Chapter Nineteen Lor
Urgent voices churn somewhere between consciousness and the throbbing in the back of my head. Someone is arguing. A male voice followed by another. “We need to get a message out,” one of them is saying.
“We can’t until morning,” the other replies.
“Do you think anyone saw us?”
“No.”
“What did you do with the kid?”
“Gave him some coin to keep his yap shut. Told him I’ll pull out his toenails one by one if he squeals.”
They both snicker viciously as my mind meanders towards clarity, but I’m having trouble forming solid thoughts. The child and the darkened alley. That little shit tricked me. I have just enough presence of mind to lie still and continue pretending I’m passed out as I listen to them bicker. I shift, just barely, noting the prickle of scratchy rope binding my hands and feet.
I pray this is a random attack, and these two aren’t working for the Aurora King. Etienne assured us that all his men were gone. Was he lying? Or was he just mistaken?
Their conversation continues as I resist the urge to open my eyes, sure that if they notice I’m awake, I’m destined for even more trouble.
“The king said we had to get a message out immediately,” one of the voices implores with a nasally whine. My stomach buckles with terror.
The king.
But which Imperial Fae am I dealing with? What if it isn’t Rion but Atlas? I have more than one king vying for my head, and how did I end up in this mess?
In comparison, life was so simple in Nostraza. All I had to worry about was filling my belly and staying away from the guards as much as possible. Simple. Straightforward.
Instinct tells me these are Rion’s men, and I’m not sure which is the worse option. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter all that much at this particular moment. The only thing that matters is getting as far away from here as I can. How long has it been since I was supposed to meet Nadir? Has he realized something happened? Would he come to find me?
That’s when I remember what else happened before my abduction.
My mate.
Can that really be? Rhiannon claimed mates can sometimes communicate with one another telepathically. We’ve never done so before, but I’m desperate enough to cling to this scrap of thin hope.
But maybe that’s not true. I think of the dream I had back in the manor when Nadir was holding me captive. We both had the same fantasy about him coming into my room. Was that us communicating through… a mate bond?
My hip hurts from lying on the hard ground, and my head is pounding. My thoughts are still sluggish, like they’re being dragged through congealed soup. Otherwise, I appear to be unhurt, at least for now.
Taking a chance, I open my eyes just enough to discern the blur of my surroundings. The room is mostly dark but for a flickering torch hanging off the wall where I can make out a door. The room’s single window is covered with a thick curtain.
The men sit in chairs facing the door while passing a bottle of something back and forth. They’re dressed in casual, nondescript clothes, not the uniforms of either king’s soldiers.
I close my eyes as they continue talking. They’ve moved on from their argument, agreeing they’ll have to wait until morning before they can do anything about me. Now they’re discussing some woman, who’s obviously rejected them, they both intend to fuck together. Pigs.
Shutting out the sounds of their voices, I start calling for Nadir using my mind. Maybe, if we really are mates, he can hear me.
Nadir. Nadir. I’m here. Find me.
Can he locate me based on a disembodied voice? How close does he need to be? This is probably futile, but it’s the only plan I have. Unless these idiots do me a favor and get drunk enough to drown in their own vomit, I have no clue how else I’ll get out of here.
My magic stirs in my chest, and it feels easier than normal. Slightly less contained. Nadir’s prediction that it might be more reachable while I’m close to the borders of Heart wasn’t off base. But without the use of my hands, I can’t even begin to guess how to control it.
Why am I so bad at this?
As I keep calling for Nadir, I try to access my magic, going into myself and focusing on that crackling red spark in my chest. It glows more brightly than it has in weeks.
Nadir. Nadir. I’m here. Find me.
I repeat the mantra every few seconds while I try to rally my power into something useful.
“Hey!” A gruff voice blasts through my thoughts. “She’s talking.”
Shit. My lips must have been moving without my noticing. I go still, but that is absolutely the wrong thing to do, because now they know I’m awake.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Heavy boots stomp closer as my breath cuts off, vacating my lungs.
The steps halt, but I keep my eyes scrunched out of fear and some entirely displaced sense of self-preservation.
If I don’t see them, they can’t see me. Right?
Gods, I’m so fucked.
After a derisive snort, a sweaty finger touches my cheek, and I flinch before my eyes fly open. I’m met with a sinister grin as one of the men leans over me. “How long have you been awake, darling?”
The words are soft, but there’s a definite edge of gleeful malice in his tone like he can’t wait to feast on the tender marrow of my bones. I see the shift of the second male out of the corner of my eye, and my stomach liquefies with pooling alarm.
“We can’t do anything useful with you until morning,” he says before he looks back at his companion. “What could we do to pass the time until then?” The meaning in his words is obvious, and why is the entire male gender so fucking predictable?
That’s when I start thrashing, bucking against my restraints, but I’m like a fish tossed onto the beach, baking in the hot, dry sun. I can’t do anything as I gasp for breath. The first man laughs.
“You’re stuck, sweetheart. No point bothering.”
Now I’m panicking. My entire body is seizing up with fear. Cold thorns claw over the back of my scalp.
No. No. No. This will not fucking happen again.
And that’s when I feel it.
Not it. Nadir. He’s close by. I’m sure of it. He’s become like an extension of myself. His presence brushes against me, and I know he’s here.
So I start screaming. I scream so loud my throat hurts and my ears ring, but I scream and scream, trying to get it out before these bastards silence me.
“Nadir! I’m here!” I scream and scream his name over and over.
It’s then that several things happen at once.
The door blasts apart, ribbons of colorful light searing across my vision. Debris goes flying, and I do my best to duck my head as shards of wood and glass rain from above. Shrieks and shouts precede the ominous thud of bodies falling. I hear the crack of bone, followed by more screams through a haze of black fog. Flashes of Nadir’s colorful magic and flares of velvety green.
A sharp pain at the back of my head blurs my vision, the edges smearing together like wet paint. Distantly, I register the sounds of fighting and the tang of blood filling my nose. It feels like forever and a minute before arms lift me up, cradling me against a warm body that smells like icy mountain winds and the crisp edges of frost.
We move swiftly, bouncing as Nadir flees with me to safety.
The pain in my head buzzes as I move in and out of consciousness, wishing my eyes would focus.
“This way!” comes a voice I recognize as Tristan’s, and despite everything, my shoulders release.
“You found her,” comes another voice. It sounds like Mael.
“We have to get out of here. Now,” Nadir says, his words hard as steel. “If they got a message out, this place is going to be swarming with my father’s men before morning.”
“We’ll go east.” It sounds like Etienne. “Hide in The Woodlands until it’s safe to travel.”
Then we’re moving once again. I moan, trying to wake up and make sense of anything.
“Hang on,” Nadir says. “I’m getting you out of here. I’m so sorry, Lor.”
I want to tell him it wasn’t his fault and I shouldn’t have followed that child, but I thought he needed me. I was only trying to help.
I open my eyes, the sky and the stars spinning above me as we continue running, gentle flakes of snow cooling my face.
And then everything shifts. One moment, we’re in the middle of the city, and the next, we’re in a forest where leaves and branches hang overhead, so thick they nearly block out the night sky. I blink, not sure what just happened. Did I pass out? How did we get here so quickly?
We finally stop, and Nadir lays me down on a soft patch of grass. I feel his hand on my cheek, his fingers gently probing my limbs and torso for signs of damage. He touches the back of my head, and I whimper as pain flashes across my skull.
“We need to get her to a healer,” he says. “Now.”
And, once again, my world goes black.