Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
Izabel strode beside Luka as he marched down the empty corridor, leading them along a circuitous route to avoid patrols.
He was carrying Narya’s body—well wrapped in a thick blanket and secured with a long rope—but he hardly seemed to notice.
His face was blank, his shoulders squared, but he couldn’t hide the shimmering green-on-black scales that flickered up his neck and jaw. He was not pleased.
She knew he wouldn’t like this idea, but that didn’t mean she was wrong. It was their best chance of protecting everyone. Including him.
Her beast twisted. Of course this is right. He just doesn’t like being out of control. And the last time we were all together, Rayan had just died. Everyone’s on edge.
Izzy snuck another glance at Luka. Had he even shifted since Rayan died? She didn’t know. She had no way of knowing. Since those last terrible days, they’d only ever seen each other at public events. He acted as if she didn’t exist, and she acted as if she didn’t care.
She didn’t want to remember searching for Rayan, but she always would.
Even now, she could still feel the exhausted horror of combing the rain-drenched city.
Edging onto the mountain path, feeling like she was breaking a commandment.
She’d searched on the ground, burned by nettles and tearing her soaked skin on lace bush thorns, while Luka and the others exhausted themselves searching through the storm from the air.
They’d battled through the driving rain, the unnatural darkness and ghostly mists made a hundredfold worse by a particularly malevolent, unseasonable summer storm.
They’d covered the mountain slowly, reluctant to push too far, but breaking the taboo anyway.
And then they got the call. A breathless, drenched city guard ran up from the docks and shattered her world. Rayan had washed up on the beach.
Rayan was dead. But there was no indication of where he’d been.
He’d told Shane he was going to help at the temple infirmary in Naos…
and never come back. There was no sign that he’d ever even been on the mountain other than the claims of an old, half-drunk sailor who swore he’d seen him walking toward the Nabaspath.
No one knew what happened to Rayan after that.
His body was cold and swollen from the water, battered by the waves but otherwise utterly uninjured.
He had no wounds. No signs of assault. Nothing to explain how he’d died.
God of Chaos. It was just like Narya. She stumbled over her feet and pulled up sharply.
Luka shot a quick look at her over his shoulder, raising a dark eyebrow.
“Do you think…?” She hesitated. This wasn’t the time.
Not with Luka, tense and silent, carrying Narya’s body through the castle.
But when was the right time? He needed to know her suspicions.
“Do you think Rayan might have been killed the same way?” she whispered.
“Stabbed with a needle blade? The skin would have swelled in the water. The blood washed away. I wouldn’t have known. ”
Had she missed it? Too caught up in her sorrow? Melo had demanded to assess the body herself, but Izzy insisted. Rayan was her brother. She wanted to do it. To protect him one last time.
The blank look on Luka’s face flickered, revealing a fierce grief, before he hid it once more. “Maybe.” His voice was a rough growl. “Let’s get this over with and get you back somewhere safe. Then I can think about it.”
She dipped her chin in agreement and strode faster to keep up. Luka had the look of a man pushed to his limit. He knew her fears now; they could discuss them later. Probably not when she was somewhere safe, but they could discuss that later too.
They reached the outer door leading from the back corridors of the castle to the rear gardens—Shane had sent a runner to call the guard away for a few minutes—and she quickly unlocked it with the key Luka had given her. She let them out and then closed and locked the door behind her.
Torches lit the paths that meandered between the trees, spotlighting the pinks and purples of the glass flowers and forest bride’s bushes, and throwing the artfully cut hedges into relief.
A fountain tinkled somewhere in the distance while careful planting ensured the steep rock walls of the castle were softened by layers of foliage and gentle blossoms.
In stark contrast to the prettily cultivated, hidden garden, the mountain soared, huge and dark and wreathed in clouds as it loomed over them.
This pocket of beauty, nestled within the guard-patrolled battlements, hidden between the castle and the mountain, was probably the most protected space in the entire kingdom.
Izzy had played here as a child, walked here as a teenager with her friends, and rested here after long shifts as a healer. But now, years had passed since she’d been back. Somehow, it still smelled the same. It still felt the same. She’d missed it more than she’d expected.
She’d stayed away, avoiding Luka, but maybe she should have come back and faced him. Forced herself to genuinely get over him.
Helping him to recognize that he was being an idiot would be more useful, her beast muttered.
Izzy snorted quietly. But, for the first time, she didn’t immediately disagree.
Luka’s comments earlier still hovered in her mind.
That was twice now he’d insisted he wanted her to be safe.
For so many years, she’d assumed that he pushed her away because she wasn’t Rayan.
Because she reminded him of the best friend he’d lost and who she could never replace.
Maybe the idiot genuinely believes he’s protecting us.
Luka watched her for a long moment, his expression carefully controlled, although his frown deepened slightly.
Here it comes, her beast whispered, mentally rolling its eyes.
“Thanks for your help,” Luka rumbled. “You need to be quick to get out before the guard comes back.” His gaze locked on hers. “Cori has your physik bag. You can ask her to walk you home while the rosters are being organized.”
Izzy didn’t even pretend to think about it. “No.”
Luka growled at her—again—but she just smiled serenely. It was guaranteed to inflame Luka’s ire even more, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t leaving.
“You need to go, Iz, right now. I’ll handle this myself.”
She tilted her head to watch him. “How will you handle it?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“You’ll figure out how to open a locked door with claws while flying, holding a dead body, and making sure you aren’t seen and summarily shot out of the sky by your own guards?”
“Yes.” Luka turned and stalked a few steps down a dark side path. “Goodbye, Izzy.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “No, thanks.”
“Fine. Stay here,” he whisper-yelled over his shoulder. “Hide until I come and get you.”
Izzy ignored that blatantly laughable statement as he strode away without looking at her. As usual. She lifted her chin and followed, acting like it didn’t hurt.
Luka jogged along a darkened side path where no torches flickered. The plants and the darkness hid them completely. Even the guards on the walls wouldn’t see them, but she noticed that Luka timed his movements to when the guards were furthest away, nonetheless.
When we rise through the garden, that will be the dangerous time, her beast noted, eyeing the sheer walls.
Izzy swallowed, but Luka didn’t notice. He kept his back to her as he gently lowered Narya to the ground.
He unlaced his vambraces and dropped them to the earth one by one before turning his attention to the buckles that strapped his leather armor to his chest. He was acting as if she wasn’t there, but the constant swirl of gleaming scales on the back of his neck as he stripped off his armor and tunic and dumped them beside his vambraces suggested he knew exactly where she was. Or his beast did, anyway.
She certainly knew exactly where he was. She was closer to him than she’d been in years. Close enough to reach out and touch him. To put her hand on that hard flesh. To wrap her arms around him and press herself to his back. To run her fingers through the rough sprinkling of his chest hair.
Chaos and damnation. She held herself still.
Luka dropped his head to his chest and sighed. “Please, Izzy, just go back.”
All her rising lust fled, replaced by a surge of hurt and then rage. He would rather die than spend any time with her. She was going to tell that stubborn, irritating—
Tell him that’s fine. We’ll distract the guards.
Izabel choked, holding in the bitter laugh that wanted to escape. Her beast was the best. “Okay.” She stepped backward, ready to leave. “Fine.”
“It’ll be completely—” Luka turned and looked at her, eyes narrowed. She ignored the gleam of scales on his hard abdomen. “Wait a moment,” he barked. “What just happened?”
Izabel took another big step backward and gave a nonchalant wave. “I agreed. You go do your part. I’ll see you later.”
“And what will you do?” Luka demanded, crowding closer once more. Gods, she could smell his skin. The heat of his beast rose between them.
Izzy ignored it as she lifted her chin and looked him in the eye. “I’ll distract the guards.”
Horror, outrage, and denial flickered through his expression before he shuttered it once more. “Why can’t you just—” He let out an angry breath. “I am trying to protect you!”
He’s so close. We could just put out a hand. Just reach across….
Izzy gripped her hands behind her back. “Don’t I get to protect you?”
“I don’t want you anywhere near—”
Izzy closed her eyes. She’d pushed him. Again. And now they were here. Again. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be so close to him. She didn’t want to feel the heat of his body or see the gleam of his scales. She wanted to go back inside and pretend none of this had happened.
He’d said it enough in the days after Rayan’s death. He didn’t want her grief, and he didn’t want to share his either. There was no “them.” He wanted to be alone. Or rather, he wanted her to leave him alone. Company was fine, so long as it wasn’t hers.
She held her breath, waiting for the end of his sentence. This was the last time she would ever put herself in this position.
But this time he didn’t say the words. A calloused finger settled on her chin and tilted it back up, so very gently. And she couldn’t help but open her eyes once more.
“Gods, Izzy.” He sighed softly. “Okay. You can come. But you have to listen to what I say. When we’re in the field, I’m the commander.”
She gave him a shaky smile, not sure whether she’d won this battle or lost it. Maybe it didn’t matter, because she couldn’t bear to watch him go into danger alone either way. “Aye, sir.”
His scowl deepened, but she didn’t take it back. And neither did he.