LINTON
“WAKE UP! You chaotic bastard!” Warden roars in my ear.
I open my eyes and pain spears through my body.
“Kaitlyn!”
“Tam Lin took her. You’ve been out for hours,” Warden growls as I look around me.
Still in the throne room.
He paces, his hooves coming dangerously close to my face. With an effort, I sit up. An arrow pokes out of my chest.
“You could have taken it out,” I grumble.
“I wasn’t sure if it hit your good heart or your bad one.”
“Both of my hearts are good,” I snarl. “One is not so good now, as it has an arrow in it.”
“I thought your regeneration powers were at their peak with the hunter’s moon.” Warden finally stops clattering around.
“I haven’t been able to regenerate in a year. Give me a chance.”
“Yeah, well it means Tam Lin has your mate and a head start,” Warden says.
I tug at the arrow. It doesn’t want to come out.
“You could have gone after her,” I snap.
“What, and risk you thinking I was somehow involved in all of this?” Warden slams a hoof on the floor, making the stone ring. “Anyway, I was dealing with the Redcaps before I saw he had gone.”
I stare at the pile of bodies Warden has neatly piled in one corner. They almost reach the ceiling.
“You might want to think about moving home,” he says with a hint of apology.
“I’ll just send them to the Shadow Keep,” I growl, struggling to my feet.
Warden catches my arm as I stumble off to one side. My wings are not keen on working to keep me up.
“Steady,” he says as I shake him free and grasp the arrow shaft with both hands. “Wait, Linton…”
Before he can complete the sentence, I pull the thing free and slam my fist against the resulting open wound.
My second heart jumps in my chest, restarting the second the arrow is removed. I cough up some blood and spit it onto the floor in front of Warden.
“Has anyone ever told you how disgusting you are?” Warden backs up.
“Plenty of times. But then the Bluecap mating cycle has been a mystery to most of the Yeavering,” I respond as I rip down a wall hanging and shred it into a bandage which I wrap around my chest.
“You have amating cycle? It is a real thing?” Warden is looking at me as I strap myself back together.
“At what point did you even inquire?” I respond.
“I never thought you’d mate,” he grumbles. “In fact it’s an image I’d rather not have in my head.”
“I can say without a doubt, putting my spicket into my sweet female has been one of the best times of my life.”
“Seriously, Linton. Stop it now. I think I’m going to be sick.”
