“Nothing. Why?”
“He was teasing you. Griff never teases anyone.”
“He wasn’t teasing me,” I protested. “Besides he teases you and Finn as well.”
She waved a hand. “That’s different. He’s known us forever. He doesn’t tease people he’s met recently.” She held up her hand to stifle my protest. “Recently for Griff is anything over a decade. And I know teasing when I see it, and that was teasing. He likes you.”
I snorted. “He doesn’t like me. He just likes pounding me into the mat while sparring.”
“I don’t think that’s the only place he wants to pound you.”
“Freya!”
Her eyes twinkled.
“Besides, he told Finn that we were just friends.”
She pursed her lips. “I’ve seen Griff with ‘just friends’ before, and believe me, it looks nothing like this.”
I tried to ignore the warmth that spread through me with her comment.
Talk turned to debating whether or not Finn would succumb toNuala’s charms and what bed he’d be sleeping in tonight. We were still fairly far from the castle grounds, and as we passed under a covered walkway, a faint sob sounded off to the left—not just a cry, but a broken, desperate plea that cut straight to my chest.
Freya and I shared a glance and ran toward the sound. I stopped cold. Two men stood over a woman, pinning her down. She was crying out, struggling futilely against her stronger perpetrator as the second moved between her tossed-up skirts.
I shoved Freya behind me and drew my sword. “Stop what you’re doing right now.” My voice was low but deadly.
His companion froze, but the attacker stood, adjusting himself with casual indifference. The girl—she couldn’t be more than sixteen—huddled in the corner, blood on her torn dress, her eyes wide with a terror that I recognized all so well. My anger consumed me.
“Ah, it’s the little princess.”
That familiar voice sent a shard of ice through my heart as he turned, slowly, deliberately. That same twisted smile. Those same cold eyes. My fear since I’d heard he’d escaped had just come true. I positioned my body more fully in front of Freya.
Cillian’s face twisted into a vile grin as he stepped away from the girl. She shrank back farther, as if she could disappear into the wall itself. If I could just draw the men away…
“Figures the little princess would ruin my fun. My friend”—he gestured behind him—“has been patiently waiting his turn, and now there are two of you. How perfect.”
How could Zachariah have let filth like this escape and roam free, able to attack the innocent? I shoved the thought aside as I circled, taking Freya with me, trying to draw the men away, but they circled in different directions.
“Freya, take her and run!” I shoved her behind me again, sending flames blazing down the blade.
Cillian scoffed. “A party trick.”
“You think so? Let’s find out.” My voice was filled with a confidence I didn’t feel.
His companion spun toward Freya. She kicked out, but her long skirts hindered her.No.I’d had enough of seeing my friends in danger today.
“Get back!” I roared, and the earth itself answered my cry. Cobblestones cracked and exploded as fire erupted in a blazing barrier, the flames reaching toward the covered walkway’s ceiling.
Cillian’s laughter echoed off the stones. “You think your party tricks will stop me? You should know your enemy, little princess.” He stepped through my fire, his own flames wrapped around him as armor. His companion followed, both of them grinning in that vile way.
Fine. If flames wouldn’t stop them, I would use everything else.
More stones cracked as I called up my earth channel. Vines covering the walls stretched forward and wrenched his companion back against the wall with a sickening thud, strapping him against the stone.
“Did I hear you just declare yourself as my enemy?”
He shrugged and laughed. “Does it matter? Powerful people want you dealt with. If it’s not me, it’ll be someone else. At least I get another crack at you first. He was sorely disappointed by my last attempt.”
