She Rises, page 19
“Hey, you okay?” I ask as I cradle him. Warm blood squirts down onto my legs, seeping into my pants.
There’s too much of it, he’s losing too much blood.
I have to staunch his bleeding before he passes out. I push down on his wound as best I can, but the wound is just too damn wide.
He stares up at me, smiling at me like I’m the greatest thing he’s ever seen in his life. “You know I fell for you the moment I saw you walking into that stupid town holding your sword so awkwardly.”
“What? You’re not making sense.” I push down on his shoulder with all my might, but it’s not enough. Blood seeps through my fingers.
I gaze into his eyes, and then everything he is to me clicks into place. The beginning and the end. The light to guide my way as it squelches out all the dark ones who oppose me. My protector and my friend. I can’t lose him. I need to find out what this is. Who we could be together.
A hand touches my shoulder and I flinch, throwing up my arm, but Ned grabs it. “Why isn’t he healing?”
I glance at Ned’s own wound and see it’s stopped bleeding.
“I don’t know. The blood won’t stop.” Ned moves over to Allister and puts both of his hands on the wound too.
“We have to get it stopped or he’ll bleed out.”
“I know, but I don’t know what to do!” I shout, staring down at Allister, at his heartbreakingly beautiful face.
Allister’s hand reaches to my face, tears fill his eyes. Then I hear it, his heartbeat. It’s weakening as the seconds tick by. One beat stronger than the next. “If this is all I get out of life, it was worth it to meet you, Attina.”
Tears stream down my face. “You don’t get to leave me like this. Not now, not right when I realize what you are to me.”
“And what exactly is that?”
“Home. You’re my home.” I weep out. A small smile crosses his features and he closes his eyes as his hand falls from my face. Ned releases his grip, and the blood under where his hand just was is just trickling out now, his heart isn’t pumping it out anymore.
His chest stops rising.
29
James
My eyes widen as I come across the next campsite. Again there is a small campfire but not far from it is a gaping hole in the ground. I inch my way to the edge of the hole. Small chunks of dirt fall into the hole as the edge takes my weight. Peeking in, I see how deep the hole really goes. It plummets all the way down into the water table, about an inch of water fills the bottom.
What the hell?
Was this here when they made camp? I glance at the old campfire. I can’t imagine anyone building a fire or camping close to a hole this ginormous.
So what could have caused it?
My thoughts flash back to mine and Attina’s last fight. The ensuing earthquake and how she burnt my hands. I glance down at my hands. I was only able to pull the bandages off yesterday, but they’re still pink and tender.
Could Attina have caused this?
No, there must be an explanation for the earthquake, burning me, and this giant hole. She might be part Fae, but there’s no way she could have hidden her powers from me. I know her better than she knows herself.
No, she didn’t do this. I just need to find her, get an explanation out of her, and bring her back to Sanctuary. Once I get her back, I won’t let her leave ever again. Whether she knows it or not, she needs to be protected.
I climb back in the saddle and ride off.
30
Attina
“Attina, he’s gone. I’m sorry. I…” Ned stumbles out.
“No he’s not!” I scream as I push him away from us, barely realizing that I throw him into the side of the house behind us. Feathers brush along my skin as my powers call to me. I allow it to wrap around me, I see a split-second flash of my blackbird in my mind’s eyes cawing to me, panicking.
I call to the earth around me, sensing every speck of earth beneath me, and command it to move so the ground under us can swallow us whole.
If he does die, it will be with me, not with someone who never liked him.
I encase us under the ground, pulling in as much air with us as I can fit into the hole. “You don’t get to die on me, you bastard.”
I roll the air around us, pushing it smaller and smaller, compacting all of it except what we need to breathe. I lay that compacted air on top of Allister’s wound and push it down hard, staunching the little blood left trickling from him.
I sense the air as it touches his body, his blood. While some of the air keeps the wound from bleeding out, the rest enters his blood. The blood is thick with the lack of oxygen, but I push that air into it and move the now aerated blood through his body, back into his heart, his brain.
Leaning down, I place my lips on his, thankful James forced me to learn first aid all those years ago. I blow air straight from my lungs into his. Gently I push him off of me onto the dirt ground of our cave, and with just a thought, the dirt ground is thumping into his back right where his heart is. I lean back down and blow air into his lungs again.
His eyes open wide as he sits up ramrod straight, sucking in all the air he can get. I’m forced to fall back on my butt. He coughs, and my body racks as the tears stream down my face. I find I don’t care if he sees me crying. Allister turns to stare at me. His eyes are wide in shock until they land on my tears, his features become soft right before he wraps his one good arm around me.
Without thinking, I launch myself on him, throwing my arms over his shoulders. Underneath me, he jerks, and I hear a hiss escape his lips and it hits me, I just threw my arm on top of his mangled shoulder.
I throw myself back off of him and awkwardly stare at the ground as I hurriedly spit out, “I’m so sorry I didn't mean to, I wasn’t thinking.” When I glance back, he’s staring at me with sad eyes. “Are you all right?” I put my hands on either side of his face. I bring my hands down to his neck where his pulse is and place two fingers there; his pulse is strong.
“Come back,” he whispers.
“What?” My eyebrows knit until he opens his good arm to me, obviously inviting me to hug him again.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I almost died, and my mate miraculously brought me back to life with powers she couldn’t use twenty minutes ago. I can take it.” The smile when he finishes is genuine, his eyes are watery but not from sadness I realize, from happiness.
I crawl the few inches back to him and lean into him, our faces mere inches from each other. Glancing down at his lips, I realize I’m no longer embarrassed to be in such close proximity to him.
I lean in, and Allister meets me halfway even though I know it must hurt to do. Our lips touch ever so softly, and I feel him. His presence, his smell, is all around me. As his soft woodsy smell fills my nose, a flash of a ginormous tree occupies my vision. His smell reminds me of James's but different, better.
James... Fuck.
I pull back away from Allister. I can’t do this right now, not after what happened with James. Things are going too fast. If I couldn’t trust James, someone I grew up with and know everything about, how can I trust someone I barely know? Ugh, and I just thought of James, I know Allister heard.
I peek back at Allister, and that open, honest part of him is gone, his smirk is back on his face, but he doesn’t mention what he heard in my head as he glances around our cave. “How did we get in here? Where are we?”
I scan around us as I answer, “Well, I may have been a little dramatic when you were dying. I figured if I couldn’t save you, I wasn't about to let you die with people who didn’t like you. So I pushed Ned into the side of a house and brought us down here.”
His eyes widen and his jaw drops a little. “Is Ned all right?”
I smile. “Yes, he’s okay, he got hurt taking on a Fae warrior too, but his wound started healing, and yours didn’t. Why didn’t yours heal?”
“The warrior who cut me down was my second in command. His sword is dipped in a mixture of powdered Chalcanthite and water and left to dry. The rock has the ability to stop Fae from using their magic and from healing properly. If he’s used the sword for a while and too much blood coats it, the mixture dissipates but the first hit from his sword is always a killer. Well, was always a killer until you.” He smiles at me, the smile reaching his eyes and crackling the corners of them. “Thank you,” he bows his head as he says the words, “my queen.”
My mouth drops open, I never thought he would call me his queen. I awkwardly stutter out, “S... so how do we get the poison out of you?”
“We don’t.”
I frown.
Allister chuckles, immediately hisses, and grabs his arm. “No need to worry about me, I’m tougher than I look. The poison will eventually leave my system, but it takes time.”
"Then you can't hear my thoughts right now?"
"No, sorry, I can't read your mind right now, so you'll just have to tell me what you want me to do to you." A grin cracks his features.
I glare at him but find I'm incredibly relieved he couldn't hear me think of James during our kiss.
He winks at me before his face goes stern. “We do need to get out of here, though, if that’s possible?”
“Oh yeah," I glance up. "I’ll get us out.”
Allister places his hand on my arm, stopping me. “Thank you for saving my life. I am indebted to you.”
I shake my head. “No, you’re not. You would have done the same for me.” I lift my hands to the top of our cave and with my mind's eyes, I push the dirt away. Bringing my hands down, I turn them palms up, bringing the soil, along with us, back up to the surface.
When we make it back topside, Ned has already brought Raven to where he last saw us. They both hover, waiting for the earth to stop shifting.
“Attina!” Raven shouts as she rushes to my side. I’m still sitting on the ground next to Allister, so she puts her head down, and I wrap my arms around her head. She lifts her head, helping me to my feet. I get up and race to her side. I throw my arms over her neck, right where her neck and chest meet so she can wrap her head around me. I need the closeness, so we hold each other like that for a while. I notice out of the corner of my eye Ned gently helping Allister up off the ground behind me. Ned is surprisingly gentle with Allister. It's weird seeing them together, both of them hurt, trying not to injure the other.
Raven and I eventually pull away. Her wide, tear-filled eyes almost make me break down all over again. She looks me up and down as she moves around me, scanning me up and down. “Are you all right? You didn’t get hurt?” She almost sounds surprised, but of course, she would be, our fight injured two warriors, and I somehow came out of it unscathed.
I smile, I never thought she’d act like a mother hen toward me. I hold out my arms and spin in a circle for the full effect. “Not even a scratch.”
I turn back to Ned and Allister. Allister is leaning most of his weight on Ned. Ned’s wound, from what I can tell through his cut clothes, has mostly healed. All that’s left is a dark red line bisecting his torso.
“You guys okay?”
Ned nods, and Allister cringingly smiles as he answers, “Could be better.”
I focus on Allister. “You’re not going to like this, but we have to get out of here.”
He pitifully dips his head. “Yeah, I know, but I’m only staying with you guys one more night.”
“Why?” I gasp out, “You won't be healed enough by then to make it on your own if you run into any other Fae,” I hurriedly say, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.
Allister doesn't say a word as he walks over to me and wraps his uninjured arm around me. When he pulls back, he brushes a gentle kiss against my blushing cheek. His hand lifts to replace his lips and he stares intensely into my eyes. “It means the world to me that you’re worried about me, but I’ll be fine.”
“You won't.” My eyes start to mist.
Allister drops his head down to me, resting his forehead on mine. “I will be all right, you will see me again. I promise. But I have to do this.”
“Why?” Tears are now streaming down my cheeks. Something changed between us in our little cave, I’m not even sure completely what it was, but I feel it. It's like a piece of me I didn’t know I had is now standing next to me, and now it wants to put itself in danger.
Allister wipes my tears away with his dirty thumb, smearing dirt across my face. “Don’t cry. I have to get back home. I need to find out what’s going on with Henrik. Why he sent these warriors when he knew I was out here handling things.”
“No! Absolutely not! He will kill you! As your queen, I say you cannot go!” I shout.
Allister just chuckles. “For one, it doesn't work like that, and you know it.”
Yes, I do. I glance down at my feet before once again peering up into his deep, purple eyes.
“We are mates. We are equals, I know you feel it, and you know I’m right. This has to be done. And for two, you must have missed some of mine and that Fae’s,” he gazes over to where the Fae who cut his shoulder lies and then back to me, “conversation. Henrik doesn’t know I’m with you. He still thinks I’m trying to figure out a way into Sanctuary. He sent all these Fae just to kill you, kitten. They sent as many Fae to kill you as they should have to kill me, their top slayer.”
Ugh, that name again, I’d almost forgotten about it.
I know he can't hear my thoughts right now, but he can obviously still read my mind because he smiles. “You rate him sending eight of his best slayers, and you killed what five of them, I’m guessing.”
I grin. “Good guess.”
I hear Raven’s sharp intake of air, but that’s all the reaction she gives to finding out how many Fae I was able to kill.
Allister must have heard it too, because he shifts his head to look at her. “Our little kitten is extraordinary. That power of hers is impressive too.”
Raven’s ears flatten against her head and she snarls at him. “Yes, she is, but don’t call her kitten.”
Allister peers back at me. “So, you see, there should be no danger with me going home.” He lifts his good hand and rubs the back of his neck. “He did imply if I came back without a way into Sanctuary, he'd kill me...” he waves his hand in front of his face, “but I can talk myself out of that.”
I shake my head. “I don’t like this, but far be it for me to question your ability to talk yourself out of something.” I know he’s right. It would help a lot to know what the hell is happening and what Henrik's thinking. I stare him straight in the eyes and I don't care who's standing around us as I say, "Come back to me. I can’t do this without you."
"I will, I promise," he says as he places a soft kiss on my forehead.
I step back out of his hold and peer over to Ned. “You doing better?”
He takes in a sharp breath., “Yes, still sore but better.”
I think for a second, striding over to Raven, patting her neck. I turn back to the boys. “Okay, this is what I can think of. Sanctuary still needs supplies, so, Allister,” I point to him, “you go to Henrik, and we,” I point to Ned, me, and Raven, “will head to the next town. How long will it take, Ned?”
“Brimes is about four days away.''
I nod. “That should give you,” I say, peering at Allister again, “enough time to get to Henrik, and we will wait for you at Brimes, so hurry up.”
“All right, sounds good. I'll stay with you guys tonight, and then tomorrow morning, I’ll head out. We shouldn’t stay the night in town, though. Let’s at least move to the tree line, it’ll give us a little cover.”
“Agreed. Since I’m the only one who isn’t hurt, I’ll take Raven and search for that damn horse,” I say as I climb on Raven’s back. “You two stay here until I get back.” Both men almost collapse into a sitting position, leaning against the house behind them, which is the only answer I get from either of them.
As soon as we’re out from between the houses, I spot Mylo. He's hanging out about half a mile away. Straight behind the house we all ran into as soon as the fray started, happily munching on a patch of dried grass.
Raven meanders her way over to him. I lean down. “Girl, we should really hurry up.”
“Not until you tell me what’s happening between you and Allister.”
Ugh, coulda seen that one coming. I roll my eyes and sit straight back up in the saddle. “We’re mates,” is all I say.
“I know, he told us while you were passed out after the Solis bit you in Jerik. He asked us not to say anything until he had a chance to tell you,” she replies. “But something changed after the fight, what happened?” She waits for a breath before continuing, “He’s been chasing you around like a puppy dog, and you haven't been giving him much attention but now you are. What changed? And before you get all defensive, I simply want to know if you’re fine with all this. I know he’s your mate, but you’re allowed to take whatever time you need. Everything with James just happened. I don't want you going too fast. Do you even know what being his mate means?”
“No, I don't. I figured I'd talk to him about it privately. Are you saying I should feel bad for kissing Allister after all the things James did to me?”
“You kissed him!” Raven stops. She sounds shocked and she turns her head back, judging me.
My cheeks heat, oh yeah, she wasn’t there when that happened. I need to get better at lying. “Yes, I did.” I try to say it firmly like it’s no big deal, but it is a big deal, and my voice comes out shaky.
Raven shakes her head. “Okay, moving past that little tidbit. No, I don’t think you should feel bad at all for kissing your mate. I just want to make sure you’re ready for this. James did a number on you. Are you ready to be vulnerable like that with someone else?”
I lean down and wrap my arms around Raven’s neck as best I can, with the saddle horn pressing into my side. “Thank you. He’s my mate, I can’t explain it, but I know he won’t push me. I’ll take the time I need and only go as fast as I'm comfortable with. I promise.” I squeeze her tight and then sit back up.
