Page 37 of Fragile Oath

And more than any of those things, I didn’t want to turn into the kind of monster who would hurt someone just because they could.

Not knowing whether it was mercy for a man who scarcely deserved it, or preservation for whatever was left of my sanity, I took a deep breath and looked Alexei straight in the eye.

“The sword.”

Davin nodded once, though I barely caught the movement. With a flick of Davin’s wrist, it was over. His blade was dripping with blood as Alexei’s body slumped to the ground, his empty brown eyes still locked on mine.

ChapterEighteen

DAVIN

I wipedmy blade off on Alexei’s coat before sheathing it once again. It had been too quick. Too easy. Not nearly as painful as he deserved and not as satisfying as it should have been when I pictured the way he had loomed over Galina, trying to force her into submission.

Galina observed my actions with the same unflinching expression she had worn when I ran him through with my sword. The silence in the clearing grew intrusive, punctuated only by the steady drip of blood from Alexei’s wound pooling on the frozen ground below.

I wasn’t sure where to go from here, how to talk to my former fiancée when she was standing only inches from the encroaching puddle of her dead husband’s blood.

A throat cleared pointedly, bringing my attention back to the thieves. Well, former thieves, if they could be believed. They were family, though, and they had been the only people I could think to trust who were close enough to lend aid.

“Exquisite timing as always,” I said with a lightness I didn’t feel.

My not-quite uncles — and Fia — nodded in response. The fae thief had aged scarcely five years in the more than twenty I’d known her, but her eyes held a weighty sort of discernment that belied her years. I looked away from the probing gaze, not wanting to know what she made of this whole mess I’d called her into.

“O’ course, lad,” Cray said, removing his well-worn hat and dipping into a bow. The years had aged him, hunching his shoulders so that his already-short stature only barely reached my torso. “We weren’t never going ter let something happen to ye or yer wee lassie.”

Galina blinked, and I bit my tongue before I could tell him she wasn’t my anything anymore.

“Yes, gorgeous girl would be having our heads if we did,” Sai added in his deep, accented tone. He was the complete physical opposite of Cray in every way. Tall with smooth, dark-brown skin, and a full head of hair. “I will never win her love that way.”

“Yer an eegit, Sai. The queen was no’ to be having ye before, and certainly no’ when she’s been marrit for over two decades now to a man a right lot prettier than ye are.”

Rather than comment on Sai’s longstanding, one-sided adoration of Aunt Charlie, I cleared my throat.

“Appreciation, all the same. We need to…take care of things here, then we should get going.” Though, I wasn’t sure where to go from here.

I had to get back to Lithlinglau, but I didn’t know if Galina wanted to continue to the tunnels or make her way to Chridhe. It was one of many topics I would just as soon set myself on fire as broach with her right now. In any event, we had to take care of the bodies first.

One thing at a time.

Sai and Cray exchanged a look.

“Ach, no. What ye be needin’ is some rest and a good meal.” He looked at Gallagher and Galina in turn, and a hint of concern showed behind his eyes. “All of ye.”

“Aengus has the stew already cookin’,” Sai added quickly. “Enough for everyone and then some. You wouldn’t be wanting it to go to waste now, would you?”

I wondered what they had heard about the situation, or what they had gleaned from my short letter. The offer was more than a little alluring. Their home in Thieves Forest was safe and familiar, a smattering of tents and cabins always punctuated by the smell of whatever was cooking in the giant shared hearth.

Then there was Galina, still examining Alexei’s rapidly cooling corpse like it held answers to the questions that relentlessly tormented us both.

But we had to get back.

“As tempting as that is, we need to be on our way.”

Fia sighed in disappointment. “Just when I call you the least useless of the bunch, you go and prove me wrong.”

Gallagher made a sound of offense, but she ignored him. Snow fell into her pale blonde hair and down onto her dark lashes as she fixed me with a glare.

“You look like hell. No one in your party has slept, and you’ll move slower and be less safe if you take off in this state. You’ll make up the time this way instead of falling prey to rebels. If you won’t do it for yourself…” she trailed off, looking pointedly at Galina. “Do it so you don’t undo all of our hard work in rescuing you.”

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