Page 107 of Kiss of Fire

“Very well. Later, then.”

The centaur surged forward, his powerful back legs propelling them into a canter. Raya’s last sight was of Tor, deathly still, the arrow still embedded in his back.

The next few hours were torture. The constant bouncing motion made her bones ache. Her head pounded against the centaur’s flank with each stride and her nostrils filled with its rancid stink.

Bellemar made no effort to support her or keep her from jolting around. He simply did the minimum to stop her sliding from the beast’s back. And she couldn’t move in the slightest to ease her discomfort. Locked in one position, her muscles were in agony.

She struggled to open her fist which still clutched the rose. Maybe the bumpy ride would work it loose and shake it from her grasp. But the thorns were too deeply embedded. The blood had long since congealed and she could feel the sticky mess all over her arm.

Nausea welled in her stomach and grimly she prayed she wouldn’t throw up. She knew she wouldn’t be able to open her mouth and would probably choke. The thought terrified her.

She realised she could die, right here on the centaur’s back, and no-one would even notice.

Bellemar was whistling a tuneless dirge through his teeth. His hand rested on Raya’s back. Occasionally it would stray to her backside and she would feel panic building. It was Griggs all over again. But worse, because she couldn’t shove a pen in his eye.

The journey was longer than it had been on the way out, when she had ridden sweet Martha. Or maybe it just seemed longer. Little stones and clods of mud flew up and hit her in the face. Some were sharp and cut her skin. Drops of blood mingled with the dirt on her cheeks.

She wondered if Shade knew she was gone by now. Was he looking for her? Or was he still speaking to the Vulcani council?

And Tor. Poor Tor.

Her head started to throb and black spots crowded her vision. The small patch of ground she was able to see passing beneath the centaur’s hooves dimmed and became blurry.

She passed out.

Forty

His enraged roar filled the castle, reverberating through every inch and into every corner. Clouds of stone dust funnelled into the air. If the castle walls hadn’t been built to withstand armies, they would have crumbled.

“Where is she?”

Smoke boiled off Shade in vast waves, filling the room, pouring from the doors and windows. Pasha lay prostrate, the lowest he could go without physically burrowing into the floor.

“My Lord, we have looked everywhere. She is not in the castle. The last anyone saw of her was when she was speaking with the Sylvan.”

“The Sylvan.” Shade held onto his rage, conscious that he was very close to losing control. “And has anyone seen Mr Torven?”

Loris shook his head.

“We are missing him too. He cannot be found. Perhaps they are together?”

He asked the question delicately and Shade’s face darkened further.

No. It was not possible. He refused to believe Raya would betray him. And regardless of how Tor felt about her, he had shown himself to be morally decent. He forced himself to think rationally through the red mist of his fury.

If they hadn’t gone off together, then something had happened to both of them.

“We have to find them. If they are not in the castle, then they must be in the grounds or the town.”

“I will send the guards to look,” said Pasha, getting to his feet and backing away cautiously.

“We will send our guards too,” said Loris. “Lady Raya must be found. And then, Lord Shadeed, we will discuss the castle’s security. Or lack of it.”

Shade didn’t answer. His eyes blazed ice blue and Loris found himself dropping his gaze. With as much bravado as he could muster, he swept out of the banqueting hall followed by the rest of the Vulcani council.

Shade prowled restlessly. For the third time he went up to her room, as if Raya might have been hiding the first two times he searched it. This time he let himself think the unthinkable.

She had run up here playfully to make him look for her. To wait for him to find her. Maybe she had gone into the bathroom, forgetting the bars no longer covered the opening over the drop. Maybe she had stumbled and…

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