Not wasting anymore time, I thrust my hands under Tennet’s armpits and haul him toward me. Once again, I’m reminded at how unreasonably heavy the man is, and before I can stabilize myself, the crushing weight of him comes down on me, and we both crash to the floor.
“BlightedDark,” Caleb curses. “Don’t move!”
To my shock, I hear the slide of steel on level as Caleb rips his knife free from his belt, and Tennet jerks above me a moment later. I clasp the man to me hard as Caleb slashes down, my stomach roiling as a high-pitched, unearthly chitter fills the room. Caleb continues his cursing as he half stumbles, half throws himself across the chamber toward the fire, and the leap of the flame in the grate puts out the nattering squeak for good. “Stone and blood, blood and stone, blight and blast…” He sucks in a deep breath and thuds back, picking up another towel,dunking it, and pressing it into Tennet’s back—nearly crushing me in the process.
“Did you see that, Talia? How did youknow? Blighted stone and bloody dark…” Caleb throws down the first towel beside my head and grabs a second one, and I twist my neck enough to see the heavy crimson stain and char marring the cloth.
“Mmf,” I manage. “Get me…mmf.”
“Light,” Caleb blurts, suddenly refocusing on me. “Talia, sorry—let me?—”
But even as he drops his towel and lurches for us, the pressure on my chest eases, Tennet lifting up just enough to stare down at me with wild blue eyes.
“You!” he blurts, the heat of his body increasing a hundred-fold with that one word. His mouth twists grotesquely, and words spew out of him like fire. “The Light burns to and through you, lighting the paths between the worlds from talonstone to grounding stone. What is dead is now awakened. You who wear the winged crown, fire and ash will be your legacy, and shadow yours to command. For you are warrior and you are death?—”
“Tennet!” I scream, loud enough that my own ears ring. He shakes himself, hard, and his eyes slowly clear. He blinks as he stares down at me, and I see that for the moment, at least, he’s back among the living.
He grins at me, his body still an immovable weight pinning me down. “Well, it didn’t take long for me to get you on your back, I see.”
Clearly, what’s left of that life will be short and painful.
Chapter 15
“Getoffme, you ox.” I shove at him, and he moves willingly enough, though his face drains of color just enough for me to realize he’s still hurt. I grimace and force myself not to grab him close to me again. Not because I want him—definitely not that—but in that fevered moment, he isn’t just a warrior undone…he’s something softer, something real.
He’s a fellow warrior in a fight we barely understand.
“Here you go. I’ve got you.” Caleb is there, of course, because Caleb is always there. He flattens his right arm against Tennet’s back, bracing him as Tennet struggles to a standing position then collapses down onto the low couch. I scramble up as well, circling Tennet until I get a decent view of his back.
“What in—how did this happen? When? You had one of those thingsattachedto you?”
Tennet leans his elbows heavily on his knees, his head still down. I can’t tell whether he’s about to pass out or throw up, but I almost miss the short-lived energy that fueled his smirk a few moments ago. “It caught on my clothes and burrowed beneath my tunic. I thought I’d pulled it out, but apparently there wasmore than one. There was enough going on that I didn’t notice it, and then I just—I didn’t feel it anymore.”
I grimace as I survey the long, ugly slash of skin, the edges still puckered and charred. It strikes me that for all his arrogance, Tennet never thought to stop to check for wounds. I suspect he pushes forward, always. Maybe it’s pride. Maybe it’s something lonelier—like he’s not used to anyone caring enough to stop.
Shaking myself back to the moment, I glance at Caleb. “It was under his skin?”
“It wasn’t moving much, but it was trying to, still.” Caleb nods, and I note that his eyes have gone a little glassy too. “Fortunately, it wasn’t dug in deep. Once I sliced into his back, I could pull the whole thing out by the middle.”
“Blighted Dark,” mutters Tennet. He tries to straighten, but the result is a little more than a shrug. “Is this what’s happened to the others?”
“No.”
I turn sharply as Nazar strides into the room, Miriam and the other two councilors hard on his heels. Miriam mutters a curse as soon as she sees Tennet doubled over. She stalks across the room, then exhales in a small gasp when she sees the wreckage of his back.
“I tossed it in the fire,” Caleb says before she can say anything. “If I was supposed to keep ahold of the thing, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“No—no,” Miriam says. She rubs a hand over her face, seeming genuinely stunned. “Has he said anything out of the ordinary? Anything at all?”
“He’s not real talkative right now.” I wave at her impatiently, in no mood to relive Tennet’s ravings right this moment. “Are the rest of the house lords this injured?”
“None of the other lords endured one of the creatures for this long. The skrill were weak, depleted from their journey, I expect, and died quickly. Had they encountered us at the border, they would have been far more deadly, but they traveled a great distance to get here, so?—”
No, they didn’t. I jolt with the realization, but I know I’m right. And because I’m right, the entire Protectorate is in so much more danger than we realized, and the battle we’re about to face is coming far more quickly than we had any idea.
Rihad had planned his betrayal of the Protectorate far better than any of us had given him credit for.
“Caleb—get Fortiss,” I say quietly. “Bring him here, alone. He needs to be in this conversation.”
