Page 99 of The Anointed's Paladin

I crouched beside him as he bent to look at the empty circle of flattened moss where Nidori had slept. He went still and lifted some to his nose. I saw a vein in his temple throb.

“What?” I said.

“Adderdine,” he spat. A plant that could be used to make a powerful sleeping potion. Shit, now that he’d pointed it out, the sweet, cinnamon-like scent was everywhere. Why didn’t I realise sooner?

“What do we do?” I asked, fear turning my veins to ice. Someone had come here last night, made sure we didn’t wake up, and took Nidori.

“We don’t have any time to lose,” he said, jumping to his feet and pulling me to the door.

“They took her that way,” he said, gesturing towards the shore. I went to move, but Kaine stayed still. He was looking towards the tower. “Shit,” he said, looking back towards the beach, and then back at the tower. He rocked on his feet. “Shit.”

“We’ll split up,” I said, touching his shoulder lightly. “You go find Nidori. I’ll keep going to the tower.”

“But Cassandra—”

“She’s looking foryou,” I said firmly. “So you shouldn’t go there alone. I’ll be more prepared this time.”

He chewed his lip, but I could see it on his face. There was no way he was leaving Nidori.

“She might not even be there yet. Maybe I’ll just be able to walk in and out with the relic,” I said hopefully.

“No, she’s probably waiting for us to come. You’ve fought monsters your whole life, right? What about sorcerers?”

“A couple of times. Not a lot, though.”

“She likes summoning spells. She’s pretty good at them.”

“That’s good for us, though,” I mused. “We just have to get through the creatures she summons, and she should be pretty straightforward to attack.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty weak once you get to her. But she knows that. She’s got lots of tricks for slipping away.”

“We don’t need to kill her, just give ourselves enough time to finish the quest,” I said grimly.

“Don’t. Die,” he hissed, pulling me down into a kiss.

I kissed back, my fingers tangling in his soft hair.

He pulled away and grinned. “I’d be so disappointed if Nidori never got to experience that tongue of yours.”

I rolled my eyes. He was joking, but damn. That really did suck.

He vanished, and I heard him running away. I squared my shoulders and turned towards the tower.

45

How dare they

Kaine

Fear.

I hated it.

I hated how powerless I felt. Nidori, taken from right under our noses. She could be dead. And Talon could be walking to his death too.

I wanted to be everywhere at once. Be good enough to have woken up when Nidori had been taken. Be strong or fast enough to follow her and ensure our freedom.

But all I could do was follow her scent, run, and hope I was fast enough to save her and Talon and me.

---