Each packet had been wrapped in thin, beaten metal, then dipped in wax. My sharpened fingernail had been torn to the quick on the island, and wasn’t long enough now to help me open any of them. I would need a knife. I hugged the shadows at first as I slipped out of the room, then realized how foolish that was. I was glowing, like some sort of living torch.
A Beta man running by with a sword in his hand stopped stock still when he saw me. “Larkial!” he said.Angel.“Larkial, I beg forgiveness!”
I straightened up, staring down my nose, and felt the heat behind my back grow more intense. The man fell to his knees, jaw gaping wide, sputtering… then passed out, dropping the sword.
“Thank you.” He had a dagger on his belt, and I confiscated that as well, then moved toward the sounds of the fighting.
The courtyard was ablaze with light. Torches lined the walls, a fire was burning on a pile of... Oh hells, a dead man was burning, filling the air with a sickening stench. How had that happened?
Icarus fought an enormous Alpha on one side of the courtyard, standing over the fallen body of Brute, whose side had been stuck through with what looked like a bamboo spear as thick around as my wrist. Goddess, could he survive that?
I switched my attention to the wyvern who was being attacked by at least ten men. It wasn’t a fair fight, not by any reckoning. Talon held two swords and used them both at once, twirling them in a dance so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes, and death to those near enough for the blades to touch.
He couldn’t protect his back, though, and I watched as an Alpha burst from the side of the courtyard and came running, sword raised, while Talon fought off the group.
“Talon, behind you!” I shouted, already sprinting to aid him, but knowing I was too late. Would Talon lose his wings?
I released a primal scream, and raced to stop the cowardly Alpha who was right behind him now. I thought, for a second, Talon would turn to face the attacker, but instead he drew in an enormous breath and emitted a gout of bright orange flame that seared the faces and arms of the men in front of him.
Talon stumbled to one knee, the act of breathing fire obviously exhausting, but he turned his face to his new attacker and fought to lift his blade with a trembling hand. A tear sizzled down my cheek. I was watching his death.
But Icarus met the thrust.
He must have flown across the courtyard. Sword in hand—taken from a soldier he’d killed, most likely—he parried the killing blow, standing over Talon’s form as his brother fought to regain his breath and the strength to stand.
Which meant Brute was unprotected. I glanced over and saw two Betas approaching him, knives in hands. I moved silently, and they didn’t notice the glow that surrounded me until it was too late.
Grasping the first man’s shoulder, I stuck my stolen dagger hard into his spine, to cut in one stroke through the vertebrae. An instant kill.
My first kill.
Thorn had forced me to practice harder on what he called soft kills. Merciful ones, where the target never felt pain, often never even knew they had died. This was one of those, and though my heart ached at the death I delivered, I thanked the Goddess for giving me the skills to do it gently. The second man didn’t appreciate my technique; he roared with rage at seeing his comrade fall, and lifted his sword to me.
Shit. It always came down to swordwork. I shifted my hand on the grip slightly, and readied myself for the blow… that never landed.
Brute had somehow removed the spear from his side, though blood flowed freely down his legs. He’d lifted himself up and lunged at the man, tackling him from behind and plunging a knife into his chest.
Not as merciful a kill. The man took a long minute to die. The blood around us wasn’t just his; half of it was Brute’s, whose face had turned a strange, sickly gray as he slumped back to the ground.
“Brute, I mean, Branton? Do you need bandages…” It was a ridiculous question, since the ground around him was painted red.
He shook his head slowly. “Just a moment… to breathe.”
I didn’t want to say it aloud, but it looked like he might not breathe again if we waited too many more moments to bandage his wounds.
Icarus came running, his still-glowing eyes taking in the scene. Somehow, he had escaped any injury, I noted. As had I. But Brute and Talon…
“Sister?”
Sister? I looked around for another woman, but the only ones left alive in the courtyard were me, Icarus, Brute, and—an enormous shadow fell over me—“Talon?”
He stood behind Icarus, his wings held out to the sides. His huge wings, the same size Icarus’s had been when we… I blushed. My improvised toga had slipped down my shoulders during the fighting, and Talon quickly held out his belt. I gladly wrapped the thin leather around my waist while he turned away.
I hesitated before returning his greeting, acknowledging who he was to me now. “Thank you, brother.”
Icarus beamed—literally, beams of light shone from his eyes—and his smile broke through my lingering bitterness about being kidnapped. “Should we go find your other mates, my love?” I stiffened, shocked at the question. Then he followed up with, “You’re still in heat, you know. And there’s three other men out there who would make fine consorts.”
“Three?” I snorted. “Altair, maybe. Thorn won’t have me since he’s Anathema. And Kavin…” Actually, Kavin would make a fine mate. My core pulsed, thinking of him.
