The only thought Aofe had was avoiding crushing Attie. She twisted?—
Sharp pain.
Her leg gave out.
Aofe’s hip hit first, then Attie collapsed under her, keeping the rest of her body from tumbling after. But that was worse, and Aofe took the full brunt of the fall with a single point on her upper leg. She hissed at the contact, then nearly cried out as her leg spasmed.
Scrambling despite the pain, Aofe grabbed her thigh and maneuvered her leg until the shooting pain finally eased into something dull. She let out a whimper of relief, panting as tears fell from her eyes, but at least she could think somewhat clearly now that the agonizing fire had settled from her nerves.
Two hands grabbed her cheeks, gentle but firm, and then Kizros’s face was in front of hers, his mouth moving but no soundreaching her ears.
No, there was a ringing in her head, so loud there was nothing else.
Aofe shifted her jaw, her ears popped, and suddenly his voice was there.
“—you okay? What hurts? Aofe, say something.”
She swallowed, tasting blood as she found a sore spot on her tongue.Wasshe okay? Relatively, yes. Her leg was still there, albeit cramping. Attie was already curled up against her, supporting how she’d had to twist her hip to be comfortable. And her crutches weren’t broken from the tumble—that was good—splayed not far from where she’d fallen.
But then she made the mistake of looking past Kizros’s distressed features, to the crowd beginning to form. To a pale-yellow demon with spiral horns standing a fraction closer than the rest, laughing at her expense as his tail slowly unwound from the leg of her tipped bench.
Embarrassment flooded Aofe, her cheeks burning as she jerked out of Kizros’s grip. “My leg cramped. It’s fine.”
Kizros’s presence was suddenly gone, and Aofe turned just as he’d made it to the demon who was still laughing. To her shock and horror, she watched Kizros grab him by the horn and yank him forward.
“Whoa, creeper, what are you?—”
“Apologize,” Kizros snarled, sharpened teeth bared as he dragged the yellow demon closer.
More heat flooded Aofe’s cheeks, the crowd mumbling around them. “Kiz, stop.”
“Let go of me, you old freak,” the demon muttered, holding onto Kizros’s wrist for balance. “You’re going to break my horn.”
Kizros wasn’t large by demon standards, Aofe had noticed, but this demon was lanky in comparison.
“I’ll do a whole lot worse if you don’t apologize to her right now,” Kizros growled, and when he looked her direction again, Aofe had to fight the instinct to flinch away from his fury.
When the offending demon said nothing, Kizros’s grip tightened, his other hand moving toward the vulnerable tip of the horn in his hold.
“Ow, ow, okay! Sorry!” the teen finally shouted, twisting just enough to pull free of Kizros’s grip. “It was just a prank, geez. It was a bet, that’s all.”
Aofe’s stomach turned sour, but only for the time it took the young demon to turn and run into another chest.
Severath glared down, eye narrowed as he snagged the demon’s shirt. “Is there a problem here?”
“He tipped her bench!” Kizros shouted, much louder than was necessary considering the crowd had gone silent now that the warrior was here.
The red demon snarled at the teen who actively cowered in his grip, then softened his features when he looked to Aofe in question. “Would you like me to detain him until a guard can come and take your statements? Includingwitnesses?”
He said the last bit loud enough that several demons in the crowd cursed and scurried away.
Which only made Aofe feel worse.
“No,” she whispered, hand curling into Attie’s fur.
“Yes,” Kizros said immediately, stomping back to where she’d curled on the ground. He knelt, taking her free hand in both of his. “We can wait, Aofe. He hurt you.”
“Kiz—”
