Page 10 of Veiled Fate
I resolutely did not think about that. There wasn’t time. Not now.
“What about the Nehringi? Did you see him?”
Andi went still, looking more fearful than when I’d first awoken. “What?”
“It was a Nehringi that caught us. The bastard gutted me.”
“I didn’t see anyone matching that description, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.” Andi shifted her weight from side to side, looking around warily. “A Nehringi? Here? Shit.”
“Yeah. But if he’s not with Kiel, then we have a chance.”
“What is thisweshit you’re talking about, Jada? You’re not going to be moving for ages with your stom—”
Andi’s thought ended in a strangled yelp as her eyes landed on my stomach.
My fingers crept slowly downward, finding the hole in my shirt that the Nehringi’s blade had torn as he impaled me. It was wet and sticky, soaked with my blood, as was much of my clothing. Andi wasn’t wrong. My blood was all over the streets. I should have been dead, or at best, heaving my last breaths.
Instead, my fingers found soft, smooth skin where a jagged wound should be. Easing myself up on one elbow, I pulled my shirt up. Other than an ugly-looking red line, my stomach was unmarred by anything other than smeared blood.
“What the fuck are you?” Andi whispered in horror.
“I don’t know,” I told her, resolutely not letting myself go down that rabbit hole just yet. “But right now, I intend to use whatever it is to free Kiel. Are you with me or not?”
“That’s not possible,” she said, her voice on the edge of breaking. “Jada, that’s not possible.”
“Maybe,” I agreed, looking at where I’d been stabbed earlier in the arm. It looked nearly pristine. “But whatever it is, we need touse it. Kiel needs our help. Please. I need to get out of here.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I agree with that. Jada, when they find out about this, when Arcadus and the other Alphas know that you can do this, they’re going to hunt you down with everything they have. They won’t stop coming for you.”
“I know,” I replied, trying not to let the weight of that fear settle too heavily on my shoulders. I had a job to do first. “I’ve come to the same conclusion.”
“Can you walk?” she asked.
“I think so. My legs haven’t been hurt. And I feel strangely energized.”
“Well, then, let’s go,” Andi said, shrugging aside her discomfort at my newfound powers and extending an arm. “No time to waste. The closer they have him to the palace, the closer they are to reinforcements.”
“Such cheerful thinking,” I muttered as I let myself get hauled to my feet, the movement producing only the slightest twinge of discomfort in my stomach. “I can see why Kiel kept you around so long.”
“Ha, ha,” Andi growled as we headed for the mouth of the alleyway. “Keep it up, and I’ll gut you like a fish.”
“Been there, done that,” I chuckled, glad to see pieces of the old Andi shining through.
The crowd in the market was beginning to resume its fervent activity, but when I appeared in their midst, dripping blood and somehow still alive, word spread quickly. Whispers and stunned gasps spread faster than we could run, stilling much of the market.
Thankfully, our trip was short, and we soon turned up a side street. We moved as fast as possible, keeping on streets parallel to the main thoroughfare, hurrying to catch up with the procession headed for the palace, where Kiel would no doubt face Arcadus’ so-called justice.
I could only hope we would get there in time to be of any use.
Chapter Six
We came across Kiel exactly as Andi described. Chained and shackled, marching through the streets surrounded by a cordon of silver-armored Wulfhere guardsmen. Getting him out wouldn’t be easy.
“No sign of the Nehringi,” I whispered from where I peered around the corner a block or so ahead of the slow-moving procession. “You see anything?”
“Nope,” Andi said from the second-floor roof above me. “Just the guards. Only about twenty of them. All armored, some with swords, some with spears. But other than that slight obstacle, we’re free and clear.”
“Good,” I said, staring at Kiel, willing him to look up, to somehow find my eyes hidden behind the crowd gathering to watch his processional march.
