Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
TEAL
Thank the gods the cursed forest was behind us. We rode through fallow fields marked by low stone walls and the occasional cow. The sun beat down upon us, and sweat trickled between my shoulder blades. I shifted in my saddle, trying to ignore the dull ache in my biceps.
Haven, who fit in my arms as if she belonged there, moaned softly.
“She’s waking up.” Too high. Too eager. Too hopeful. I cleared my throat and tried again in a lower register. “She’s waking up.”
Flynn, who rode ahead of me, cast a smirk over his shoulder. I’d make him pay for that later.
Grayson urged Caspian forward until he was beside me. “About time. I have questions.” He’d been fuming since he’d learned she’d thrown ice spears at the wolven and saved us with a combination of fire and wind.
“If she doesn’t want to answer?” I studied Haven’s face. Without anger twisting her features, she was even more breathtaking. High cheekbones. Full lips. Winged brows. And definitely still unconscious. Worry twisted my gut, she’d been out for too long.
Grayson scowled at me. “She has more magic than we thought.”
“That’s not a question.”
My horse’s ears flicked as if it was following the conversation.
“You want questions? How much magic does she have? What kind? Why did she keep it a secret?”
“Perhaps she didn’t want to be forced from her home and used as a weapon.” Pierce’s cool expression belied his words’ sharp edge.
Grayson answered with a low growl. “She’s a shield.”
“She has a name. It’s Haven. And she’s more than a shield.
” Pierce’s voice was still mild. Deceptively mild.
Dangerously mild. Pierce usually found women grasping or weak.
A waste of his precious time. But Haven?
Even unconscious in my arms, she drew his focus.
“You knew she was special when you took her.”
“When we took her,” Grayson corrected. “She rebounded magic and killed Smit. We had to take her.”
I glanced down at Haven. Since meeting us, the woman had spent too much time unconscious. But it was only then that the stubborn, me-against-the-world expression faded from her gorgeous face. I committed her peaceful expression to memory and wondered what she looked like when she smiled.
“Stop staring at her like that,” Grayson growled.
“Like what?”
“Like she’s the center of the universe.”
The darkness in my soul flared. I tried so hard to keep it contained, but Grayson had a habit of pushing my buttons. I turned my gaze his way, and his eyes widened.
“Sorry.” He waved an apology with his free hand. “You know you can’t allow yourself to care about a woman like her.”
The darkness burned brighter. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He offered a rueful, almost apologetic grimace. “She’ll die. Probably soon.”
“No.” Shadows swirled through my blood, ready to challenge anyone who dared threaten the woman in my arms.
Grayson wiped the sweat from his brow. “We’re on our way to a war.”
“No.”
“Teal, you know the realities.”
“She will not die.” Not on my watch. I wouldn’t allow it. The darkness roared its approval. For once, we were in complete agreement. I would raze the world to protect the woman in my arms. I blinked to dislodge the disturbing thought. Raze the world? I was in control, not the darkness.
“Remember the last time you cared about a shield?”
Too well. When Anya had died, I let the darkness swallow me whole.
I’d become a killing machine. Our enemies had fallen like toy soldiers.
Twisted. Destroyed. Obliterated. I’d grown thorns from inside our enemies’ lungs, crushed them beneath the weight of a thousand vines, and opened the ground to swallow men whole.
My thirsty sword had dripped blood. When the darkness had finally released me, I was sickened by the carnage.
Now, holding Haven, I could feel those same shadows stirring, already furious at her injuries. This one’s different, they whispered. This one’s worth burning the world for. That was what terrified me most—not that I might lose control again, but that Haven made the darkness feel justified.
I forced myself to focus on the present—the steady rhythm of my horse’s gait, the warmth of Haven’s body against my chest, the endless fields stretching before us, the weight of three stares.
A quick glance confirmed what I suspected—my brothers were watching me. Grayson’s jaw was tight with concern, Pierce’s pale eyes calculating.
Flynn, who rode next to Pierce, slowed his horse until he was next to me. “I’ll take her.”
My arms tightened at the mere thought of letting her go. “I’ve got her.”
“You’ve had her for hours.” A familiar petulant note crept into his voice.
“And Grayson had her for hours before me. Wait your turn.”
Flynn shifted in his saddle, restless. “She might wake up.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She’d been unconscious for too long. Long enough for me to worry. But I did understand Flynn’s point. He wanted to hold her, and there was no chance of that if she awakened.
“Please?”
“Don’t whine.” Patient but firm. He wasn’t taking her from me.
Flynn’s cheeks flushed slightly. “I’m not whining. Just pointing out your clinginess.”
“Careful.” The single word carried enough weight to silence him.
Except it didn’t. Instead, his chin lifted in defiance. “I want a tu—”
“Enough talking,” Grayson barked.
“I thought you had questions.” I couldn’t keep a hint of amusement out of my voice.
“I do. But you two don’t have any answers. And until she wakes up, we can ride in silence.”
Haven moaned, and we all stiffened.
“Is she in pain?” How quickly Grayson forgot his demand for silence.
“She kept that fire vortex going for hours. She spent too much magic. She’ll rest. Then she’ll be fine.” Gods, I hoped I was right.
“And if she’s not?” Flynn demanded.
“Then we take care of her. She saved our lives.”
“While saving her own,” Grayson noted.
“She could have left us outside that vortex. There were twelve wraiths. Twelve. No way we survived twelve of those fuckers. She saved us. Plus, without Haven, that wolven would have dragged Flynn’s lazy ass into the woods for a quick meal.”
Pierce turned in his saddle and scrunched his face. “Don’t mention Flynn’s ass and meal in the same sentence.”
Flynn flushed. “What were you doing while the wolven dragged me?”
“My magic is spotty in the woods.”
“You have a fucking sword.”
True. But I’d been too shocked to use it. Haven—only Haven—had saved him. “You owe her.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“A life debt.” I smirked at him.
“I know,” he snapped. “But you owe her too.”
“Unlike you, owing Haven a debt doesn’t bother me.” I’d happily repay her tenfold.
“Are you two going to bicker all the way to Angelfire?” Grayson demanded.
Probably.
Haven’s eyelids flickered.
“Haven?” My voice was gentle.
Her body stiffened. Fight or flight? I could see the options flash in her eyes.
“You’re safe,” I told her. “We’re out of the woods.”
She relaxed in my arms, and her gaze shifted to the sky. “Where are we?”
“Armor Fields.” So named for the number of warriors who’d given their lives defeating a horde of wyverns. The grass was lush, an emerald green that spoke of rich soil.
Why weren’t farmers tilling fields? Growing crops?
In a land that struggled to feed its citizens, good land should never lie fallow.
Perhaps it was out of respect for the fallen.
According to legend, the battle between the king’s soldiers and the wyvern (horrible creatures, with bodies like snakes, heads like dragons, and wings big enough to blot out the sun) had lasted for days.
With too many soldiers to bury, the bodies (half of them ruined by the wyverns’ venom) had slowly returned to the earth, leaving behind rusting armor.
Haven stiffened in my arms. Soon she’d make me let her go. “Wyvern.”
“You heard the stories?” I gazed down at her. “The army defeated the wyvern.”
“No.” Her wide gaze remained fixed on the arching blue sky. “Now. A wyvern.”