Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
HAVEN
Grayson, who still held the sword I’d called from the gymnasium, rounded on me as the wyvern collapsed. “Explain yourself.”
“Explain what?”
“Where did you get this sword?” He pointed it at me.
“I borrowed it.”
He closed his eyes, and I wondered if he was counting to ten. Grandmother was a big proponent of counting to ten. She believed that acting or speaking out of frustration or anger made bad situations worse. If everyone just took a long breath before—
“Borrowed it?” he boomed almost as loud as the dead wyvern had screeched.
I nodded. “That’s what I said.”
Grayson’s jaw worked as if he was grinding his teeth. “From where?”
“Does it matter? Aren’t you glad I had it?” I smiled sweetly. “Since the wyvern ate yours.”
His stubble-darkened cheeks flushed, and he raked a hand through his hair. “You threw ice spears last night.”
It wasn’t a question, so I held my tongue.
“Well?” Frustration and anger bled through his tone.
“What’s your question?”
“How many other weapons can you conjure? How much magic are you hiding?”
I didn’t have that answer. Lately, my magic seemed to be growing exponentially, faster than I could master. Faster than I could understand.
“Enough to defend myself.”
His jaw tightened. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only answer you’re getting.” I lifted my chin. “I won’t be defenseless again.”
His eyes narrowed. “Again?”
“Drake tried to force himself on me. Carron punished me for it. You want to know what magic I have? I have whatever I need to protect myself.”
“Shields don’t—”
“Shields don’t fight back?” I summoned a spear, letting it materialize in my hand and enjoying the way Grayson’s eyes widened. “This shield does.”
I shouldn’t push his buttons—he’d just defeated a monster of legend. Or rather, we had. But I just couldn’t help myself.
“The spear … how?”
“What do you mean?”
He thrust his sword’s tip a few inches closer to my throat. “Where did the spear come from?”
“Magic.”
“You didn’t tell us you could do that.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Grayson!”
We both turned our heads and looked at Pierce. He had joined us, along with Flynn and Teal.
“What are you doing?” Pierce’s voice was ice-cold fury as he jerked his chin toward the tip of the sword Grayson held mere inches from my throat.
“Getting answers,” Grayson growled, not lowering the weapon.
“By threatening her?” Pierce stepped closer, his pale eyes deadly. “She just saved both your lives.”
“She’s been lying.”
I raised an eyebrow. I’d lied once. About Khouri. Other than that, not a single lie had passed my lips. I snorted in derision.
“She’s been surviving.” Pierce’s tone was as sharp as a winter wind. “Lower the sword, Grayson. Now.”
I appreciated Pierce’s willingness to question Grayson’s authority, but I could take care of myself. I rested a fingertip on the flat of Grayson’s blade and moved the sword’s tip away from my throat. “I don’t owe you my secrets.”
“You do.”
The gall! Anger sparked in my chest. “Why is that?”
He stepped closer, using his height to loom over me. “You belong to us.”
And there it was—a full-on conflagration. The relief that we’d beaten the wyvern disappeared in the wake of my fury. “Wrong.”
“You are a shield.”
“I have a shield. I am a woman. And I belong only to myself.”
His dark-blue eyes tried to bore right through me. “Are you willfully stupid?”
“Grayson.” Pierce placed himself between Grayson and me. “That’s enough.”
Something fluttered in my chest at the unexpected protection, but I pushed it down. I didn’t need rescuing.
“I’ll decide what’s enough, and I want an answer.” Grayson held my gaze. “You know what Carron’s capable of—”
“Fully,” I retorted dryly. “I also know you allowed it.”
His jaw moved as if he was grinding his teeth.
“The punishment didn’t fit the crime.” Not that protecting myself should be a crime.
He gave the tiniest of nods. The movement was grudging, as if the admission cost him.
“Then why did you allow it?”
“If we hadn’t, he’d have killed you immediately.” He sounded as angry as I felt.
“And you would have let him? All because I refused to suck a cock?”
“Shields submit.”
“I should have opened wide?”
“No,” he roared. “It was taking Drake to the ground that got you in trouble.”
“What other option did I have? Let him rape me? While you enjoyed your morning coffee?”
“We would have stopped him,” Teal said quietly, the words heavy with what sounded like regret.
I didn’t believe him. Not for a second. “Oh, really? When? After he’d hit me a few times? After he forced my lips open? After he raped my mouth. Shields are abused. Regularly. That’s the first thing my roommates told me.”
“You blame us?” Grayson barked.
“You let it happen. Who else should I blame?”
“The men who abuse the girls.” Grayson sounded as angry as I felt.
“You’re the strongest quad. The leaders. You could stop it. You don’t.”
He turned away from me. “Enough talking.”
“Things get uncomfortable, and you end the conversation?”
“She’s right about that.” Flynn grinned. “You do that every time.”
He might be done talking, but I wasn’t. “You’re proud of being a guard. Anyone who looks at you can see that.”
He gave a minuscule nod.
“You might want to examine what you’re proud of.” I didn’t push any further. He’d put aside his questions about my magic for now—for which I was grateful.
Flynn, who had been prodding the wyvern’s massive corpse with his boot, looked at me with a curious gleam in his eye.
“This thing is enormous, and you took it down. Remind me to stay on your good side.” Then he grinned—a naughty grin that promised untold pleasures.
In vastly different circumstances, that grin might have tempted me to spend a night with him (without him even buying me dinner).
Which was ridiculous. Flynn and I getting together was as likely as hell freezing over.
Teal stepped closer to me, his gaze scanning for injuries and stopping at a deep scrape on my arm. “You’re bleeding. Again.” He sounded disapproving.
I shrugged. “It happens.”
“I’m sorry I dropped you.” His hand hovered near my arm as if he wanted to touch the wound but didn’t dare. “So sorry.”
“It’s just a scrape,” Grayson growled. “We ride.”
“The horses are spent,” Teal snapped back.
“Then we fucking walk.”