“Flynn!” I barked.
He looked at me, ignoring the shield at his side. She fell to the ground, and I winced as her head hit the hard-packed earth.
“Fuck!” Teal knelt and pulled her into his arms. His body curved protectively around her, like a physical shield. He glared at Flynn. “Why didn’t you catch her?”
Flynn scowled back. “Why didn’t you?”
“You were standing right next to her.”
“You were paying attention.”
“Enough!” After the night we’d just survived, I didn’t have the patience for bickering. “What the fuck happened here?”
Teal looked up from gently brushing a strand of blonde hair away from the shield’s forehead. His touch lingered longer than necessary, and his hand trembled slightly. “She saved us.”
“Come again?” Stress had me clinching my jaw, and pain radiated from my neck down my back.
Teal nodded. “Actually, she saved Flynn twice.”
Flynn’s shoulders slumped as he kicked the ashy ground. “Fuck you, Teal.”
“She did. The first time when the wolven attacked, the second time when the wraiths tried to suck your soul.”
“She saved herself. I was conveniently nearby.” Flynn was upset that she’d saved him?
“Maybe with the wraiths. But the wolven? She totally saved your ass. You should be grateful.”
A bitter laugh escaped Flynn’s lips. “Yeah, the woman we nearly killed saved my life. There’s some fucking irony for you. I guess that means I owe her.” There. That was the problem. Women owed Flynn, never the other way round.
“How?” I demanded. “How did she save you?” She was a shield. I’d refused her a weapon. How had she done it?
Teal’s lips thinned to a tight line.
It was Flynn who replied. His lips twisted into a wry grin as he said, “The princess has been keeping secrets.”
Acid churned in my empty stomach. “What kind of secrets?”
“Ice spears, the power to control the wind, the power to control fire.”
I gaped at the unconscious shield. Ice spears? Wind control? Fire magic? My mind reeled. No one possessed multiple elemental abilities. It was impossible. Magic didn’t work that way. Flynn’s candid expression told me he wasn’t lying, but I still looked to Teal for confirmation.
He nodded.
Ignoring the elephant in the clearing, Pierce asked, “How badly is she hurt?” His voice was rougher than usual, andhe’d fixed his pale gaze on the crimson trickling from Haven’s hairline. “She’s bleeding.”
Teal looked down at her waxen face, and his own cheeks went pale. “Oh. I—oh.”
Pierce’s hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. Something about seeing her hurt had snuck past his defenses. The man who never lost control looked ready to explode.
Flynn frowned at the woman draped across Teal’s legs. “It’s probably just a scratch. She passed out because she’s exhausted. No need to be so dramatic.”
Pierce took a step forward, invading Flynn’s space. His pale eyes had gone ice-cold, angry—no, furious. And there was something more, something that burned beneath his ire—something that looked almost possessive. Then he shook his head and blinked, almost as if he were shaking off a spell. “Did you, or did you not, dictate your last will and testament the last time you needed stitches?”
“Just for bringing that up, you can forget about getting that dagger with the ruby in the hilt. I’m amending my will and leaving it to Grayson.”
Pierce rolled his eyes before fixing his gaze on Teal. “How badly is she injured?”
Teal pushed back her hair, revealing a gash on the side of her head. Perfect. Just perfect. She was injured again. On my watch.
