I looked at his sword. He looked at hissword.
And then we bothdove.
My shoulder hit the ground hard, and my fingers wrapped around the hilt of the weapon. Instantly, magic sang in my veins, lighting up my every nerve. New power swirling through my gut, I tossed the sign to the side andstood.
I grinned and held up the sword. Every single fae in the close turned my way, even Lugh. “Oi, you wankers. Why don’t you try fighting menow?”
The prat whose sword I stole stumbled away and disappeared around the bend in the close. I turned toward the one who had spat on my shoes. His expression was hidden beneath the black mask, but I could see his eyes. Unease churned through his greenirises.
The female—who I assumed was some kind of leader—and two of the remaining fae made steps towardme.
I motioned with one hand toward the nearest attacker, and he took the bait. He sprang toward me. Without even thinking, I knocked my blade against his, ducked low, and then swung my sword at hisleg.
My weapon made contact, slicing right through his skin. He yowled, his scream echoing through the silent night. He crumpled to the ground, his face twisted inpain.
“Bollocks,” the female muttered. She held her ground and motioned for the other two fighters to rush towardme.
I risked a glance at Lugh. He’d fallen to his knees. Blood poured from his stomach wound. He needed help. And soon. Or this entire fight would be fornothing.
But there was no time to think about that. I met the two attackers head on. One managed a swing. I ducked down and rolled to the side. He hacked his sword at my head, but it rang against the stone instead. I jumped back to my feet and levelled mygaze.
He threw his weight behind his sword and sailed it sideways toward me, just as his buddy did the same. Drawing the magic of the sword in through my veins, I moved. My blade knocked against his, and it clattered from his hands. I swung fast and met the other. The force of my blow knocked himback.
They both stared at me, jawsagape.
“She wasn’t lying. Her skill is the sword,” the female muttered, casting a glance over her shoulder at Lugh, whose hands were splayed against his bleeding wound. “Let’s go now. He won’t survive thatwound.”
As they grabbed their wounded friend, I tightened my grip around the sword. The itch to fight burned through me like fire. I couldn’t just let them walk away from this. I couldn’t let them getaway.
But then Lugh’s groan cut through my thoughts. I twisted toward him and winced. He was in bad shape. If I went after the attackers, there was no way he’d survive. With one last look at the black-clad fae rushing out of the alley, I shook my head and jogged toward Lughinstead.
He was a lot heavier than he looked. I hauled him to his feet and faltered on the cobblestones as I attempted to drag him down the long, windingclose.
“Don’t try to go to the castle. Go back to that place I took you,” he hissed. “I wasn’t lying. Safe...supernaturals.”
I frowned. Go back to that place? Did he mean the end of the alley where he’d left me? Fine with me. Dragging him all the way up Castle Hill would have taken five million years, but I could probably get him to the other end of the close before he bled out completely. Gritting my teeth, I wrapped one arm around his waist and stumbled in the rightdirection.
The heat of his body melted against me as we walked. His hand tightened on my shoulder; his fingers dug deep into my skin. I wet my lips and continued on, ignoring the rush of magic storming through myveins.
When we stumbled into the shadows at the end of the close, I glanced around for some kind of answer. He’d mentioned a shop before, but I didn’t see one along the dimly-lit alley. All the windows were completely dark, save forone.
“Lugh?”
His eyes were shut; his breathing was shallow. Dammit. He’d passed out, and I had no idea where to take him. Grunting, I slid him off my body so that I could peer into the glowing window. It was dark inside, save for a single lamp that flickered in the back corner. It sat next to a tiny little shield propped on a table. On it was Lugh’ssigil.
I’d never been so relieved to see that creepy hoodedfigure.
But how the hell would I get inside? Frowning, I glanced down at Lugh. He’d had a ring of keys before. I knelt beside him and dug through his pockets, trying not to think about how close my hands were to his, um...ahem. Heat swirled through my veins, and I tried to shake wayward thoughts out of mymind.
Ah, there they were! I grabbed the keys and held them up before me. One of these would do the trick. After trying several, I finally found the right key. The door swung open, and I grabbed Lugh beneath his armpits and dragged himinside.
I glanced around. Now what? The living room I’d found myself in was pretty basic. A two-seater sofa, a small coffee table with marble coasters, an old telly with an antenna perched on the top. There were no decorations, no picture frames of smiling faces. This was some kind of safehouse.
There might be a first aid kit somewhere, but as I stared at Lugh’s wound, I had a sinking suspicion that it would do no good. Nothing about the cut on his stomach was normal. It oozed blood in a frantic kind of way, like it was desperate to get out of his body. There’d been something magical about that attack, and a few bandages would do nothing to savehim.
We needed some help here, and I wasn’t sure what would doit.
Shaking my head, I strode out of the room and found myself in a kitchen. Nothing much to see here other than a phone and a printed out list of numbers attached to the fridge with amagnet.
