my eyebrows and blew out a pained breath. “Better,” I congratulated him, only to catch him off guard right ba
ck, attacking his sword with a force that caused it to go sailing away from his hand. Then I backed him into a tree and held my blade against his throat.
“We don’t have to do this, Axel. Just step aside and let us go without a fight, and you’ll never hear from us again. She’s not a danger to the Outer Realms; I swear it.”
He snorted an incredulous sound and shook his head. “My father would kill me if I let her go.”
“And I’ll kill you if you don’t. Don’t make me kill you. Cousin, please. You were the only person in your father’s home who showed me any kindness. I don’t wish to hurt you.”
“I guess I’ll just have to kill you first before you can, then.”
“Look out!” Quilla shoved me away from Axel just as he pulled up a dagger and thrust it forward. The blade barely nicked my tunic as I stumbled to the side.
Suddenly freed from the sword I’d been holding to his neck, Axel shot toward Quilla, snarling, “Graykey whore! How could you? He was a good person. He was family.”
Melaina screamed as he lifted his dagger and slashed the blade down toward Quilla’s face. Except I caught him from behind and snapped his neck.
Letting out a choked sob, he went limp. His knife dropped away from her as he sagged backward into me. I caught him in my arms and cradled him gently before easing him down to the ground, where I laid his body in the grass and slowly stepped back, staring in a daze at his dead, unseeing eyes. Then I gripped my head in my own hands and muttered, “Goddammit, Axel. You idiot. It didn’t need to come to this.”
Holly appeared between my legs in her cat form, meowing piteously and winding around my ankles as if trying to comfort me. She sniffed at Axel’s body once, then hissed in distaste, and flounced away.
I glanced up to find that the other two dozen men who’d attacked us were gone, all having run away from the fire-breathing dragon.
Why the hell hadn’t Axel run too?
“We need to get out of here,” Melaina said. “Before they realize the dragon isn’t pursuing them, and they come back.”
I nodded. She spoke with reason—reason I should be having right now. But I couldn’t seem to think straight, so I just followed them when Quilla tugged at my arm gently.
Holly turned into a brown mare with a complete saddle ready for me to ride. I climbed aboard, not even thinking about how much easier it was to ride again with both hands unbound. She started after the other two horses, and we were heading toward the road again.
Quilla glanced at me, worry lacing her gaze. “Do we need to do anything with his body?”
I glanced toward my cousin’s corpse as it grew smaller the farther away we rode, and I shuddered with grief but shook my head. “No. His father lives nearby. They’ll find him soon enough and take care of him.”
She winced. “Will he know it was you?”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Either way, we’ll be long gone by then.”
Clicking my tongue, I hurried Holly’s pace and sent our party moving along a little faster.
Chapter 24
Quilla
“Wow,” Melaina muttered to me as she rode up alongside my horse. “Murder sure does make that one a downer, doesn’t it?” She lifted her eyebrows archly as she took in Indigo, trotting ahead of us along the path. “He’s been sulking ever since he killed that man. Probably wouldn’t even react at all if I tried to harass him right now. The buzzkill.”
“It was his cousin,” I muttered, casting her a stern glance. “He just killed his cousin. To protect us. Give him a break.”
“Oh, he didn’t do anything to protect me, darling. That was all for your benefit.”
That didn’t exactly make me feel better.
I swallowed thickly, trying not to think about what he’d just done for me.
“Regardless,” I bit out. “If you don’t allow him time to process what just happened before you start in on him again with your nagging, I will hurt you, understand?”
“Hey, if the man can’t take a little razzing,” she started dramatically. “Then what good is he?”
“Just leave him the fuck alone, Melaina.”
“Fine. Jesus, you’re as bad as he is.” Huffing, she rode off to travel by herself.
Sighing, I rolled my head on my shoulders to keep from berating her. She couldn’t help it, I tried to remind myself. Her compassion had been suppressed. It physically hurt her to feel kindness or anything soft and loving.
But damn, now wasn’t a good time for her to be so her either.
Indigo was hurting.
Unable to deal with her Melaina-ness right now, I clicked my tongue and urged my horse to move past hers so I could catch up with him.
We’d been on the road for hours, not pushing our mounts to full speed but keeping the pace faster than usual. And he hadn’t spoken to either of us in all that time. He wasn’t humming or whistling that irritatingly cheerful tune of his. He wasn’t begging for details about Earth. He wasn’t trying to flirt with me.
It was all just…
Wrong.
Except I had no idea what to say once I reached him. Being raised by an empathy-challenged aunt had not equipped me with comforting skills. I usually avoided all emotion or just stuck with the safe ones like anger or irritation. Because happiness didn’t last. Sadness sucked. So did fear. And love…
Love was a fucking myth.
I think.
But Indigo seemed to find happiness no matter what. We had shackled him, taken his horse, stabbed him, cut him, threatened him, and yet he continued to smile and hum and light up from within as if he were his own source of illumination.
To see all that brightness snubbed out seemed like the worst sort of offense. The world needed exactly his kind of optimism.
And knowing it was my fault that he’d lost it made everything worse.
“I’m fine,” he said without even looking at me.
I sighed. Typical Indigo, reading my emotions and reacting to them, making sure everything was okay for me. I guess I should be relieved that at least that feature hadn’t changed about him. But it made me feel worse.
“You’re bleeding,” I said.
He glanced down at his side, where blood soaked through his ruined tunic. “It’ll heal.”
Christ.
Maudlin, two-word Indigo was almost as bad as everyday Melaina. I glanced back to scowl at my aunt—just because. And she merely rolled her eyes as if to say see what I mean.
Ignoring her, I turned back to Indigo and blurted, “I’m sorry, okay?”
That finally got his attention. Glancing at me as if I’d lost my mind, he blinked once before saying, “Sorry for what?”
“For…” I slashed a frustrated hand through the air. “I don’t know! For being a Graykey. For being your true love. For—for being the reason you had to kill your own fucking cousin today. I’m just sorry. It’s all my fault. And I—I—If I hadn’t—”
Reaching out, Indigo rendered me silent by simply catching a piece of my hair and running it gently between his fingers. “None of this was your fault.”
“But I could’ve sided with you when you suggested we take the ferry to Moore instead of the canyon pass. Or I could've—”
He shook his head, silencing me as he dropped my hair and set his hand on his thigh. “You’re not at fault,” he repeated. “And there’s no reason to feel guilty or sorry. Hell, I’m not even sorry. I didn’t have to kill him. I wanted to. The moment he lifted that knife, intent to take your life, I wanted him dead. He was my cousin, I did like him, and I mourn the loss, but he made the wrong choice, and I don’t regret defending you. Not ever.”
I opened my mouth as if I should argue that point, but I didn’t know what to say.
Indigo kept talking. “I’m not sorry you’re my true love, either,” he told me. “I think the mark was spot on when it targeted you. You’re the perfect blend I need for a life partner. You’re not easy, no, but I like that, too. You challenge me and check me when I’m wr
ong. You hide your hopes and dreams behind a scowl and a dagger, keeping so much of yourself a mystery. And mysteries are things I just happen to love uncovering, so every time I learn something new, it’s not just a delightful surprise, but a fucking triumph. And you care when I’m sad. Like now.” Blue eyes filling with emotion, he nodded to me, murmuring, “Thank you for that. It means more than you know.”
I swallowed, definitely not sure how to answer now.
His mouth tipped up on one corner and amusement flickered through his gaze. “Want to know something else?” he asked. “I’m not even sorry you’re a Graykey.”
I snorted.
But he insisted, “I’m not. I’ve spent too many years hating and fearing the name. I only saw the horror your house was capable of and the destruction it wrought. Yet after getting to know you…” He shook his head and faced forward. “You’re not evil. You’re just human. As fallible and emotional yet still capable of kindness as the rest of us.”
“Emotional?” I gurgled in indignation.
He gave me a full grin this time. “Yeah. You’re full of the same emotions I have. You don’t like to admit you have them, but I feel them. I’m feeling them right now.” Gaze bursting with a soft affection, he murmured, “And you don’t have to worry about me, alright? I’m fine.”
“If you were fine,” I charged, “you wouldn’t be riding up here, brooding.”
“Brooding?” he said in surprise.
“Yes, brooding. You’d be back there with us, annoying everyone with all your questions about Earth or cracking those pitifully awful jokes.”
He sniffed indignantly. “My jokes aren’t pitiful. Stupid, yes. Corny, definitely. But I think they’re rich with deep, thought-provoking, and pun-filled entertainment.”
“The man was delighted after a burglar stole all his lamps,” I repeated one of the jokes he’d told us last night. “Really?” He thought that was thought-provoking?