40. Clash of Stone and Steel #2
The only other thing she could remember perfectly was Samhail’s reaction when she’d shifted into Cyra.
She wasn’t sure what reaction she’d been hoping for when she did it, whether turning into the lady would’ve convinced him to fuck her, or whether she had wanted him to reject her in that form.
As it turned out, he’d done the latter, and she’d been relieved.
More importantly, his fierce response to her shift had been genuine. He’d shoved her away so fast and so resolutely that there was no doubt in her mind about his feelings, or lack thereof. If he still wanted Cyra, there might’ve been some hesitation on his part, but there was none.
That had been her last doubt about Samhail.
If she was going to give in to this desire she felt for him, she wanted to be sure it was completely mutual, and he wasn’t simply interested in her because she could become some other woman he really wanted more.
She still didn’t know why it mattered to her, but it did.
Yet she’d hesitated again this morning. Samhail had given her the opportunity to tell him she wanted him, but she’d let it pass.
She’d come so close. It had been on the tip of her tongue to ask him to take her, but she hadn’t said it in time, which, in hindsight, was for the best since they couldn’t have acted on it anyway.
She also wasn’t feeling well after all that drinking, so having to wait was fine.
Talyn watched Samhail out of the corner of her eye as she got dressed.
Part of her couldn’t believe he hadn’t taken advantage of her drunken advances last night.
Any one of those three men she’d met at the tavern would’ve fucked her in a heartbeat, no matter how drunk she was, yet Samhail had refused her.
She wanted to thank him for that. She’d almost said it this morning when she was enveloped in his arms, but then his mouth was on hers and on her breast, and the ability to form words had left her altogether.
Talyn shielded her eyes as she and Samhail walked out the front door of the inn.
By some miracle, the day was cloudy, but even the muted light was still too much for her to handle.
She squinted at the two large figures standing several feet from the door.
Surgeon and Serise hadn’t bothered to stow their wings, and they were garnering quite a bit of attention from people passing by on the street.
“Ah, he lives after all,” Serise cooed to Samhail as they stopped in front of the twins.
“We thought the masque had slit your throat and left you for dead somewhere, brother,” Surgeon added cocking his head toward Talyn.
Samhail crossed his arms. “Well, now that you’ve seen I’m alive, you can go home. I thought you were supposed to be guarding Lady Cyra.”
“We’re on a special assignment for his lordship,” Serise said.
“Find the wayward gargoyle and bring him back,” Surgeon said, “along with the assassin. Dead or alive is fine for the latter.”
“Which reminds me,” Serise said, waving a hand at Talyn.
If she hadn’t been hung over, Talyn might’ve seen it coming, but she’d been too preoccupied by the pounding in her head to realize what was happening. In the next second, she found herself inside one of Serise’s containment forcefields, and her eyes flew to Samhail in panic.
“Let her go, Serise,” Samhail growled at his sister. He uncrossed his arms and stepped toward her, but Serise didn’t back down.
“I can’t do that, brother,” she said with mock regret. “We have our orders straight from Lord Bressen.”
“Bressen doesn’t understand what’s going on,” Samhail said.
“Then perhaps you should’ve explained it to him better in that pitifully short message you sent him a few days ago,” Surgeon said.
“Better yet, explain it to us now,” Serise added.
“Let Talyn go first,” Samhail said.
“Talyn?” Serise arched a brow. “It seems you’ve gotten rather familiar with the little assassin in your time on the run, brother.”
“It’s easier than addressing her as ‘assassin’ the whole time,” Samhail said dryly. “And we’re not on the run. We’re traveling to Rowe.”
“So you’re heading to Rowe with the assassin who was hired by the former king of Rowe to kill Lady Cyra?” Surgeon said incredulously.
“Can you perhaps see why Lord Bressen is worried about your judgement?” Serise asked.
“I don’t want to discuss this out in the open,” Samhail said nodding to the people passing by on the street who weren’t trying to hide their interest in the scene playing out. “Let Talyn out of the forcefield and let’s go inside. I’ll explain everything.”
“You think to hamper us by bringing us indoors where we can’t use our wings,” Surgeon said.
“Put your wings away,” Samhail said. “You don’t need them. Also, I don’t need to bring you inside to have an advantage. You know I can take you both out easily enough right here.”
The twins looked at each other with disdain, but that look was their undoing.
With their eyes off him, Samhail lunged forward at the two gargoyles.
They were standing only slightly close together, but it didn’t matter.
With his impressive arm span, he grabbed Serise’s head in one hand and Surgeon’s head in his other and brought their skulls together with a sickening crack that made Talyn wince.
The twins dropped like stones onto their knees in the street as they pressed their hands to their heads in pain, and the forcefield fell off Talyn.
Samhail simply stood over his siblings with his arms crossed again.
“Now, are you going to come inside and listen to me?” he asked. “Or should I finish you off here on the street?”
“Lead the way, brother,” Surgeon grunted, still on the ground.
Samhail did just that, turning on his heel to head back into the inn. Talyn waited for the twins to pick themselves up unsteadily off the ground and retract their wings, intending to bring up the rear, but they clearly had no intention of letting her get behind them.
Serise smiled and gestured for Talyn to go first. “After you, assassin.”
Talyn shrugged and followed Samhail inside. If he wasn’t worried about giving the twins his back, she wouldn’t be either.
A few minutes later, they were seated at a table in the inn’s restaurant. The innkeeper set down plates of breakfast in front of Talyn and Samhail while Surgeon and Serise fingered the mirror lumps on their foreheads.
“So, brother,” Surgeon said. “Would you care to explain the note you sent to Lord Bressen several days ago?”
“I thought the note was fairly self-explanatory,” Samhail said before he took a bite of his eggs.
Surgeon raised a brow and fished into his pocket where he pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. He opened the message leaf and read aloud. “Found the assassin. I have a plan. Trust me. - Samhail.”
Samhail gave Surgeon a look as if to ask what was unclear about that.
“Lord Bressen bid us tell you that, while he is in fact a mind reader, he’s going to need to know a little more,” Serise said.
“So if you’d care to fill in the blanks?” Surgeon suggested.
Samhail shrugged. “The Raptor has seen the error of her ways, and she offered to turn Sandrian over to us.”
Talyn narrowed her eyes at him regarding the first part.
“And how will she do that?” Serise asked.
“Sandrian has a bounty on me,” he said. “She’ll turn me in to him.”
Surgeon and Serise both sat up straighter. They exchanged looks, and Talyn wondered if they were considering just how much of a reward they might get for turning in their own brother. Serise’s next question didn’t ease her mind on that count.
“Alive or dead?” she asked.
“Either,” Samhail answered. He held his fork up with a piece of steak on it. “I assume he wants to torture me to death himself, but he’ll take me dead if that’s the only way.”
Talyn frowned at his blasé tone as he popped the steak into his mouth, but more than that, she was surprised by the surge of alarm she felt at the thought of Samhail being hurt.
“He’s not the only one,” Serise muttered under her breath, and Talyn threw her a look that promised violence if Serise dared to try anything.
“Is there anything else we should know?” Surgeon asked.
“Yes. We encountered outlaws who had crossbow bolts tipped with caronium,” Samhail said, and the twins’ eyes widened. “The points were designed to break off inside the wound.”
“How do you know that?” Serise asked.
Samhail lifted his shirt to reveal the two scars where the bolts had hit him, and the twins exchanged glances again.
“Were you able to remove the points?” Surgeon asked, and Talyn had the suspicion he asked not out of concern for Samhail’s welfare, but because he was searching for a weakness in his brother.
“Talyn removed one of the points. A healer took care of the rest,” Samhail answered.
Two sets of eyes swung to Talyn in unison, and her chin went up.
“It seems the little assassin has been handy to have around,” Surgeon said sardonically.
Talyn wasn’t used to being called little, but she supposed she seemed small to the gargoyles. Surgeon and Serise weren’t quite as big as Samhail, but they still towered over her.
“She saved my life,” Samhail said to Surgeon.
“Well, no one’s perfect,” Serise purred. “We can forgive her for that.”
Talyn gave the woman another sharp look that made Serise’s lips curl, and she shoved a piece of biscuit into her mouth before she could threaten Samhail’s sister.
“She also seems rather protective of you, brother,” Serise said, still grinning harshly at Talyn. “It’s a good thing her looks aren’t as lethal as she is, or I’d be dead twice over by now.” She looked back at Samhail. “Can we assume you’ve discovered other reasons to keep her around?”
Samhail’s face darkened, and Talyn felt his body coil next to her.
“The nights have been rather cold,” Surgeon said, his eyes running over Talyn’s chest. “Does she warm your bed for you too, brother?”
“Mind your tongue about her,” Samhail said with venom, “or you’ll find yourself without it…brother.”