Page 55 of Heartless Enemy

“He did this?” I demanded.

Eve tried to yank her wrist out of my grip, but her strength was no match for mine.

“He put this mark on your skin?” I pushed, my voice brimming with violence.

She once more tried to pull her arm down to hide the evidence. But when she was once more unsuccessful, she forced out, “Yes.”

Releasing her wrist, I spun around and stalked towards the door. “I’m going to fucking kill him. Right now.”

Just before I could reach the handle, a blast of wind slammed into me from behind and to the left. It was hard enough to push me off balance, sending me stumbling a few steps to the side. I whirled around to face the source of the attack.

“Calm the fuck down,” Eve snapped before I could say anything.

I blinked, momentarily stunned by the sheer command in her voice.

“We will kill him,” she continued. “In due time.” Raising her arm, she stabbed a hand towards the healer, who yet again flinched. “But right now, we’re getting Derek Reynolds out of this castle and far away from here. Understood?”

Surprise, a hint of amusement, and a lot of appreciation swirled inside me as I raised my eyebrows at her in silent question.

She flashed me a smile full of challenge. “Don’t make me summon my lightning.”

I huffed out a short chuckle. It dispelled most of the blinding rage that had seared through me. Or at least shelved it for later.

Drawing in a deep breath, I forced my mind back to the mission at hand and then touched my palms together.

With a flick of my wrist, the metal shackle around Derek’s ankle liquefied. His eyes grew even wider, with shock this time instead of fear, as he stared down at the small puddle of metal on the floor. Then he looked back up at us.

I jerked my chin. “Let’s go.”

Chapter22

My heart thumped in my chest as we snuck down the stairs and across the castle again. It was quite far to the room we had entered through, but since it was the best way out, we had to make it there.

“Is White here?” I whispered as I peeked around another corner before waving Levi and Derek forward. “In the building?”

At first, there was no response. While moving quickly down the corridor, I glanced over my shoulder to find Levi raising his eyebrows expectantly at the healer. Derek at last realized that my question had been directed at him.

After giving his head a quick shake as if to clear it, he said, “No. He won’t be back for another week. Apparently, there are some people in a city to the south who are making trouble or something, so he has left to get some mages from his army to deal with them.”

Levi and I exchanged a smug grin.

“Making trouble?” I pressed a hand to my chest in mock outrage. “I would never.”

Levi let out a silent laugh.

The healer just looked between us, bewildered. Then a light went on behind his eyes, as if he finally realized that we were in fact the troublesome people White had talked about.

I checked around the next corner before starting down yet another white marble hallway. Paintings of snowy fields and prowling wolves filled the ceiling above us.

One week until White returned to his castle to find his healer missing. That was better than we had even dared to hope for. With an entire week to spare, we would have more than enough time to return to Malgrave and get everything ready before White decided to exact his vengeance. As long as we got out of this castle without attracting attention, this mission would be a roaring success.

Footsteps sounded from the corridor up ahead.

Lots of footsteps.

I snapped my gaze around the hallway while cursing myself for declaring victory prematurely. There was a door a few steps ahead. I sprinted towards it and shoved the handle down while Levi grabbed Derek by the arm and hauled him towards the door as well.

Yanking it open, I found what looked like a large living room. Several round tables were positioned around the room, and there were comfortable-looking couches and armchairs arranged throughout the space too. One of the walls housed a burning hearth.

---