Page 55 of What Lies Beyond the Veil

“You will be, but we have all the time in the world, Little One,” he said, rolling off of me and dragging my body to drape me over his. He positioned my injured ankle over his hips, gently depositing it there as if the injury would keep him from disturbing me in the night.

His eyes drifted closed, the only sign he gave me that the time had come to sleep. Disappointment fluttered in my belly, having been so close to crossing the line in a way I could never come back.

It was only a matter of time before I did. That much was clear from my brief time spent with Caelum.

The real question was what would remain of me when it was all over with.

24

My weight shifted suddenly, my body thrown to the cave floor so hard that I drew in a shuddering breath after the wind was knocked free from my lungs. “Don’t fucking touch her,” Caelum warned, his voice filled with malice as I flung my alarmed gaze toward him. The haze of sleep vanished in an instant, my mind suddenly alert as I tried to take in what was happening.

The tip of a sword hovered just in front of my nose; the man holding it stood with his legs spread ever so slightly around mine. I swallowed as I met his cold blue stare, glancing over toward where Caelum struggled against the four men fighting to pin him to the ground.

He pulled the dagger from the sheath at his thigh, pressing it to the throat of one of the men so deeply that they all froze. The man standing over me watched with interest, cocking his head to the side as he shifted his attention back down to me and touched the tip of the blade to my chest.

To the space just above my heart; the spot that could take me to a true death if he pierced it.

“You could kill him,” the man spoke to Caelum, shrugging his shoulders. “But do you think you’ll get to her before I run her through?”

Caelum froze, his jaw clenched tightly as one of the other men wrapped their hands around his where it clutched the hilt of his dagger. He let them take it from him, his eyes never leaving mine or that blade pressed to my chest in warning. “When I’m through with you, there will be nothing left to reincarnate,” Caelum growled.

The man above me chuckled, his face twisting into mockery. “You’ve got him properly wrapped around your little finger, don’t you, pretty?” he asked, using the tip of his blade to flick the hair away from my neck. My Mark pulsed, drawing a blue glow from his own Fae Mark. He was the only one to wear the Mark, the other four men entirely human as they watched Caelum warily.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I murmured, peeling my lips back from my teeth as something vicious overcame me. I was so fucking tired of being a victim. Of being treated like I was less than the men around me, because they had a piece of meat swinging between their legs. I touched a finger to his sword, trailing it up the flat edge in a teasing motion. “He has his uses.”

“I’m sure he does,” the man laughed, his eyes narrowing in on that innocent finger. I pressed a palm against each flat side of the blade, jerking it to the side as I hooked my feet around his ankles and used them to slide myself down between his legs, causing him to stumble forward.

His sword plunged into the dirt above my head, Caelum’s shout echoing through the small alcove as I twisted out of the way and jumped to my feet. My ankle gave a tiny twinge of pain but held beneath me; the hours that had passed in the night had given it time to heal with my new abilities.

My boot came down on the man’s ass where he bent over in front of me, knocking him further forward. “There are far kinder ways to wake a woman in the morning,” I snapped, flinching when another set of hands grabbed me by the hair. The second man yanked my head back, twisting my neck from side to side as he looked at my ears.

Looking for the legendary pointed ears of the Fae, I realized.

I reached up above my head, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him toward me at the same moment I bent myself in half and pushed with my legs. He hit the ground in front of me with a thud, his arm landing at his side for a moment before he reached for his sword. I stepped on his wrist, squatting beside him to snatch the weapon away from his fingertips.

Caelum watched with a smirk on his face, distractedly fighting off the three remaining men who struggled to contain him, even when he didn’t give them all his attention. I had no doubt that he could have escaped them all if it hadn’t been for the risk to me.

It was a good fucking thing I could take care of myself in this way, at least.

“You will unhand my friend if you like yours breathing,” I said, putting my assailant’s own sword to his throat.

The man who’d first held a sword to my face slowly got to his feet, his hands held out in a peaceful gesture, as if they hadn’t actually intended to harm us. I believed he meant it, knowing we weren’t the Fae hunting him. “You got anything to add?” he asked Caelum, rubbing a hand over his face.

“I think she covered it, really,” Caelum returned with a smirk. He moved with a fluid grace that took our attackers off guard, proving my suspicion that he had only not fought them off for my safety.

That shouldn’t have made my stomach clench or butterflies rise up to my throat. Knowing that my safety came before his should have appalled me. Instead, I wanted to kiss him, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to be the initiator in our intimate moments.

Not yet, anyway.

He disarmed his attackers smoothly, until every sword was either held within his grasp or flung against the dirt, leaving the men gaping at him awkwardly.

“Perhaps you would like to explain to me what exactly you were planning to do before my love emasculated you?” he asked, weighing the hilt of one of the swords in his hand as he watched the men carefully.

“We’re looking for survivors. We had to be sure you aren’t one of those Fae bastards. Evan over there knows how to see through glamour,” he said, gesturing to the man who laid sprawled out in the dirt beneath me where I’d left him. His attention shifted over me and then to Caelum, studying us in a way that felt somehow invasive.

“The Fae Marks didn’t give it away?” I asked, glaring at the man who’d spoken.

“You’ve never seen a Fae, have you pretty? Those bastards are born with the Mark,” he grumbled.

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