But he had put me in the guest room, and not his own bed, for a reason. What had happened between us in the old burnt-out buildings meant nothing. I had been high, and he had been, too. Hell, he’d even stopped it from going any further than itdid.
With one last longing glance in his direction, I back-pedalled to the stairs. I would leave him to it. And instead of bothering him now, I would go take a coldshower.
A very coldshower.
My back slammed into something fleshy. Hands wrapped tight around my arms. Heart leaping into my chest, I screamed and slammed my bare foot up behind me. It landed in my attacker’s groin with a solid thunk, and a male voicegroaned.
The arms releasedme.
I whirled, eyes flashing, fists raised before me. The attacker reached behind his back and pulled out twin glinting blades. I could only see his eyes. They were a deep, deep blue. The colour of the darkest part of theocean.
And then those eyes flicked up, widening as they stared over myshoulder.
I could feel him, even though I couldn’t see him. Lugh strode out of his quarters, and an intense, lung-tightening power washed overme.
“You dare come into my quarters,” the King rumbled, voice as hard as steel, “and attack my guest beneath myroof.”
The attacker’s eyes gave me the impression that he was two seconds away from weeing in hispants.
I took that opportunity to jog back toward Lugh, my feet tripping over the blanket cape I still held tight around my body. Otherwise, the attacker was going to get an eyeful of my thong-coveredbum.
A golden glint caught the corner of my eye, and I turned toward the King of Wraiths. He held his spear in his hands. The real spear. The one he kept locked up in a case. The five sharp peaks glowed as he pointed the weapon right at the attacker’s gut, and the golden rivets whirled around theshaft.
Holy shit. What the hell was this thing? It was almost like it was...alive.
“Who are you?” Lugh advanced on the attacker. “What do you want with Moira? Who else is working withyou?”
“I can’t answer any of your questions,” the attacker said in a fearful voice. “They’ll killme.”
“I’llkill you,” Lughroared.
The enemy charged, his twin daggers slicing through the air. He aimed them right at Lugh’s chest, and the pointed tips rippled with the threat of death. My body instinctively moved toward the danger, my arms outstretched to stop the daggers from sinking into Lugh’sskin.
But Lugh’s arm shot out and shoved me back behind him. He grabbed a shield from the wall with such speed that it looked like nothing more than a blur. The daggers slammed into the bronze, and then skittered off, like tiny pebbles against a brickwall.
The attacker’s eyes widened as he stumbled back. Lugh advanced on him, growling. With one last frantic glance in my direction, the enemy pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it right atme.
I froze, swallowing hard. It had been a long ass time since I’d seen one ofthose.
“I’ll kill her,” the attacker’s voice wobbled. “She might have survived the sword, but she won’t survive agunshot.”
Lugh made his move. In a terrifyingly split second, the world seemed to shudder against the pull of time. One moment, I swore Lugh stood tall with his shield held before him. I blinked, and then the five-pointed spear rammed deep into the enemy’schest.
Blood painted thefloor.
Lugh jerked back his spear, and the body crumpled like a rag doll. I held a hand over my mouth as blood sprayed everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, on my barefeet.
Heart hammering, I glanced away. I’d seen a lot of death. I’d caused some myself. But this was a horrifying taste ofbrutality.
“Dammit, I didn’t want to kill him,” Lugh muttered, whirling on his feet and vanishing back into his quarters. I stared after him. Was that...was that it? Was he just going to return to his harp-playing now and pretend that there wasn’t a dead body on his floor with blood spattereverywhere?
But he reappeared only seconds later, the spear whisked out of sight. My heart thudded as I watched him lean over the attacker’s body. “What is that thing,Lugh?”
He glanced up at me, eyes hard, but he didn’t answer myquestion.
“Your spear,” I pressed. “That’s not a normal weapon. What is it? How did it move like that? Why do you keep it locked up all thetime?”
He ground his teeth together, and turned his attention back on the attacker. “It is a very long story. One I’m not sure you’re ready to hear. And right now...” He reached down and placed trembling fingers on the mask. “We need to see who thisis.”
