Page 40 of Desire

A sudden searing pain clawed through Daemon, stealing my breath and his for a moment.

“Knife,” he yelled.

Understanding thundered through me as Edmund’s angry curse echoed in the glade.

I didn’t think; I lashed out, pushing aside the mist. It filled the trees, creating a dense barrier while everything inside the glade was bathed in the light of the early morning sun.

From my perch, I watched Darian bolt for his twin as Daemon dealt the man a solid blow.

The tracker stumbled a step. Darian worked with his injured twin, driving his fists into the larger man again and again until he stumbled a second time and fell to his knees. The brothers didn’t stop. They hit hard, causing the man’s head to jerk back with each strike. It would take a miracle for him to string two thoughts together once he regained his feet.

“Retreat,” the one fighting Edmund yelled.

Edmund didn’t try to stop him as the man turned and ran into the trees. The brothers let the other two flee as well.

Brandle hurried to Daemon’s side and checked his bleeding arm.

I turned my attention to the trees, checking for Liam and Eadric. They were moving together and emerged in the clearing not long after Edmund went to the well for water to clean Daemon’s wound.

“Is Daemon all right?” I called.

The seven of them lifted their gazes to look up at me. Even at this distance, I could see Edmund and Brandle’s fierce scowls. Likely, they were wondering how I would manage to climb down again. I wondered the same. Eloise always made climbing look effortless, but my hands hurt, and my arms were tired.

“Sparrow, remember that you eat like a bird and don’t fly like one,” Eadric called.

Liam elbowed him.

Darian and Garron hurried over to the base of the rock face.

“How did you get up there, Princess?” Darian called.

“I climbed.”

“Will you be able to climb back down?”

“I won’t know until I try.”

“I’d rather you wait for one of us to climb up to get you,” Garron called.

I flashed him a smile. “My bedroom was on the second floor of our home. This isn’t my first time climbing down something with few handholds.”

Garron shook his head and said something I couldn’t hear.

“He’s very worried, Princess,” Darian said as I eased my legs over the edge. “If you want any freedom after this, be sure you don’t fall.”

“I will do my utmost,” I murmured, focusing on recalling where all the footholds had been.

Garron and Darian called out their guidance whenever I struggled to locate the next ledge to place my feet.

By the time I reached the bottom, my limbs shook, and I gratefully accepted Garron’s embrace. When he passed me to Darian, who pressed kisses to every inch of my face while whispering I’d scared three years from his life, I didn’t mind that either.

Darian carried me to the well and sat me on the edge so that Eadric could wash my raw fingertips. Darian rubbed his temple as if his head ached, and Eadric’s voice was raspy as he made sympathetic sounds about my hands. The redness around his neck indicated someone had choked him at some point. Yet, the way they were standing so I couldn’t see the others meant they hadn’t received the worst of it.

“How badly was Daemon hurt?” I asked, attempting to see around the pair as Eadric finished with my hands.

“The bastard cut his arm fairly deep,” Darian said.

“Language,” Brandle called distractedly.

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