Some of those around Damien drew weapons, others simply fell still, eyes wide and mouths falling open. From behind, more men gathered, calling out to learn what happened, while one turned back into the group from its front, escaping the crowd and retching into the hall’s corner.
Damien attempted to force his way to the front, equally jostled by the others, some of whom had filed into the room. Beside him, another man was calling for space, and a path was cleared for him, so Damien followed the robed priest, finally making his way to the door.
There was chaos, blood, and a body. Nothing about what Damien was seeing made any kind of sense, as if a storm had swept through only this chamber, every piece of furniture splintered and scattered about. The victim who had been impaled against the wall was fallen to his knees over the weapon of his ruin. And then he realized it was Cedric, run through and dripping the very last of his own blood into a massive pool on the floor.
Damien grinned slowly, only disappointed that he hadn’t been able to send the bastard to the Abyss himself.
The mage who had pushed through them began throwing his arms about, a familiar man, the one from Faebarrow who had been in the Grand Athenaeum and apparently served the Caldors. He was yelling about the marquis’s blood being spilt, and there was another behemoth of a man kneeling in the pool beside the body and absolutely sobbing.
“Brother!” he cried, throwing his head back and raising open hands to the ceiling. “Osurehm, how could this happen? How can this be?” He grabbed at the mage, dragging him toward the corpse. “Gilead! Heal him!”
“There’s no healing this, Roman,” hissed the mage, pulling his robes from the sobbing man’s grasp. “We can only salvage now. And you—you need to protect yourself!”
He threw his arms out again, an absolute wreck, though how anyone could have such affection for Cedric was a mystery. “But how did this happen? Ammalie, how?”
Damien’s heart squeezed and he pushed farther forward, peering around the wall to see the small, disheveled figure of Amma, crumpled in on herself, just staring.
“Take her for questioning,” Gilead called as he continued his frantic search of the ruins of the room.
Damien saw his opportunity as the least shaken to stride into the space, grab Amma, and pull her past the others under the guise of Gilead’s order. Amma was so rattled she barely recognized being moved, her body allowing itself to be led through the men and onto the landing. He focused on the disguise as it wanted to falter, illusion magic difficult enough to keep up, but with her finally in his grasp, his ability to hang onto the spell heightened.
She let herself be guided down the wide staircase, a scuffle overhead as the other men were ordered about to secure the room, and the wailing continued. Another retinue of men passed them at its foot, one of which got in the way. “What are you doing with her?”
“Locking her up for safe keeping.” Damien pushed passed the man, an acceptable enough answer for him, but apparently not for Amma.
Her body jerked suddenly in his grasp, and she screamed. They garnered only a few looks from the others as Damien dragged her along the back wall of the dining hall. She struck him, and he caught her free arm, but instead of rendering her still, her struggle only heightened to an animalistic attempt at escape.
“Put me down right fucking now!” she shrieked as he grabbed her about the waist, guilt striking him even harder than she had as he lifted her off her feet. “I’ll rip it off and shove it down your throat!” Voice like a serrated blade, her need to get away from him was so strong that his softening heart almost let her, but then they’d finally reached the door in the dining hall’s corner, and he tossed her inside. Clearing the doorway just enough to slam it shut behind him, she turned and lurched for it in one last, furious attempt to escape.
“Amma,” he hissed, voice low, “Stop—it’s me!”
But she was feral, already wound back, and swung right for his face. “Don’t touch me!”
Damien took the punch right to his eye, and that was all he needed to drop the illusion. Knocked into the door with a hand slapped over his face, he groaned as she continued to pummel him, lifting a knee to strike him in the gut. “Ow, Amma, for darkness’s sake, please stop hitting me.”
The onslaught came to an abrupt halt as Amma’s limbs went lax, and she took in a shuddering breath. Damien remained still, hoping she would recognize him, and when she didn’t commence her wild thrashing, he finally dropped his hands.
“Damien?” her voice was barely a whisper in the room, weak and unsure, but her blue eyes were as wide as they’d ever been, finally, really seeing him.
He pressed a hand to his stomach where her knee had nearly knocked him breathless. “Basest beasts, Amma, for someone so tiny, you certainly—”
Amma threw herself at him, and he reared back, expecting to be attacked once again, but instead arms were slung around his neck, pulling him down to her, and lips were pressed to his own. She tasted of copper and salt, she was panting like a rabbit caught in a trap, and she was clawing at his neck so harshly she had to be drawing blood, but she was kissing him. Amma was in his arms, she was safe, she waskissinghim, and he was complete.
CHAPTER 35
DESPICABLE CALLOUSNESS
Despite being in the most dangerous place she could imagine, Amma knew she was safe. Damien’s arms were around her, his warm body pressed to hers, and his lips were kissing her back, tender and soft like she knew he could be—like she knew he truly was.
“You came for me,” she whispered up against his mouth.
His fingertips grazed her temple, smoothing away hair that had fallen in her face, and he pressed another kiss to her lips. “You called. How could I not?”
“I thought…” The words fell away as she stared into a face streaked with blood, exhaustion pooling in the hollows of his eyes.
“You thought what?” He rested his forehead on hers, a husk to his voice as a crooked smile grew over his mouth. “That I wouldn’t? That I could possibly bare to lose you? That I am not utterly and unconditionally—”
The ground shook, and Amma would have fallen had she not been holding onto Damien. There was a snap and a groan as the earth continued to shudder, voices rising up from beyond the door, and a crack crawled its way up the wall beside them. The room fell still again.
