Chapter 21
Bressen
I blinked as the world came back into focus, and it took me a moment to realize we were no longer on the field. The air was dry and warm, and I now stood on stone instead of grass.
Something hit the back of my legs, and my knees crashed onto that same stone. I grunted in pain but went still again as the cold steel of a blade pressed against my neck.
My stomach dropped as I looked up to see Sandrian, Magdalene, and Morland looking down at me in shock. I couldn’t see behind me, but I knew it was Talyn there with my life in her hands.
Rage coursed through me as her betrayal sunk in. For Samhail’s sake I’d given her a second chance, and she’d stabbed us in the back.
“Raptor?” Sandrian said, furrowing his brow as he looked from Talyn to me. “I wasn’t expecting you to return with us, nor was I expecting you to…bring a guest?”
“A prisoner,” Talyn clarified. “As a show of good faith to prove this is where I want to be.”
Sandrian raised a brow at her declaration. “I was under the impression you’d abandoned your contract with me and switched sides,” he said.
“So were they,” Talyn said coolly. “But believe me when I tell you they’ll kill me on sight if I try to go back now.”
Oh no. She wouldn’t get off that easily. The second I got my powers back, I’d teach this woman a new definition of pain.
Sandrian looked at me. “Indeed. But why should we believe you? How do I know you’re not still helping him, and this is all an elaborate ruse?”
“This man tried to kill me,” Talyn bit out as she reangled her sword at my neck. “When he found out who I was, he peeled my mind open like an orange and almost willed me to die. Cyra is the only reason I’m alive. Look at him. He wants to tear me apart.”
I punctuated her words with a growl of fury, although it was mostly at myself for believing the assassin could be on the side of anyone but herself. I’d thought we’d gotten past me clawing into her mind and attempting to kill her, but apparently not.
In fairness, I didn’t blame her for holding a grudge about that.
Part of me, perhaps the bigger part, was more angry at her for betraying Samhail.
He’d been so certain she could be trusted.
Worse, he liked her. A lot. I’d never seen Samhail this attached to a woman before, and he’d gone up against me to protect her and let her prove herself.
I felt no satisfaction in being right about her. In fact, I’d never wanted to be wrong about someone more in my life, and I felt nothing but disappointment on Samhail’s behalf now.
I knelt quietly, silently fuming as I listened to Talyn admit to using Samhail for sex.
It was no secret gargoyles were lusty and could let what was between their legs have too much sway in their decision-making, but I’d never known Samhail to be foolhardy in this respect.
I had trouble reconciling the man I knew with the one who’d let this woman wrap him around her finger.
I frowned as I listened to Talyn try to convince Sandrian, Magdalene, and Morland that she was on their side. Clearly she hadn’t been working with them this whole time, because they were having just as much trouble understanding her change of heart as I was.
Why had she switched back to Sandrian’s side?
Suddenly it didn’t make any sense. Based on what I was hearing, Sandrian had assumed she was with us now.
If she really had been working with him, it made more sense to stay with us and continue spying.
Why would she come back here – wherever here was – and try to convince them she hadn’t betrayed them?
Talyn wanted to be here for some reason, although I couldn’t conceive of why. Everything I knew about the assassin told me she was a smart woman, and this move seemed anything but.
“I work for you because I’m being paid to,” Talyn said to Sandrian as I focused back in on their conversation.
“If you want loyalty, get a dog. Otherwise, the only thing you can expect from me is my best effort to do what I can to fulfill my end of the contract. I may have failed to kill Lord Bressen and Lady Cyra as you asked, but I bring you Lord Bressen now.”
Magdalene’s head snapped to Sandrian. “What? You ordered her to kill Cyra?”
Sandrian looked surprised at the anger in her tone. “Yes. A week ago,” he confirmed, disgruntled.
“You idiot!” Magdalene thundered at him. “I told you I need Cyra alive. How dare you try to have her killed?”
I watched carefully as Sandrian and Magdalene began to argue. Apparently, it wasn’t completely understood who was in charge.
My body twitched as Magdalene attacked Sandrian with her frost. He countered with a charge of lightning that made her stagger backward, and she responded with a forcefield.
I readied to take advantage of the chaos, but Talyn pressed her sword tighter to my throat.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she hissed at me, “and I’ll make sure you get out of this alive.”
I huffed in disbelief, but I was now even more curious what she was up to.
Apparently my death wasn’t part of her plan, although I wasn’t sure I trusted her to keep me alive.
Even if she convinced these people she was on their side, Sandrian and Morland would enjoy taking me apart, piece by piece.
It would be a miracle if I survived the night.
As if reading my mind, Morland said, “If we can kill everyone else, then I’m starting with him.”
The fight had wound down, and Magdalene appeared to have the upper hand for now, but I tensed as I prepared for Morland’s attack.
“No!” Talyn shouted, surprising me. She moved her sword from my neck to hold it out toward Morland.
Morland raised a brow. “Protecting your new lord?” he asked with a cruel smirk. “I thought you didn’t care about Bressen. If you don’t care about him, prove it. Slit his throat.”
“Are they always this stupid?” Talyn asked Magdalene. “Aidan would have me kill your only leverage. If you want Cyra, you just need to dangle Lord Bressen as bait. She’ll come to you to get him back.”
Ice ran through my veins as I realized she was right. I had to find a way to get out of here before Cyra walked right into their trap.
“Under other circumstances, I’d hold your botched attempt to kill the lord and lady against you,” Magdalene said to Talyn, “but your failure was fortunate, given that I need Cyra alive. And since you seem to have more sense than these two put together,” she indicated Sandrian and Morland, “I’m inclined to give you a second chance. After you let me read your mind.”
Talyn went rigid behind me.
Magdalene stepped forward, but she turned her attention to me instead, and a weight like stones settled over my chest. She put a hand on my head, and I yelled in pain as she tore into my mind.
With the caronium cuff on, I was powerless to stop her.
I still tried, but my effort was futile.
Without my magic to strengthen my mind shield, she could read my thoughts easily enough, and I knew instinctively she was making it hurt on purpose, as I had for Talyn.
I must’ve been screaming. I heard my voice as if it was far off and felt the vibration in my throat. My mind was being rattled loose, like there was an earthquake in my head and everything was falling off the shelves. I didn’t know how much more I could take before my mind fractured.
I found myself on the floor at Talyn’s feet, eyes wide.
Whether it had been seconds or minutes, I didn’t know.
Disbelief overwhelmed me as I lay there panting, partially from the pain, but also from the enormity of what had just happened.
Just as Magdalene had broken off her connection with my mind, I’d felt something pop, like the door of a cabinet bursting open, and an entire day’s worth of memories had come spilling out.
“I remember,” I whispered. The words were involuntary. Uncertain.
It wasn’t just that I’d forgotten an entire day. I’d forgotten events that didn’t seem possible.
We’d found that island after The Maidenhead had gotten caught in a storm out on the ocean. Whereas I’d previously believed we’d left without exploring it, though, I now had a flood of memories that said we had in fact made it onto that island…and met two women.
Two women who’d somehow been powerful enough to get into my mind and suppress my memory of ever having seen them.