Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
“Where are we going?” Cade asked. “We’re both in bad shape and she’s out of it. I don’t want to spend the day hiding in a forest filled with magical beings that hate our kind.”
Skarde didn’t answer as he neared the rock house that, to most, looked like the side of a mountain.
He dismounted, stumbling against the horse’s side as he struggled to keep Gemma in his arms when his mind spun.
The horse skittered a few steps away. Without the animal to balance against, he staggered before forcing himself back to a stand.
He knocked. “Give us shelter, ye twerpy dwarf. We did our part.”
The door opened. Fontaine, dressed in a red and pink coat that left his chest bare, crossed his arms and cocked his head. White paint streaks crisscrossed his face and hairy chest. “You stink.” He waved them inside.
But when he turned to walk away, his ass was bare—the jacket ended at his waist to show off his assless pants.
“Dinnae need to see that,” Cade muttered as he ducked to enter the small doorway.
“The most powerful magic is powered by sex.” Without an ounce of shame, Fontaine stalked through the foyer. “Apparently, it worked. Come, you need to sleep.”
Two naked dwarf women scurried out of view.
“Didn’t need to see that either,” Cade said.
Fontaine showed Cade to a room. Efficiently, he set Cade’s arm in a wrap. “That ought to help it heal correctly.”
“Fuck with me while I’m sleeping and I’ll kill—”
Fontaine waved his hand.
Skarde’s brother shut up mid-sentence and collapsed, fast asleep before his head hit the pillow.
“Come.” The dwarf led him into a windowless room. “You sleep here. She stays with you.”
“Will she be okay?”
Fontaine stared at her in silence for a while. Abruptly, he said, “I don’t know. Serina is coming at dusk. Decisions need to be made.”
“What exactly is Serina?”
“She’s the guardian who watched over Gemma in the other realm. A witch.” As he departed Fontaine said, “I’ll send a bath for you. Use it. You will not stink up my house.”
Skarde laid Gemma on the bed, careful to arrange her hair off her face. Her breathing came at a slow, steady effort, and her heart rate was normal. He used water from the bath and a washcloth to clean her, getting her out of the clothes that were shredded.
With a kiss to her forehead he whispered, “I swear on my soul I’ll never let this happen to you again.”