I kept focus; the beast didn’t attack.Yet.
“Release him!” I commanded the magic beneath my fingers. His torso grew hot to the touch, and he cried out.
The beast’s jaws snapped behind me—my work on the warlock was done. I scrambled to flip from a kneeling position to face the beast. Fenris stopped convulsing, but he cried out in pain, still behind me.
The beast approached Emmerick, seeming to place the blame on him for his master’s pain. Emmerick began to reach for the dagger that he always kept concealed in his boot.Angeline.
I shouted at the beast, “No!”
The creature’s ears pricked toward me with a snarl of discontent.
“Do not harm Emmerick.” The beast recoiled. He wasactuallylistening to me. “Return to Fenris. We are not here to harm him.”
A gust of air rattled the windows before the ink returned to Fenris’ arm. Emmerick looked at me wide-eyed. Then, the warlock’s seizing calmed—his body lay limp on the sofa, and he stopped crying out.
“You can let go. It’s done.” My hands shook, and my breath hastened as I hovered over Fenris. Tapping into Source magic was an exhausting feat.
“Asterie, he isn’t waking up.”
Fenris looked lifeless—I couldn’t tell if the blue of his lips was from my imprints or a lack of air. The Commander tapped the warlock’s cheek without gentleness.
Had I killed him?Panic set in. I threw myself up onto the couch to reach his pulse point below his jaw. His heart beat, and he was breathing.Peace Prevail.
“Mmm…If this is how this spell works, bind me and unbind me again, my strange beauty,” Fenris drawled groggily with enough seduction that hairs raised on my arms.
Pompous ass.
His eyes fluttered open to meet mine, and I became keenly aware I wason topof him.
However, against my will, a smile touched my lips to see him awake.Why had my heart constricted so much at the thought of him dying?
Surely, it was because killing him would be a failure in my promise to the Queen.
“Hilarious,” Emmerick ground out as he helped me up.
The Commander seemed shaken by all he’d witnessed. I’d forgotten how jarring it must have been for him.
Fenris propped himself onto his elbows, looking down at the blue handprints fading from his body, and mused, “Now, if only I could remember all of that.”
“Enough,” I warned. “It was part of the spell, and I was checking your pulse—we thought we killed you.” My voice wasn’t as even-keeled as I’d intended. “I am glad to see you awake. How do you feel?”
“Utterly unbound.”
Emmerick let out a long, slow breath. “You could havekilledus—”
I leveled a glare in the Commander’s direction and shook my head. Emmerick stopped speaking. Whatever had happened with the beast, we would keep the fact that the beast responded to my words between us. Fenris had given us no reason not to trust him, but his words stuck with me.“My hands have the blood of many on them.”
Fenris was too enamored with the blue light fading from his body to notice the discretion between Emmerick and me.
“I hope you two have shoes designed for climbing in those packs,” the warlock said.
I didn’t.
The journey to Belray would be treacherous, but we were so close to fulfilling the Queen’s request. Traveling to Belray, where Fenris assured us there was an Egress, would cut weeks from our journey to Luz.
Once Fenris had a few moments to dress, we reviewed our route once more—through Kullworth to Belray, then a quick Egress to my tower and a short carriage ride to Luz from there. The only potential pitfall—we’d need to enter my tower. My stomach soured to think of what might await me there.
Seeing the Corridor and capital city that I’d protected for centuries was right at my fingertips. I wondered if the Sisterhood would try to stop me.
