“Pardon?” Seruf was beside me again, tracing her fingers along my arm.
“I don’t fucking care,”I snapped. “Did you think this big reveal would make me feel betrayed or something? We’ve all got dirty secrets. His are just…differentthan most.”
Seruf shrugged. “I only wanted you to know the truth.” She twirled around me, a smile dancing across her red lips, her fingers trailing along my collarbone.
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “Youwantedto upset me. You manipulative—”
Seruf abruptly reared back with an agonized screech.
Cheriour staggered to his feet, his broken fingers curled awkwardly around a second, teensy dagger. He yelled when he threw it—an animalistic roar of pain.
Thunk.
The dagger sank into Seruf’s back. She howled and twitched, her feathered limbs flailing as she fought to dislodge the knife.
“Cheriour!” I darted to his side, wrapping my arm around his midsection as he swayed. My shoulder screamed as he leaned his full body weight into me.
“Gabriel!” Seruf screeched. “Go kill the insolentbastard!”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I hissed as Gabriel shuffled toward us. “You creepy motherf—”
Hoofbeats thundered through the streets.
Gabriel and I both looked up. He scrambled forward with a croak but wasn’t fast enough.
Abby Normal body-slammed him. It was actually comical—like something you’d see in a movie: the villain blasted right out of his shoes.
But watching him getting trampled beneath her hooves was less funny, especially with the way he cried. And, when Abby Normal circled back to him, her red eyes rolling in their sockets, and buried her fangs into his chest…
Nope. Not funny anymore.
But Cheriour laughed. “Belanna,” he slurred. “I asked…to loose Púca…before…”
“Dude, you’re making zero sense,” I grunted as he sagged against me, his body vibrating.
A few feet away, Seruf continued shrieking. Both of Cheriour’s blades were jammed into her left scapula. She couldn’t get either out, no matter how she flailed or thrashed.
Her blood glowed as it oozed along her feathers. Literally. The silvery liquid was as bright as any LED lamp.
“You need to go, Addie,” Cheriour panted.
“Good idea.” I hefted him onto my shoulder. “Let’s get moving.”
“You go,” Cheriour hissed. “You.”
“I will. With you limping right along next to me.”
“No.”
“Brother!” Seruf bellowed. “Howdareyou—I’ll make sure you suffer!”
Cheriour weakly shoved himself away from me. His knees buckled.
“Stop with this self-sacrificing bullshit.” I snatched his torso, gripping his blood-soaked shirt. “I ain’t leaving. Get that through your thick head, okay? Iwon’tleave you.”
His eyes rolled back.
“Shit!” I clutched at his shoulders, his hips…any part of him I could find. But he’d fainted. And I wasn’t strong enough to carry him.
