There has to be another way which doesn’t involve anyone spilling blood. Behind me, I hear a clatter of hooves, meaning Warden must have changed into his centaur form.
I come to a fork in the passages and look around for any indication of the direction Linton took.
“You should let me go first, little human,” Warden intones. “The last thing Linton needs is anything happening to you.”
“My mate.” A growl comes from above, and before I can even look up, Linton lands between me and Warden. “My duty,” he snarls.
Linton is absolutely bristling with weapons. More than he had on him before the brothers took all the others. He’s located a set of trousers, which are tightly laced, leaving some of his fluff to spill over the top. His antennae are raised high on his head.
“Linton, this is not a fight you should do alone,” Warden says.
“This isn’t a fight we should be having at all,” I butt in. “We should leave.”
Linton looks at me.
“How long do we run for?” he queries, with an element of angry clarity. “Because I’ve done my hiding in the dark.”
“I don’t care, as long as I’m with you,” I reply, stepping closer to him and putting my hand on his chest.
Underneath my touch, Linton vibrates with unused adrenaline.
“We don’t have to fight everything.Youdon’t have to fight everything,” I say quietly, lifting up onto tiptoes to kiss him on his cheek. “We can find somewhere, somewhere they don’t want us and we can live out our lives in peace.”
My heart is straining within its bony confines. It wants so much to show Linton he is cared for, that I care for him, that I don’t want him to risk his body or mind ever again.
He is silly, cute, feral, chaos, but most of all, Linton is mine.
I never expected to find love in the Yeavering, and yet, here we are.
“I will not let Tam Lin take you,” he says, with less of a growl.
“So, we outsmart him. He’s only Faerie,” I respond.
Linton cracks a smile, a small one, twitching up the corner of his mouth.
“Heisonly Faerie.”
“And there is a full moon,” Warden intones.
Linton blinks slowly, almost as if he had forgotten Warden is here with us.
“You will be fully restored, no?” he adds.
“I am. What the brothers did to me no longer has hold of me.”
“The brothers of the stronghold?” Warden asks carefully. “What did they do to you?”
“They’re the ones who turned him into an assassin.” I round on the huge Brag. “You left him, vulnerable and alone, with monsters. They turned us both over to Tam Lin.”
Warden takes a few paces back, his tail twitching.
“I did not know. I wanted somewhere safe and quiet for Linton.”
“It wasn’t,” Linton rasps. “They…got in my head.” He puts a hand to his temple, an hand which contains a needle sharp dagger.
Warden stomps his foot hard on the stone floor and the small passage rings with the clatter.
“I will deal with the brothers later. First we need to get you both out of here and away from Tam Lin,” he says with a flick of his head.
