With gentle fingers, Teal probed the wound. “It’s not deep.”
“Still more than a scratch.” The corner of Pierce’s left eye twitched.
Pierce was calm. Pierce was cool. Pierce was collected. He didn’t have tics. Until now.
He turned his gaze on Flynn. “You should have caught her.”
“Look, can we not talk about how completely I fucked uptonight? Some of us are having a crisis here.” The tightness near Flynn’s mouth belied his flippant tone. Did he feel guilty? Because guilt and regret were not Flynn’s things. He did as he pleased, to hell with the consequences.
What was happening to the men I called brothers? Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. “We ride. Now.”
“Now?” Teal’s question was a challenge in disguise.
We’d barely survived the night. And that was when we were well rested. We couldn’t spend a second night in the forest. Wounded and exhausted, we’d make easy pickings for the wolven or wraiths. Not to mention that pesky arrive-on-time-or-die problem. “We ride.”
“What about Haven?” he demanded.
I turned to face him. “We’ll take turns carrying her. The horses?”
Teal pressed the pads of his fingers into the earth, and the barn he’d created with vines appeared. He scrunched his eyes shut, and the doors opened, revealing the five horses.
“I don’t get why you can do that for the horses but not for us.” Flynn sounded annoyed.
Teal shook his head. “There’s something about the magic in these woods. It won’t let me protect myself.” He glared at the trees. “I hate this place.”
We quickly saddled our mounts, then I climbed atop Caspian, and Pierce lifted the shield into my arms. She really was a pretty thing. Even unconscious and bloodied, there was something about her that made it hard to look away. Dangerous thinking. Especially dangerous when she kept secret after impossible secret. What else was she hiding? “Let’s get out of this fucking forest before it kills us.”
Chapter
Twenty-One
TEAL
Thank the gods the cursed forest was behind us. We rode through fallow fields marked by low stone walls and the occasional cow. The sun beat down upon us, and sweat trickled between my shoulder blades. I shifted in my saddle, trying to ignore the dull ache in my biceps.
Haven, who fit in my arms as if she belonged there, moaned softly.
“She’s waking up.” Too high. Too eager. Too hopeful. I cleared my throat and tried again in a lower register. “She’s waking up.”
Flynn, who rode ahead of me, cast a smirk over his shoulder. I’d make him pay for that later.
Grayson urged Caspian forward until he was beside me. “About time. I have questions.” He’d been fuming since he’d learned she’d thrown ice spears at the wolven and saved us with a combination of fire and wind.
“If she doesn’t want to answer?” I studied Haven’s face. Without anger twisting her features, she was even more breathtaking. High cheekbones. Full lips. Winged brows.And definitely still unconscious. Worry twisted my gut, she’d been out for too long.
Grayson scowled at me. “She has more magic than we thought.”
“That’s not a question.”
My horse’s ears flicked as if it was following the conversation.
“You want questions? How much magic does she have? What kind? Why did she keep it a secret?”
“Perhaps she didn’t want to be forced from her home and used as a weapon.” Pierce’s cool expression belied his words’ sharp edge.
Grayson answered with a low growl. “She’s a shield.”
“She has a name. It’s Haven. And she’s more than a shield.” Pierce’s voice was still mild. Deceptively mild. Dangerously mild. Pierce usually found women grasping or weak. A waste of his precious time. But Haven? Even unconscious in my arms, she drew his focus. “You knew she was special when you took her.”
