When I steal a glance at the rest of my quintet, they seem to be in the same confused-ass boat—except for Maven, who remains carefully composed as she watches the caster. If she's unsure what just happened, she doesn't show even a hint of it.
The Garnet Wizard breezily tells the two acolytes where to take us for our stay. Overbite still seems pissed, but we follow him and Ross over the bridge and down a long cobblestone path toward a cottage in the distance beside a seemingly endless stretch of green fields.
As we walk, my phone buzzes loudly in my pocket. I blink. “How the hell do you guys get reception here?”
Overbite throws a glare over his shoulder. “How else? Magic. However, unexamined, unsecured cell phones are not permitted. Give it here.”
“Make me, Teeth,” I dare him, allowing my eyes to shift momentarily.
He whips around immediately, muttering under his breath as we reach the cottage. Ross walks behind us but darts ahead to open the door, dipping his head low to show respect to Maven.
“Please let us know if these quarters aren't to your liking. Only the best for you, my lady.”
My lady?
“Okay, what the fuck did you see back there?” I demand at the same time Overbite hisses, “What is wrong with you? She is the scourge!”
Ross ignores both of us. As Maven passes by, he catches her ungloved hand like he’s about to kiss the back of it. When she loses her composure and visibly flinches at the surprise, unwanted physical contact, I see red?—
And so does Crypt because he promptly pulls out his enchanted sword and cuts off the caster’s hand that dared touch our keeper.
17
MAVEN
“Handsoff,”Crypt seethes.
Ha. Nice.
I wonder if that was an intentional pun or if he’s too pissed to realize it. Guessing from his murderous expression that matches the others’, I’m guessing the latter.
Ross cries out, cupping his bleeding stump of a wrist. The blond caster whirls on us with magic glowing at his fingertips, ready for a fight, but Everett freezes him solid so quickly that I almost miss it in a blink.
As much as I like seeing these gorgeous legacies get feisty on my behalf, we’re only here because the Garnet Wizard seemed to find something about me amusing. If we make enemies or kill acolytes left and right, we may be booted before I talk to the wizard about etherium.
Ross’s touch was as revoltingly unwelcome and torturous as touch used to always be for me, but I quickly compose myself and bend to pick up the dismembered hand, offering it to him as a macabre peace offering.
“I assume you acolytes know the more advanced healing spells.”
He nods, biting back pain as he accepts his hand.
“Good. Go get patched up right away. Dismembered limbs hurt like a bitch, but it only gets worse if you wait to get it reattached.”
He thanks me in a strained voice before rushing away from the cottage.
You say that as if you’ve experienced it firsthand,Silas growls in my head.Tell me that’s not the case,sangfluir.
Yeah, right. If they react like this to someone just touching me, there’s no fucking way I will ever fill them in on the more morbid aspects of my past.
I glance at the frozen acolyte, decide he can wait until my guys are a bit less testy, and slip through the front door.
It’s a studio-style living space, simple but tasteful. The large bedroom blends into a seating area beside the dining room, and the kitchen seems nice from what little I know about kitchens. The Sanctuary looked extremely old-fashioned when we arrived, but there’s a fridge, modern oven, and even a small TV mounted on the wall beside the door to the small attached bathroom.
Baelfire was right about the reception because my burner phone starts to buzz. I check to make sure it’s not Melchom calling back, but I answer when I recognize Kenzie’s number.
“Oh my fucking gods! You’re still alive!” she squeals on the other end.
Silas begins laying additional magical wards, Crypt cleans his sword on the hand towel in the kitchen, which pisses off Everett, and Baelfire flops onto the big bed, watching me curiously.
