“Why don’t you try me?”
“I don’t actually want to hurt you,” he said. “How ‘bout you just lower that sword, and you can enjoy some of that meat right there instead?”
“So that you can sell me to the Queen of Autumn? Yeah, I don’t think so, buddy.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Now, listen here. You come in here disturbing my sleep and messing around with my meat. You should be lucky I don’t chop off your head right now.”
“Like I said, you’re welcome to try.” I lifted my lips into a smile. I hadn’t moved the entire time he’d been babbling. My hands were steady, though my arms were beginning to ache under the weight of the sword. I could tell my calm demeanour was beginning to rattle him. And it was clearly pissing him off.
Without another word, I swung my sword again. This time, he didn’t see it coming, but he got his axe in front of his body just in time. Steel slammed against steel, a sound that crackled so loud it made my ears ring from the force of it. I stumbled back and narrowed my eyes, taking a moment to catch my breath. This fae was strong, and his axe even stronger. Rourke was still in the corner, battling it out with the female and her daggers.
Suddenly, I had an idea.
With a deep breath, I disappeared.
The butcher let out a cry of alarm and strode forward with rounded eyes. He whirled this way and that, moving so quickly that I had to dance to the side to avoid getting smashed. With a grunt of rage, he swung his axe through the empty air. I ducked out of the way, holding my breath when the floor creaked beneath my feet. But he didn’t hear the sound, not with his own heavy footsteps and the roars that only intensified as the seconds ticked by.
Suddenly, he went still. He cocked his head as if listening. This was my chance. Maybe my only chance. Pressing my lips together to keep my breath from whispering from my mouth, I slowly stood behind him. My heart roared in my ears as I raised my sword. This felt wrong, in a way, but I knew what I had to do if I wanted us to survive. Gripping the hilt tight in my shaking hands, I shoved the blade into the butcher’s neck.
Chapter Thirteen
After the male fell, Rourke and I joined together to dispatch of the other fae. My hands shook, and my heart pounded, and my whole body felt weak and drained. Rourke took my face between his palms as he peered into my eyes. There was something comforting in the golden glow of them. Something soothing, almost as though he was speaking to me with his soul.
“It’s okay, Norah,” he said in a soft voice that sounded nothing like his usual steel. “You’re okay. You’re alive, and I’m alive, and the horses are okay.” He pulled back and regarded me carefully. “And you fought like that even after being drained from healing me. That is…unprecedented, Norah. Perhaps I’ve underestimated you. Perhaps we’veallbeen underestimating you, including yourself.”
“I killed him.” And I’d done it like an assassin, shoving a sword into his back when he didn’t know I was there. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about that.
“You did it so we could survive,” he said. “And as much as I hate to say it, we’re going to have to go now if we want to keep on surviving. This fight was noisy. It likely woke some others. It won’t be long before someone comes to investigate.”
I gripped Rourke’s hand tight in mine and nodded. As much as I needed to process the violence of what I’d just done, he was right. It would all be for nothing if we got caught now. The crash of steel and tumble of bodies had been loud enough to wake the dead.
Rourke and I unchained the horses from the wall and led them back out through the front of the butcher shop. Several Wilde Fae were clustered at the bottom of the stairs outside, staring up at us with anger, revulsion, and hunger. I grabbed the reins and launched myself onto the back of the horse, and Rourke did the same. And then we charged.
The Wilde Fae stumbled back as the horses bore down on them, jumping out of our way as we galloped straight for the open gates. Cries of anger rose up behind us, and several of the fae pounded the ground in an effort to chase us down. We were outside the village within moments, though the cries rang out behind us for a long time after. The Wilde Fae were out for our blood. We had to keep moving.
* * *
Dread pooled in my stomach when we finally approached the tavern at the edge of the Summer lands. The door was flung wide open, and splotches of red painted the outer walls. Several bodies littered the ground, their limbs twisted at odd angles. Rourke slowed his horse, and I followed suit, slipping my hand into my pocket to feel the comfort of the stone. I could hide us, if needed.
“No need for that, Norah,” Rourke said in a chilly voice. “Whatever happened here is over. The attackers are long gone.”
I loosened my grip on the stone, but the tension in my body remained. “Who would have done this? The Autumns? The Queen didn’t mention anything about trying to breach the Summer border.”
Rourke didn’t answer. The truth was, he didn’t know anything more than I did at this point. He flicked his reins and motioned for me to follow. Slowly, we approached the tavern. Despite the fact that the attackers were gone, my heart raged in my chest and my palms were slick with sweat. We passed one body and then two, and that was when I realized how Rourke had known the truth. Flies buzzed all around them, and the stench was…
I closed my eyes and twisted my head away. They had been like this for a couple of days.
The echo of footsteps reached my ears. Footsteps that very much sounded as though they were coming frominsidethe tavern, not from behind us. Rourke heard them in the same instant I did, and he was off his horse faster than I could even register what was happening. His sword was from his scabbard and his weapon held high as he stalked in front of my horse, his back turned to me.
“Hide yourself, Norah.”
But the face that appeared in the doorway of the tavern had thick red hair, blazing bonfire eyes, and a smile so bright that it could blind me for days.
“Norah? Oh, thank the forest.” Liam started running to me then, his feet pounding against the soft dirt. I slipped off my horse and found my own body moving instinctively toward his, my heart in my throat. Seeing him now brought back a rush of emotions. I had missed him. Fiercely. And there had been a small part of me that had been worried I’d never see him again.
I launched myself into his arms, and my feet left the ground. He twirled, pressing his nose deep in my hair and breathing me in just as deeply as I breathed him. Sunflowers, fresh rain, and fire. Those fresh, familiar scents that made my bones ache.
Finally, after several long moments of this, Liam set me back down on the ground. His eyes searched mine, and he frowned, and then he turned to Rourke, questions circling in his eyes.
