Page 71 of Blood Bearon
They went up the stairs until Khove stopped at a specific room, pulling a card from his pocket and swiping it through the reader. The door beeped and opened, and they crept inside.
“You already rented a room?”
“We own the room,” he admitted. “It doesn’t get rented out.”
“Right.” She was beyond confused now, and decided it was easier to just drop the subject entirely. They could be smuggling exotic animals perhaps. That would make sense.
She walked toward the window to pull the heavy curtains aside and check out the view.
“Did you have to get us a room right near the signpost?” she complained, pointing at the green glow coming through the edges of the curtain.
“What sign?” Expecting Khove to smile when he looked up, Rachel paused at the frown on his face.
“Get down!” he hollered, moving faster than she’d believed possible.
The nearer of the two beds went up on its end as he flung it at the window before wrapping himself around her like a protective cocoon.
“What the—”
She never finished her question. The window blew inward in a shower of glass. Something hit them. Khove grunted even as she heard metal shrieking and a strange howl filled the air.
“I know you’re in there!” a voice boomed outside the window. “Show yourself, Khove!’
Rachel exchanged looks with Khove.
“It’s him,” the bear shifter said heavily. “It’s Korred.”
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He uncurled himself from around Rachel, feeling the impact of the bed frame on his back. It hurt like the devil, but it was still better than being peppered with shards of glass from the shattered windows. Rachel was safe, and that was all that mattered at the moment. Now he had to keep it that way. Facing the blown-out window, he stared at the figure hovering outside.
It was the first time he’d seen Korred since the attack on the Manor, and time hadn’t aged him well.
His face had been graced by age before then, but in a rugged, handsome way. Now it was pocked and marred with scars that hadn’t healed. Part of his left cheek was caved in, and one eye was permanently gone.
“Yes, yes, my face bears the fruits of your treachery and resistance to my rule. See how your unwillingness to accept me as your rightful ruler has hurt my ability to heal,” Korred spat, his sole remaining eye glowering at them, a faint reddish tinge doing nothing to assure anyone of his sanity.
“Really?” Khove called back. “I think it was probably several tons of stone falling on your face that hurt its ability to heal. I’m no doctor, but it seems more likely to be the case.”
“Bah. I should kill you for your insolence.”
“Yet you haven’t, have you? Because you know as well as I do, if you kill everyone who resists you, you’ll have no one left. Just like you have no lackeys left.”
“Are you sure taunting him is the best idea?” Rachel hissed from behind him. “It might backfire, don’t you think? After all, he’sflying.”
Khove waved her silent. Right now, he needed to keep Korred talking. If he could keep his attention, then perhaps he could find the bag he’d dropped in a rush to protect Rachel. In it were his weapons, weapons that would allow him to fight Korred on a slightly more even basis.
“You think because you arrested those humans that my position is weakened?” Korred chortled. “Do you believe you’vewonbecause of that? They were nothing. Pawns. They had mostly fulfilled their purpose anyway, I was ready to discard them myself!”
“Of course, you did. Of course,” Khove said, patronizing the Traitor. Clearly, he had gone insane, though whether that was because of too many blows to the head, or something that had happened long ago, he wasn’t sure. Nor did he care.
Khove rolled his neck from side to side, like he was getting loose, letting his vision scan the room behind him as best he could. Where was that bag!
“It’s under the other bed,” Rachel whispered. “If you’re looking for what I think you’re looking for.”
“Shit.”
“My plan is coming together perfectly!” Korred all but shrieked, desperate for attention.
