Page 81 of The Courting of Bristol Keats
Cosette gripped her sword with both hands and lifted it over her shoulder.
Braegor’s head tweaked slightly to the side. Suspicion inched across his hideous face.
Now, Tyghan thought. But Cosette stood, poised.
“You’re full of talk today, aren’t you?” Braegor said. A small laugh hissed through his lips. “You wound me, Tyghan. You take me for a fool?” His knuckles crackled as they tightened on the hilt of his sword.
Now! Now! What is she waiting for?
Braegor smiled. But he couldn’t resist. He had to see first. He turned. He had to—
Cosette swung, silent and strong. Her aim was deadly accurate, as if she had measured every crooked vertebra in his neck. Braegor’s head flew with the force of the blow, and his body and sword spun upward, caught in the maelstrom.
Tyghan leapt, his back barreling the torso aside, and grabbed the sharp blade with his bare hand before it could fall onto Bristol.
CHAPTER 56
Bristol’s gaze swam in cool blue pools. They kept her from sinking back into the murky world that still pulled at her. Her throat scratched and clawed its way to speak. Only hoarse sounds came out.
“Quiet,” Tyghan ordered. He hovered over her, his black hair hanging in damp strands. His hands were wet and warm against her neck. She reached up, feeling slippery liquid between their skin and he placed her hand back on her chest.
“It’s my blood, not yours,” he said. His hands applied gentle pressure to her throat. “Lie still,” he added when she tried to move. He seemed to be searching for something. “Nothing’s broken, but there’s bruising and swelling.”
Blurry faces bobbed just behind him. Melizan, Kasta, Eris, Cosette. They looked on as Tyghan’s hands circled behind her neck. She tried to speak again. “Rose—”
“Esmee and Olivia are with her,” Kasta said.
Tyghan’s fingers spread wide over each side of her neck, his face tense with concentration, and he drew them toward each other. He repeated the motion several times, his eyes never leaving hers, like that was part of the magic to keep her from drifting away. He murmured words with every pass of his hands.
The pain subsided. His thumb skimmed the length of her throat as he whispered more words. Her lungs were finally able to expand with full breaths. The blurriness retreated. She placed her hand over Tyghan’s, her fingers lacing with his, his blood warming her skin. “Rose? Is she alive?”
“Yes,” Madame Chastain said, elbowing her way in. “Of course she is.” She pulled Tyghan’s hand away. “Go let Esmee see to your hand. I’ll finish here.”
But Tyghan didn’t leave. His attention remained locked on Bristol.
Go ahead, kill her. She is nothing to me.
Nothing? That was not what Bristol saw in his face. She saw worry. Fear. Need. She saw him wanting to lean in. Hold her. Kiss her. Stay. She saw everything that was true and real between them resting in his eyes.
Or maybe she was truly delirious now, a lack of oxygen muddling her brain.
But Anastasia Wiggins had said it and so had he—fae couldn’t lie.She is nothing.
Kasta tugged on his arm. “Come away, Tyghan. Leave this for Madame Chastain.”
Like Bristol was some messy inconvenience.
Tyghan stood and walked away.
CHAPTER 57
First-year knights swarmed the grounds as Sloan and garrison commanders directed their efforts to dispose of bodies and kill hyagen that still lingered. Their screeches lanced the air like the battle was still on.
The stench had been horrific, but Tyghan noted it was now gone. Probably thanks to Melizan. She had the least tolerance for the smell of rotten flesh hanging in the air.
Kasta led him directly to Esmee, who had just finished bandaging an archer’s shoulder. “You don’t have to wait,” Tyghan told Kasta as Esmee worked on his hand, but she stayed close by his side as if he were a child she couldn’t trust.
Dalagorn, Quin, and Glennis walked over like they had nothing else to do. Had Kasta called in reinforcements?
