“Feels better,” he said, sounding as relieved as I felt.
Geryll already felt out of place on the training grounds, he didn’t need a wound reminding him just how much.
“I’m glad.” I smiled just as the kettle in the fireplace hissed.
“I’ll get it,” Geryll said excitedly and jumped out of his armchair.
As soon as he took one step, he lost his balance.
I stuck my hands out, catching him right before his nose hit the floor.
“Still dizzy?” I asked.
Geryll shook his head, mouth opening and closing, unsure what was happening. Finally, he righted himself and looked down at his leg in horror.
“It–” His breath hitched. “It hurts.”
Chapter 14
Allie
All I could hear was my own heartbeat clamoring in my chest.
Too loud, too fast.
I gripped the door as ugly memories of the masked attackers hidden in the ash invaded my mind.
My power roared inside me, ready to burst out, as my senses sharpened.
No breathing in the darkness.
No glint of a weapon.
I narrowed my eyes, stepping inside my bedroom as tall and ready as The Huntress would have to be.
Anything could be waiting under that duvet.
Anything that wanted me dead.
The lump in my bed was certainly not a person. It didn’t move, so no venomous creature; Evie had almost died from a hidden snake bite, anything was possible.
But if Dax’s odd friend had managed to create a flying contraption and Ryker’s Brother could make leaves explode, any deadly machinery was possible. A dangerous rune, like the ones Dara had been playing with since infancy, could always be slipped in a pocket or underneath a pillow.
Worse still, whatever hid under my blankets had left in a position I couldn’t ignore.
A message.
Small enough to be a head.
A severed one.
Images of Orion slicing his own throat slashed through me, chilling.
Bloody flashes of my family invaded my mind.
Dax’s smile sliced to his ears.
Evie’s cheeks stained with blood.
