Page 89 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

“And just to be clear, you have done this before?”

“But you are the best fighter.”

“I’m surprised an oaf like you would know the difference.”

He shrugged off the insult. “You will love it in the end.”

“I see. You’re stupider than I thought.” I shook my head slowly. “But I’m afraid that won’t save you.”

I glanced at the bed and the number of Timo’s possible victims made me watch to retch.

He took advantage of my seconds-long distraction and swung the pillow at me, made me jump back. “So brave, are you? Take off your armor and we will fight fair. Winner takes you.”

“Not going to happen. I’ve killed monsters before.” I imagined his future victims—I knew what their terror would taste like, I had felt their shame. But I could prevent all that.

The door burst open. I only spared a glance to make sure it was Griffon and not some accomplice. His shirt was gone. He flung his coat aside, but he wouldn’t need more than a few seconds to realize what was going on.

My empty hand shot up to warn him off. “I need to do this!”

After a few seconds, he spoke, his voice even, barely controlled. “Don’t let me interrupt.”

He couldn’t have said anything more perfect. He hadn’t said, “All right. But I’m here if you can’t handle it.” He hadn’t, for a second, doubted me, though he’d never seen me fight. He’d given me blind faith. And I loved him even more than I thought was possible.

Timo misunderstood and grinned again. “He’s a watcher, is he?”

“I’m just trying to decide how to kill him,” I said. “It would be a pity to burn the place down, but I do hate to mop up blood. And if I try to roast him, I don’t think I can bear the smell.”

“Maybe Kivi would like to stomp a hole in the ice—”

“No. No. He doesn’t get to see her.”

“Who is Kivi?” Timo kept glancing at the door. “I never heard your snow dog.”

Griffon closed the door. “I ran into your wife. She seemed nervous to find me in town, alone, when her husband had come out to check on us. So Iflewstraight here.” In my periphery, I saw him flap his arms to demonstrate, but his wings stayed out of sight.

Timo sneered. “You are both insane. Get out! Take your things and leave my house!” He backed toward the side wall so he could watch us both, holding the pillow out in front of him like a shield. He wanted us to think he was standing down, but the way his eyes shifted, I knew he wasn’t finished.

“He’s right,” I said. “We should gather our things, say goodbye to the place.” But none of us moved.

I thought I would be able to forget about predatory men like Andy, but I was wrong. I’d been helpless in that Idaho parking lot. I’d been helpless in that taxi. But this time, I was perfectly capable of saving myself. And Griffon understood my need to do it.

The big man moved faster than I expected. He planted a foot on the mattress, and launched the pillow at me as he came. He reached for my dagger, and I sliced out and down, caught his left hand with the tip of the blade, and opened the flesh. He yowled and lifted his right arm, to backhand me, but before he could connect, my warm armor stretched up to absorb the impact. I took a quick step to save my balance, but I was unharmed.

If he was willing to attack me, covered in unearthly liquid armor, with Griffon in the room, then he was more dangerous, more stupid, and more crazy than I thought.

Again, Timo glanced at Griffon, then came at me, to shove me toward the rear wall. My armor clanged when it hit the wood. He pressed the right side of his body against me, to hold me in place while he groped for my blade. I sliced up, missed him, then tossed the knife over his head to catch it in my left hand. I bit into his shoulder to get him off me so I could bend. I then put the blade between his legs and dragged it up, severing his right femoral artery, among other things.

His caterwauling filled the room and the rafters as he stumbled back to the bed, sat on the edge, and tried to staunch the flow of blood from his leg with his good hand. A dark red stain quickly spread down his pants and began to accumulate on the floor. A smaller puddle formed on the bare mattress beneath his left hand. Even as he realized his fate, his head shook with shock and denial. “You stupid bitch.”

“Smart enough to hit your artery.”

I never showed him my back as I edged around the bed and inched past the fire, toward the door. When I finally turned, I was in Griffon’s arms. He had my back now. I pressed my face against his chest. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I’ve ruined—”

“You’ve ruined nothing, and he’s paying dearly for bad judgement, that’s all.” He kissed my forehead and took a step back to look me over. “Nice armor.”

“Oh, this old thing? It came out of nowhere. When Kivi said we were invincible, she must have known about it. I have no idea how to get it off.”

“Perhaps it will withdraw when the threat has been eliminated.” He shot Timo a withering look, then never looked his away again while we stuffed our things in our bags. The last items we grabbed were Bridie’s basket and Daphne’s box of stones. I barely noticed when my protective gold receded to my arm.

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