“No one here is calling code enforcement, okay? We’re lucky when the roof doesn’t leak.”
“That’s extremely dangerous,” Kieran mumbled, more to himself as he tried to piece out a solution.
Seth gestured toward the ground where the inferno was likely devouring the older, brittle wood at an unwelcome pace on the floors below. “You think?”
“Does no good to dwell on it now, but if we survive, I can add it to the list,” Kieran said, searching for options. Climb to the neighboring building? He checked a second window on the farther side of the room. Peering out, he could see no path or way to get from one side to the other. No ledges or railings or even the barest hand-holds. And it was much too far to jump or reach. The building shook again. They were nearly thrown to the floor, latching onto the walls for support.
“This thing has been cobbled together like a kid’s art project. It’s not going to last,” Seth yelled, his voice rising an octave with panic.
“Thank you for the observation, but a suggestion would be more useful.”
Seth glared.
Returning to check the street outside for an indication of what was happening, Kieran noted the movements of people, a condensed group seemingly working together to combat something, their placement strategic. He picked out Miles in the commotion, the ever present shadow still hovering just off the man’s shoulder, indicating that it was still the distant terminal illness that would end him and not this battle. The woman in the mask stood on an opposite building, firing arrows toward the street. Kieran craned for a better vantage at the front of Sera’s building, and found a flamboyantly dressed man tearing through attackers like they were toys. Cole.
“So? What do we do?”
Kieran frowned. “Why is it my job to come up with the plan? This is your apartment. Is there no back entrance or second stairwell that might not be actively on fire?”
Seth’s face twisted with sarcasm before shifting to recognition. “Oh, wait, yeah.”
“And that did not occur to you until now?”
“Look! I can’t think when I’m too focused on the real possibility of being burned alive, okay?”
Kieran checked on Seth’s shadow, its form hadn’t moved. Death was still far enough away. They had time.
“What are you looking at? Why do you keep—gods are you looking at Death on me?” Seth started to swat at his shoulders, like he could shoo Death away. “You just cast ominous glances over people’s shoulders like some creepy crypt keeper? That’s not normal.”
Kieran reached the door first, preparing to open it and locate this second stairwell, but it was kicked in before he could. Kieran jumped in front of Seth, his broken weapon poised in defense, but it was not an assassin.
“Sera!” Seth sprang forward and threw his arms around her. “Thank gods. We were just on our way to the back stairs. And please, you can’t leave me alone with him.”
Sera returned the hug, but her eyes were on Kieran. Piercing him. Destroying him.
She was okay.
Kieran remained in place, watching, overcome quite enough by just the sight of her unharm—
“The back way is blocked. I used a ladder to get above the flames,” Sera said, “but the fire’s too high now to go back that way.”
He was not paying attention to her words. His focus was fixated on her face. A very dangerous calm settled through his body, deafening him to the entire room. Sera’s mouth continued to move, but he saw only the red marks on her jaw. Long. Thin. Like fingers.
He strode forward without speaking, reaching out for her face, then hesitating as he feared causing her further pain. Sera was speaking, he could hear it distantly, but the calm was starting to dissolve, eroding into panic and rage.Cole had hurt her.
“Kieran?” Sera took his hand, the one he hadn’t realized still hovered near her face. She set his fingers against her cheek and his entire chest tightened until he couldn’t take another breath. “I’m fine, I promise.”
Words existed, he was sure he still understood language, though at the moment he lacked the capacity.
He wanted nothing more than to hold her, touch her, bask in the utter relief that she was here and alive. But they were all in danger andCole had hurt her.Touched her. Were there other marks, other scars, hidden from view? Had he hurt her in ways that didn’t leave a visual trail? Kieran's fingers resting on her skin started to tremble.
And somewhere outside, but certainly not far from the chaos, there was little doubt that a shadow had formed over Cole’s shoulder. Death was on his heels. A certainty. And for the first time in his life, Kieran intended to be the executioner.
For the moment, however, there were more pressing matters at hand. Kieran was nothing if not patient. In fact, he may create a few marks of his own before delivering the fatal blow.
Resolved, Kieran removed his hand from Sera’s cheek. The fire still raged below and they needed a way out of this building. A shadow lingered over Seth, but Sera’s shoulders remained bare. A confirmation that his heart was well and truly hers.
“You should not have come inside,” he said quietly, his anger placated by the knowledge that Cole’s reckoning would come, once they were safe, and now fear curdled the iron and heat exhaustion in his stomach. Fear for her safety.
