So they’d risked wolven and wraiths? “Better late than dead.”
“Same difference,” Flynn replied. “Sabien is in charge. If we’re late, he’ll have us court-martialed.”
“Why didn’t you leave earlier?”
Teal was standing so close I could smell him. Sage and pine. “You weren’t cleared to travel.”
“Why not leave me?”
The two men exchanged a glance. “You’re our shield.”
Right. Their possession. How silly of me to have forgotten. “What do we do if the wolven return?”
Teal shifted, and his arm brushed against mine. “They won’t. They’re smart enough to stay clear of wraiths. Even monsters have nightmares.”
Three wraiths floated toward us. Floated. The fuckers had no feet. “What are they doing?”
Flynn tilted his head, studying their movements. “I’m guessing they’re about to test our defenses.”
That sounded bad. I was our defense, and I was using elemental magic I’d possessed for less than two weeks.
One of the wraiths held out his arm and poked at my little cyclone with a finger. Well, something like a finger. Small bones linked by too many knuckles. My heart skipped a beat when the wraith’s hand didn’t dissipate in the wind.
Fuck! If the wraith passed through my paltry defense, we were dead.
Its hood blew away from its head, and I caught sight of the gloating, malevolent expression on its bony face. Its hand, the one assaulting my defenses, pushed closer to me.
Adrenaline shot through me, drying my mouth, freezing my fingers, preparing me to run. Or fight.
Wait. If the wraith was corporeal enough to pass through wind, could we cut it? “Flynn, your sword.”
A blade whooshed past me, slicing through the wraith’s wrist. A gust caught the bony hand, sending it circling around us.
The wraith hissed and retreated.
Teal pulled his sword from its sheath. “More coming.”
I counted. Ten. No, twelve. If they all came at us at the same time, one was sure to get through. “How exactly do they devour souls?”
“With a touch.”
I shuddered. My shielding power might—might—protect me, but I didn’t know if I could defend Flynn and Teal. I’d never before encountered anything like wraiths. “We can’t let them through.”
“No kidding, Princess.”
I scowled at Flynn, who ignored me. Instead, he focused on the wraiths lurking outside the vortex. My vortex. The one protecting his rude ass.
What was I thinking? Why should I bother protecting him? He and his friends had watched as Drake accosted me. They’d watched as I was dragged to the gymnasium. They’d allowed Drake to whip me within an inch of my life. They’d done nothing as I suffered in the pit.
I could take my wind and leave the two men to their fates.
As if he could read my thoughts, he shifted his gaze. “Princess?—”
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped. I’d saved his life; the least he could do was call me by my name.
“Flynn. Haven.” Teal’s voice was tense.
The wraiths had floated closer, surrounding us.
