Page 161 of A Touch of Stars and Stones
Ever might be safe. But she’s in a fucking cell.
I turn down the back hall and double back to the stairwell that will lead me down to the cells, remembering all the times I used to play in these very halls. The air chills as I venture into the shadows of the stone, leading down, deep underground, beneath The Tower. The cells have no windows and only one way in or out.
Apart from Lyle, who was held and questioned, they haven’t been regularly used, so to put Ever here seems extreme and out of all proportion for what happened in the trial, but that’s been a regular reaction to anything she’s done.
I follow the steps down, turn after turn, until it opens into a dimly lit receiving room. A table, a few sconces for light and a wall of weapons, half depleted, on one side decorate the spacebefore another wider set of shallow stairs leads down to the individual cells.
Before I’m even down them, I can sense her, my power seeking her out of its own free will, but worse, I hear voices. Male voices I don’t recognise.
Fear, raw and terrifying, takes over, blocking everything else as I race down the stone steps ahead of me.
“Ever! I’m coming.” I throw out the words through my mind and hope she hears.
“Necklace!”She screams inside my head, and the panic and alarm swamping her, slam into me. It’s cold and icy and pulls dread from my very soul, her fear fuelling my own.
My heart races, and the concoction of terror grips my chest as I sprint harder. Try harder.
The voices grow louder, and the noises of a fight, scuffs and grunts echo as I pass the first two cells. The iron door to Ever’s cell is open, and two men I don’t recognise are wrestling against her.Shit.
She’s fighting.
And she’s fucking losing.
Jerk number one has her on her back on the wooden cot, his hands on her, pinning her down as she grabs his wrists, fighting him back, twisting one way and then the next. Jerk number two is grappling for her legs, preventing her from lashing out, but she thrashes against them anyway.
I don’t know who they are, if they have magic or what skills they might have, and I have no firm plan for my attack, but Ever doesn’t have the time for me to plan.
I barrel into Jerk one as he’s the bigger threat, dropping my weight and sliding into his legs to take him out.
The surprise and momentum bring him to the floor, where I manoeuvre over his frame. Jerk two comes up behind me and pulls me back, but I round on him and elbow him in the gut.
“Come on, man. Leave her,” he wheezes. But it’s too late. My hand is already grabbing for my knife and, with a practised swing, I bring it around and across Jerk one’s neck, severing the muscles, tendons, and his throat.
Blood spurts, and his strain to fight against the wound fills the space while he bleeds out under me. His body goes lax, and I turn and stand to face Jerk two again. Ever’s long forgotten, and he’s now backed up against the wall.
“Who are you, and why the fuck are you after her?” I yell.
“Ten!” Ever’s strangled voice pulls my focus. Her hands cradle her head, and she’s curled in on herself. “It hurts. My head… I can’t…” she trails off, and I’m struck by searing pain as I reach out my power to her. It’s the same as when I touch her, that mind-numbing, head-splitting…
Her necklace. Realisation breaks me from the pull into the dark, and I see the gold pendant that should be around her neck gripped in Jerk two’s hand.
Asshole.
He follows my line of sight and drops the pendant before sidestepping around me and fleeing the cell.
Fuck.
I grab the necklace, ignoring the burning sensation threatening to peel the skin from my fingers as I pick it up, praying it’s not going to burst into flames. Carefully bringing it to Ever, I place it against her skin, hoping it will alleviate the pain of her power having nothing to keep it contained.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Breathe.” I don’t know if I’m talking to her or need to follow the instruction myself. My heart rate starts to calm in tandem with Ever’s own breathing, thank Aslendrix, and my eyes drift to the body next to us on the floor.
With the threat now neutralised, I can see him for what he is. Not a Warrior or anyone else I recognise from The Court. Hisclothes are neutral, and there’s a silver disk on the neck of his collar but no weapon.
Was he here to kill Ever? To hurt her?My mind starts piecing things together now that I can think past keeping her safe.
“Are you okay?”she asks into my mind.
“Yes. I think so.”
