Amma took the weapon, squeezing the hilt with whitened knuckles. At least now she had something to kill Xander with for what he’d done. But as she gathered Quaz’s cat form into her lap with her other hand, she realized the shadow imps had allowed him through, and they didn’t move to take the weapon from her.
Thoughts began to sort themselves in her mind, and she was reminded of her brief and infuriating conversation with the blood mage at Yvlcon, how he’d said then that he hated Delphine. She wouldn’t put it past him to ally himself with someone he loathed for a mutual cause, but why not just kill Amma now? Why was he still here at all?
She sheathed the weapon on her thigh—the thought of saving it for Delphine bolstering her. Hugging Quaz to her chest, she tried to work out what to do next, but the shadow imps suddenly dispersed.
“Up! Get up!” Xander’s voice was calling back from the dark, footsteps approaching rapidly.
Xander never once struck Amma as the kind to run, and yet there he went, dark eyes wide, white hair blowing back to reveal a glimpse of terror on his face.
“No one bloody told me there would be a whole host of divine fucking mages here, not to mention thatthing. Well, comeon.” He skidded to a stop before her and dragged her up to her feet by the back of her tunic.
Knees wobbly, she could barely stand. “Don’t touch me!” She flung an arm out, Quaz clasped in her other.
“Believe me, I’d like little more than to abandon you here, but you’re coming with me.” Xander’s hold didn’t waver as he reached into the neck of his coat. The vial he wore on a cord fell out, a second clinking along beside it. Apparently, he had been prepared for quite the battle. But he pulled out a stone instead and threw it at their feet. The ground cracked, a portal expanding there. “I’ve been looking forward to doing this,” he said, thrill running through his voice as he angled her toward the hole.
Amma was thrust forward, and once again, she was falling.
CHAPTER 21
THE MAKINGS OF A VIVID, RESTLESS, RESOLUTE CAPTIVE
Amma fell into a heap, and Quaz’s furry form shimmied out from beneath her. She rolled onto her back and took in a deep gulp of air, free of brine but spiced with herbs. Blinking up at a ceiling covered in brass panels, candlelight flickered over the repeating designs making her too dizzy to react to the sounds of passing footsteps and muffled voices.
She sat up with a groan, a hand feeling for the dagger on her thigh but fingers too clumsy to pull it out. At least she was still conscious, but that use of arcana had nearly done her in. She rubbed her temple, a thin form dressed in white standing across from her. Amma blinked the cloudiness out of her eyes and fear shot through her belly.
“Stay back,” she murmured, swiping a daggerless hand through the air. Quaz hissed, scrambling onto her shoulder and baring his fangs.
“Oh, hi, no, I’m here to help. You really don’t look so good.”
It wasn’t Xander that stood before her, but a priestess. One that she loathed. “I don’t need your help,” she spat.
There was a quiet scoff from the far side of the room, and Amma found yet another of the Righteous Sentries huddled up on a counter, digging a knife into its otherwise pristine top.Herknife.
The priestess, Pippa she’d been called, worked her way closer and knelt, but Quaz swiped claws through the air. “Ah, call him off!”
“Why would I?” Amma leaned away from her, looking aboutfor the other two but only finding the massive knight sitting at a table on the room’s other side. “You, all of you, get away from me.”
The knight groaned, leaning back in his chair as he took a bite of an apple. “Still doesn’t know what’s good for her.”
Amma sucked in a breath, ready to scream, but Pippa’s hand came down on her ankle, and Amma was run through with arcana. Her mind sharpened, and she could smell the sage and thyme cooking in the stew on the stove, could sense the potatoes on the counter were on the verge of going off, could see a mouse scurrying through the not-quite-shut larder door, could hear the groan of Barrett’s chair—that was his name, the bastard, and the other one was Kori, she suddenly remembered, the sneaky one who she’d stolen a crossbow from.
Her pain evaporated, but Amma didn’t move to get up. She instead wrapped an arm around Quaz to keep him from tearing the priestess apart. For now.
Pippa cocked her head. “Good?”
Amma gave her a single nod. “Why? And where am I?”
“You’re in a country estate outside of Buckhead, and you’re safe here, I swear it.”
Though she was healed, Amma didn’t feel very safe surrounded by the people who had handed her over to Cedric. But there was no Cedric to bring her to anymore, and the Righteous Sentries weren’t converging. In fact, if they wanted to take her somewhere, leaving her weak and frazzled would have been much wiser. “What in the Abyss is going on?”
Pippa hesitated. “He says he needs you.”
“Xander.” Amma stood, only a little twinge left in her side. “You’re still working for him?”
“’Course,” Barrett said through a mouth full of fruit, chair falling flat as he leaned on the table. “Pay’s way better, and I’ve never felt so strong.”
“He’s a blood mage, you know. Just like your so-called nemesis.” Amma couldn’t bare to say Damien’s name.
