I grit my teeth and take a breath through my nose. I’m being unfair. This isn’t his fault, and this…this is just Mal dealing in the way Mal does.
“I don’t recognize any of the demons Mammon sent.”
“Grunts,” he says. “Faceless fucking grunts.”
“Well-trained grunts.”
They have the cadets, and Master Luena, the traitor, is in on this. I recall her smile as we were dragged, semi-conscious, to the carriage. She will die for this. I’ll make sure of it.
Mal caresses the wood. “It’s laced with obsidian,” he says. “Won’t be easy to get out of.”
“It will once we have access to our scythes.” Which might be never if they keep us drugged. I peer through a gap in the wood out at the dirt track and then up at the moon. “I think we’re headed east. They’ll need to stop soon to rest the drake.”
“That could be our chance to escape,” Mal says.
I do value his optimism. It fuels my determination, because I know if we fail, if these bastards get us to Mammon, then nothing will save us.
“I kinda wish I’d stayed longer with Fee,” Mal says softly.
We’re both thinking the same thing: what if we never see her again?
“Can you get a message to her?” Mal asks. “Let her feel we’re alive?”
I shake my head. “The drug’s messing with the soul bond right now.”
He sighs and drops his head back against the wood. “Yeah, makes sense. Let’s hope the messengers we dispatched made it out.”
I don’t have the heart to tell him I saw one take an arrow to the leg and the other…I watched several of Mammon’s demons chase him.
If either made it out, it would be a miracle. But maybe a miracle is just what we need right now.
“Fee will have made it, though,” Mal says. The moonlight lancing in through the gaps in the wood highlights his wistful smile. “She’ll fucking make it, Az. That woman is resilient as fuck.”
I close my eyes and picture her face. I can’t give up. I won’t.
I will find my way back to you, Fee. Or I’ll die trying. And then an idea forms in my mind, so obvious I want to kick myself for not having thought of it sooner.
My eyes snap open. “We need to move about.”
“What?” Mal asks.
“Metabolize this shit in our systems. Come on.”
“There’s not exactly much room in here.” Mal’s eyes light up. “But all we need to do is get our heart rates pumping. Exertion will do it.” He grins. “Fancy an arm wrestle?”
Chapter Fifteen
Fee
“I’m not leaving you,” Uriel said. “I let you down in Limbo, I know, but I won’t let you down again.” His expression was a mixture of determination and shame.
Oh God, did he think that was the reason I was sending him back? “Uri…” I grasped his hand and looked up into his face searchingly. “You did not let me down. That is not why I’m asking you to head back.”
“It isn’t?” He looked confused. “Then why?”
“I need you to let Grayson and Cora know what went down. They need to know the power is free, and they need to know what Keon and I are about to do in case…in case we fail. I need you to make sure that the power is doing what he’s meant to and that the Righteous keep their end of the bargain.” His shoulders dropped, and I lifted his hand and clasped it to my chest. “I need you to do this for me.”
“Of course,” he said. “But if you’re not back in a few hours, I’m coming after you. I’ll find a way into the Underealm.”
I believed him. I pushed up on my tiptoes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and hugged him, allowing his aura to roll over me. He went still, but I didn’t care. I needed this hug. He needed this hug. We all needed hugs, but then his arms were around me. Me, and he was hugging me back. My heart bloomed with joy.
“Keep her safe.” Uriel’s chest vibrated against me as he spoke.
“It’s what I do,” Keon said.
Uriel pulled back and looked down at me, his ember gaze a soft caress. “What did happen while we were unconscious?”
I kissed the corner of his mouth, savoring his magnolia scent, and then stepped away from him.
“I’ll tell you over coffee and donuts when this is all over.”
He gave me a pointed look as if to say, I’ll hold you to that, and then he winked out.
“Come on,” Keon said. “Night’s still young, and there’s blood to be shed.”
“Or you could just say we have saving to do.”
“I like my way better.”
Figured.
Keon made sure we approached the crossroads tavern from the opposite direction he believed Mammon’s men would arrive. We landed in the shadows by a creek behind the tavern and crouched in the darkness.
“Stay here,” Keon said. “Let me scope out the place.”
I nodded and he set off, moving so sinuously he was one with the shadows and I lost sight of him. How the fuck did he do that? I guess that’s what made him an excellent assassin.
Would I see him coming when I was his target?
No, don’t think about it. That day might never come.
But the squirm in my gut told me it would and that I was playing with fire and that I needed to stop moving forward with Keon and take several steps back. But that kiss…
The crack of a twig had my head whipping around to search the shadows behind me. “Keon?” I whisper-hissed.
A shadow rushed me, and my pending scream was cut off by a hand over my mouth. My instinct was to fight, and I inhaled through my nose, ready to do just that, and froze as my attacker’s scent permeated my senses.
My eyes grew hot, and I sagged back against him. He slowly removed his hand and gripped my shoulders gently.
My body trembled as I turned to face him. His sapphire gaze lit up as it scanned my face, and then the corner of his mouth turned up slightly.
“Hello, Fee.”
“Conah…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I received a message from Azazel. I figure the caravan will head this way.”
I nodded mutely.
“Is Keon with you?”
I nodded again. God, I’d forgotten how beautiful he was. I’d forgotten what his voice could do to me.
“Keon’s scouting.”
“Good,” Conah said. “I have a small group of men with me. We’ll get them back.”
I wanted to ask him how he was doing? I wanted to hug him, but the last words he’d said to me lingered in my mind.
He’d made it clear we wouldn’t be friends, that all we could ever be was colleagues.
I pushed back the emotions and tore my gaze from his face, fixing it on the tavern in the distance. I caught a flash of movement so quick I would have thought I imagined it if I didn’t know Keon was out there.
Conah sucked in a sharp breath, and I turned to find a dagger at his throat. He grimaced.
“I could have killed you,” Keon said. “I thought you were trained not to be distracted by the shiny stuff?”
Shiny stuff, as in me?
Conah dropped his gaze. “Keon, what did you find?”
“The caravan just pulled up. There are three carriages. I believe one holds the cadets, and the one laced with obsidian holds Azazel and Malachi. The final one must be for Mammon’s men.”
“The fact that Az and Mal haven’t broken free means they’ve been incapacitated,” Conah said.
Oh shit. “You don’t think they’ve been drugged with that stuff…The stuff they used on you last time?”
Conah pressed his lips together and nodded.
Shit. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“We cause a diversion,” Keon said. “Draw the guards to the tavern, and then one of us sets them free.”
“How many guards?” Conah asked.
“Six have been left behind to guard the two carriages. No sign of Master Luena; she may be in the carriage with the cadets. The rest of Mammon’s men are inside the tavern. I counted six more.”
“There had to have been more men,” Conah said. “They probably left by air.”
“So we create a distraction.” I looked from Keon to Conah. “What kind?”
Keon fixed his yellow eyes on me. “There are no females in the tavern.”
Conah’s brows went up. “That could work.”
I was suddenly afraid to ask.
Conah steered me into the musty, warm confines of the tavern and then wrapped his arm around my waist possessively, pulling me against him.
“Where do you think you’re going, woman,” he said boisterously. “You stay close.”
“Get off me.” I pulled away, glaring at him. “You don’t own me.”
“I paid good coin for you.”
“Fuck you. You can have your coin. I’m sure there are better demons in this place than the likes of you who’d willingly set me free.”
I looked about, zeroing in on the table to the left of the door, the one that housed Mammon’s men. They were dressed in black, cloaked, and trying to look inconspicuous, which made them stand out even more.
“You there!” I strode over to the table. “You’ll help me, won’t you?” I pouted prettily and fluttered my lashes at the nearest demon. His stern gaze softened a little. “Please, don’t let him take me. He has no idea how to please a woman.”
The demon’s companion nudged him.
These demons had no clue who Conah was. He wasn’t in the public eye like Azazel, and his features weren’t as distinctive as Keon’s.
“Please.” I made a grab for the demon closest to me and Conah hauled me back against his chest, wrapping his arms around me and nuzzling my neck.
“You’re mine.” There was a growl to his tone that sent a delicious shock through me.