There, emerging from the hole in the warehouse, like a warrior of legend, was Keeran. He moved through the Astraea like a god, his blade singing as he whirled it through the air, and her broken heart stuttered to life at the sight of him.
He’d come for her.
Her arms were too weak to hold the dagger aloft any longer, her muscles trembling with the effort of staying seated, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Blood sprayed from his sword inarcs as he cleaved his way through the Astraea to get to her, the controlled fury in his jet-black eyes triggering something deep inside of her.
He’d been in her head; she’d heard him, loud and clear. Her thoughts jumped to the night before, but were whisked quickly away again as Keeran skidded to his knees beside her.
“Can you walk?” he asked, peering deep into her eyes. Worry drew his brows together, despite the otherness looking at her from under them.
“Can you walk?”This time, he spoke right into her mind again, cupping his hand over her cheek. She shook her head, her tongue too thick and heavy to obey her.
He swept her into his arms, standing as if she weighed nothing, and carried her from the building. She clung to him with what little strength she had as he moved to hold her with just one arm, freeing the other to swing at the remaining Astraea, clearing their path.
Once they were outside, he hugged her close and ran. She bounced against him as they sped past the dark buildings lining the streets. Keeran dove down little side alleys she would never have spotted, taking them on a convoluted route through the city, but it made no difference. She could still hear the baying of Guard Dogs hot on their tails.
Keeran slammed his shoulder into a wrought iron gate, forcing his way into the courtyard garden that lay behind it. Trees filled it, their heavy branches forming a dense canopy overhead, with flowerbeds and benches tucked between the dark trunks. In any other situation, it would have been beautiful.
With her arms still wrapped around Keeran’s neck, he sank onto the grass, hiding them behind the heavy foliage of the garden.
“You need to drink this,” he said, using the edge of his sword to cut his palm before raising it towards her.
“No,” she pulled away, disgust curling at her lips.
“Don’t argue with me, we don’t have time for me to explain.” His eyes flashed black, and although it didn’t scare her, the urgency in them made her listen. She looked down at the red line of welling blood that glistened on his skin. “Please.”
He held it closer to her, and she sighed, finding enough strength to glare at him. It earnt her a small smile, cracking through what little remained of her animosity towards him. With a grimace, she lowered her head to his hand and placed her mouth over the cut.
The moment his blood touched her lips, she groaned, grabbing his wrist and pressing it harder to her mouth. She’d never felt anything like it, never tasted anything like it. Warmth coursed through her, the power in it making her skin tingle and her bones hum. The space in her mind seemed to expand, exposing a filament of light that felt wholly and unmistakably of Keeran. He was there, in her mind, tethered to her via a connection she’d never even known she’d been missing, and yet now couldn’t fathom being without.
“That’s enough,” he said, huskily, gently teasing his hand from her. She let him pull away, but her tongue followed, stroking the length of the cut once more. She felt him groan, rather than heard him, the vibration travelling through him and into her.
Aelia blinked, amazed by the strength coursing through her, her brain suddenly clear again.
“Give me your jacket.” Keeran slid back to give her room to move, his arm outstretched and waiting.
“Why?” she asked as she pulled it off and handed it to him.
“To confuse the Guard Dogs.” He wrapped the jacket around his waist and stood. Aelia was on her feet beside him in an instant. She felt like she could run laps around Llmera. “You need to stay here.”
The baying was getting closer, the Dogs leading the Astraea to where they were hiding.
“As if that’s something I’d ever agree to,” she snorted, shaking her head, but Keeran grabbed her by the shoulders.
“We don’t havetime,Aelia. I need to get them away from you. If they catch me, I can get myself out if I have to, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get you out, too.” He peered through the dense greenery to the street beyond. “You need to leave the city, as soon as the tide changes. Promise me?”
Aelia opened her mouth to argue, but Keeran's eyes blazed black.
“Promise me?” The words burned down that tether in her mind, and the desperation in them made her shut her mouth. She looked up at him with wide eyes as the pair bond stretched between them, weak and flickering, but undeniable. Before she could say anything else, Keeran crushed his mouth against hers and gravity shifted, the whole axis of her world seeming to veer towards Keeran with that one, hurried kiss.
The baying of dogs was nearly on them, so loud it sounded like they could have been in the garden. He tore his mouth from hers, ducked out of the gate, pulled it shut behind him, and was gone. She stood there staring after him, feeling like the most useless wretch to have ever wasted oxygen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Keeran ran, his legs easily carrying him away from the baying hounds behind him. He kept his pace slow, making sure they caught up to him, that they got him in their sights before they scented Aelia hiding in the garden. He heard them round the corner, their baying picking up as they spotted him, and he picked up speed. He was still holding back, running no faster than a regular artemian, slow enough not to arouse suspicion.
He picked his turns carefully, taking him in the general direction of the busier part of the city, where the restaurants and taverns would be open and heaving until the early hours. He could still lose them, he could still get Aelia out. There were enough dark corners in this city for them to hide until the coast had cleared, even if they had to lie low until the tide was out. All he had to do was lose them.
The streets became steadily busier, the smell of alcohol and smoke wafting amongst the partying artemians. They didn’t have time to move out of his way, but he didn’t need them to. He skimmed past them, little more than a rush of air between his skin and theirs, before he was gone.
