Page 37 of Of Blood and Fire
After a long soaking, I washed my hair, then got out, dried off, and padded naked over to the weapon hooks to grab my knife. I hadn’t really been sleeping with it much of late, buttonight instinct was insisting I reinstate the habit. I wasn’t about to gainsay it. Not after the possible shamoke tampering.
I climbed into bed, tucked the blade under my pillow, and was swiftly asleep.
The softest whisper of sound woke me hours later. I didn’t immediately open my eyes, though my hand instinctively crept under my pillow and wrapped around the knife hilt. For several minutes, there was nothing more than the soft hiss of air coming from the underfloor heating vents. Then I heard it again.
A footstep.
Someone was in the room with me.
I was lying on my side, facing the outer wall, meaning my bare back was to the intruder approaching from the bathing side of the room—an oddity, given there was no means of entering the room from that area.
I opened my eyes and was initially met by utter darkness. But as my gaze adjusted, a shadow briefly crossed the bright wash of color still being flung from Damon’s sphere.
That shadow was male, not female.
My fingers clenched around the knife hilt, but I didn’t otherwise react. I had no idea if there was anyone else in the room, and until whoever approached was close enough to grab, it was better they thought me asleep.
The bed platform creaked as the man stepped up onto it. I heard the rustle of garments being shed, the soft thud of boots being removed; knew in that instant I’d been right to replace the damn shamoke.
The fake husband was about to stake his claim on the woman he thought to be unconscious.
He was going to get averynasty surprise when my knife sliced his balls from his body.
More soft steps. I tensed, ready to react the moment he tried to climb under the blanket with me.
I never got the chance.
“Take one step closer to her,” came a low, angry growl, “and I’ll fucking run this sword right through your cold, black heart.”
CHAPTER
SIX
It was Damon.MyDamon.
Of all the emotions tumbling through me, relief and anger were probably the strongest. I wanted to jump up and hug him fiercely, but I also wanted to verbally unleash at him for leaving me alone, without even the comfort of knowing where he was or when he’d return.
“Step away from her now,” Damon continued in that same dangerously low tone, “or I swear I’ll follow through with the threat.”
“And if you do,” came the arrogant reply, “you forsake the lives of your dear sisters and mother.”
“My dear sisters and mother are now well beyond the reach of you and our fucking parent. Step. Down. Now.”
The platform creaked as the other Damon obeyed. I immediately reached for the nearby light tube and flicked it on... and saw, as the light banished the nearby shadows, the man moving silently toward my Damon, his knife drawn and determination glinting in his eyes.
General Makki.
I didn’t bother warning Damon. I simply flung a stream of fire at his would-be assassin and corralled him instead. It wastempting, so damn tempting, to burn his fucking flesh from his bones, but I resisted.
Shouldn’t resist, Kaia growled.Deserve die.
Not until I get some answers. Like, how in Vahree’s name had the two of them gotten into the room? They certainly hadn’t come through the only door—the guard would have knocked to alert me first, and given all the extra guards in the hall, there was no chance Prince Damon and Makki could have silently overcome them all—not without the help of Aric’s mind enforcer, anyway, and she’d been safely deposited out in the grasslands. Even if shehaddecided to return here rather than go home, it would have taken her days, if not weeks, to do so on foot. The only other way into the room was through the window slits, and neither of them would have fitted. Hell, not even us stregas could have squeezed through them.
But maybe the answer lay in the strange energy that had always surrounded Makki.
“You were warned, General Makki,” I growled. “I hope you’re prepared for a long, cold flight into the middle of the grasslands.”
Shame if dropped, Kaia comment darkly.
