Kingdom of Exiles, page 14
Noc’s lips quirked. “Felicks. He agonized over it, too. He didn’t know what name you had been referring to, so for the rest of the ride, he was a bit of a wreck. Funny as hell.”
“Guess I’m good for laughs. One more thing you can thank me for.”
“What else are you good at?”
I snorted. “That’s an odd question.”
He shrugged, and our elbows brushed. “I’m curious.”
“Still trying to figure this puzzle out?” That certainly made two of us. I inched closer. “I don’t have the worst singing voice around.”
“Really?” He pulled his hands out of his pockets.
“A lot of Charmers can sing. Or play an instrument—something musical. We’re trained in a lot of different things that could help us potentially tame a beast.” Sand gave beneath my foot, and I unintentionally swayed closer. My pinkie grazed the back of his hand. He didn’t flinch.
“What do you do for fun?”
I chewed on my lip. “Not a lot.”
Tilting his head to the side, he pinned me with his gaze. “How come?”
For a moment, I paused and simply stared out over the endless expanse of ocean. There were more stars than waves, and their collective light dwarfed that of the moon. We were a world away from Hireath. A world away from Midnight Jester and black-market dealings and scrambling for bits. Out here, with Noc’s hand so close to mine, I could almost forget. I could almost pretend that I had the luxury to simply be.
“I’m on the run. I don’t have a lot of time for leisurely activities. What about you? What do you do for fun?”
“Not a lot.” His smile was surprisingly soft. Full of understanding. As if he knew what it meant to fight for just a sliver of peace. He probably did.
“That’s not true. You read. What else do you do? I imagine you get into plenty of shenanigans with Calem and Oz.”
“Oz?”
I waved him off. “Ozias. Don’t avoid the question. You’re surrounded by friends and family. I bet you’re always having fun.”
His shoulders stiffened, and his gaze drifted out over the waters. “Not as much as you’d think.”
I could practically see the frost gathering in his aura. Feel the building cold that defied the warm humidity of the beach. My pulse quickened. I didn’t want him to retreat when I’d finally brought him close.
“I can also play the harp.”
The chill left with the tide. His eyes found mine. “The harp?”
“Yeah, and I’ll brag: I’m certifiably amazing.” I knocked my elbow into his side and started walking parallel to the ocean. He kept up with ease. Didn’t pull away when the back of our hands skimmed against each other, fingers wondrously close to intertwining.
Ahead of us, a couple lay tangled together across a blanket, dying firelight bathing them in an orange glow. Lost in passion, the man traced the length of the woman’s neck with his lips and pushed her clothing aside. She caved in to him, not caring that they were in public. Not caring that we could see.
Their boldness struck me. “I can think of another thing I’m good at.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
Noc tensed, but something wonderfully hot flared within his obsidian gaze. “That so?”
We reached the far end of the beach, and both of us stilled, only inches apart. If I wanted to, I could reach out and graze his cheek. Lock my hands behind his neck and angle his face toward mine. I tipped my head up, heart thundering madly.
“Yes.” My gaze darted back to the couple just out of sight. He didn’t need to follow my eyes to know what I was looking for.
Noc clenched his hands. Released them. His stare shone bright. So much turmoil. Yes, this had bad decision written all over it. He was an assassin. I was his bounty. There were so many things that could possibly go wrong—for both of us. And yet, no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I found myself drawn to him. Pulled to him like the ocean waves were guided by the moon.
My breath caught as he inched closer.
“You’re trouble.” The words were a deep hum purring from the back of his throat, and he dipped his head low, almost as if he couldn’t help himself.
I traced the inside of my lower lip with my tongue, and his eyes targeted the motion. For the first time, I noticed a small crescent-moon scar above his left cheekbone, faded bone-white. I wanted to run my fingers over it. To lose my hands in the mess of his hair. To taste his lips and skin and feel the contours of his muscles hidden beneath his clothes. “I know.”
He was so close now, his lips inches away from mine. “I don’t think you realize what you’re doing to me.”
Heat from his breath scorched my skin, and a delicious chill swept across my neck. “I know exactly what I’m doing. Let me show you.”
My fingers skimmed the side of his face, ghosting over that small scar.
“If you were smart, you’d stay away from me.” His voice was pained. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was begging me to give up. To walk away. But I just couldn’t. Not when he was looking at me with enough heat to set the world on fire.
“Why? Because of the bounty? I’ll hold up my end of the bargain, I promise. We can enjoy each other, Noc. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
His body went rigid, playful eyes suddenly distant and unfeeling. “It’s a risk you shouldn’t take.”
“Risk?” I’d assumed being with an assassin would involve danger. But his edged words hinted at something else, as if his work was the least of my worries. What could possibly be more threatening? “I think you might be reading into this. I’m not looking for something permanent. Just maybe—”
“No, Leena. Find enjoyment elsewhere.” Darkness surged, and Noc disappeared, leaving behind nothing more than his honeyed scent.
Angry heat bloomed in my chest, and I scrubbed my lips with the back of my hand to try to wipe away the feeling of his nearness. But that was the problem with honey—wiping was more like smearing, and suddenly I was covered in the sting of his rejection and wishing I’d thought twice before flirting with a harbinger of death.
Twelve
Noc
Leena had a hidden talent—shadow walking. Throughout the day, our group meandered through the town while she hammered locals for information on beast sightings. And while she was there, walking just in front of me beside Ozias and Calem, she wasn’t. She never looked at me. She never spoke directly to me. And I couldn’t blame her. I’d left her high and dry, even if it was for her own good.
But gods, had it been hard. I’d wanted to kiss her so very badly.
I just wasn’t sure I could without killing her. A risk I’d never taken again since Bowen. Could I really detach enough to simply enjoy her touch?
My stomach tied into knots again at the thought. Anything more than trivial conversation opened the door for emotions, and those couldn’t get involved. Not with a bounty and a curse to consider. The former becoming a more pressing issue, given we were being watched.
My hands curled into fists. I didn’t like being monitored, and the mere thought of that smug prick studying us made me want to spend my hours locked in the shadow world.
We’d abandoned the crowded beaches of Ortega Key for a more remote inlet in search of a beast Leena had sensed. The waning sun set fire to thousands of smoothed crystals mixed in with the white sand, and the pastel-lilac sky slipped toward a deep blue. The night air was calm. Quiet. The constant ebb and flow of the ocean waves masked the muted conversation between my comrades, and Leena halted. Gaze lingering on the horizon, she studied an island in the distance shrouded in mist.
Everything around us reminded me of last night. The call of the ocean. The slowly darkening sky and the first smattering of stars. Her gaze, lost and longing, as she looked out over the sea. How close I’d come to kissing her.
“What kind of beast are we looking for?” Calem sidled in closer, and their shoulders brushed. My fingers twitched.
“I can’t tell. I know it’s here, but it’s hiding.” Her brow scrunched together. “It’s strong.”
“Is it a Gyss?”
She shot daggers with her eyes right through my skull. “No.” She turned back around and continued parallel to the ocean, searching for something I didn’t even know how to look for.
So it wasn’t a Gyss, but I didn’t want her to forget. I hadn’t. She was so averse to the beast that I wasn’t sure she’d tell me if it were nearby anyway.
“Wait.” Leena froze. Her eyes darted wildly across the beach. Endless rows of sand dunes stretched to our right, and broken shells stood out like teeth against the tan grains.
The nearest dune shivered.
Leena whipped around and crouched low into her heels. “Found it.” Power swelled in her aura, and the rosewood glow of her emblem ignited against the evening air. Just as she was about to move, the mound struck first.
Showering the earth in a gritty spray of sand and shells, a monster erupted from the top and landed before us. More than thirty feet long, it stood on four powerful legs that ended in hooked fingers. Its wormlike body was plated in thick, orange scales and slick with a shimmery mucus.
“What. The. Fuck.” Calem’s words couldn’t have been more appropriate. Three eyes on either side of its mandibles snapped to his location. And then it let out a shrill cry that shook the beach and covered us in the stench of rotting flesh. Eight pointed tongues spilled between rows of jagged teeth.
Leena flexed her hands. “It’s a Scorpex.”
“Like that tells me anything!” Calem fell into the realm of shadows, dodging one of the errant tongues and reappearing behind us. The Scorpex snapped its jaw shut. For a moment, it did nothing but stare at Leena.
“Wait a minute.” She dropped her hand, and the glow about her emblem died. “This one is already tamed.”
Unease stirred low in my gut. “What do you mean, it’s already tamed?”
“I can sense the bond. It’s…” Her eyes went wide. Fingers trembling, she barely found her words. “It’s his.”
The beast shrieked again and lunged. With impeccable aim, it whipped its tail around and struck its stinger in the earth—right where Leena had been. I’d yanked her out of the way just in time.
The bastard Charmer from Midnight Jester. When I hadn’t immediately delivered Leena’s corpse to his feet, he must have decided we needed some encouragement. Fire sped through my veins, and I slit a deep gash across my palm. “Kill it. Now.”
“My pleasure.” Ozias’s normally calm face was granite, and he glowered at the enlarged insect with heaping amounts of disgust. Shadow blades molded between his fingers, and he formed heavy fists before launching toward the monster. He connected with the side of its neck, and two of the blades drew blood.
The beast’s high-pitched screech ripped through the night. Reeling back, it struck Ozias across the chest with one of its feet. He careened through the air and smashed through a dune hill before his spine cracked against the base of a palm tree. Kost and Calem sped forward, calling forth shadow blades as they moved, and flung daggers at the Scorpex’s hide.
“Wait!” Leena’s voice barely registered above the shouts of my brethren and the beast’s cries. “I don’t think it wants to be doing this.”
Frustration spiked in my chest, and the blood in my palm quivered before shifting to a serrated blade. “And?”
“Don’t kill it.” Wide eyes locked on my weapon. “Please.”
I couldn’t believe what she was asking. The smack of flesh meeting flesh reverberated through the air, and Calem’s body flew past us into the ocean. Water sprayed the night, and he leaped up. The same ire he’d possessed while sparring with Leena consumed him, and all recognizable traces of Calem were lost in his manic growl. He lunged past us and bulleted toward the beast, thrusting more blades into its hide as he went.
One arm bruised and broken from his earlier crash, Ozias flanked Kost’s side. They brandished fresh weapons and charged. But their blades slipped against the beast’s thick mucus, dropping to the ground in tacky pools. Between the Scorpex’s barb-covered mandibles and the stinger at its back, they dodged life-threatening cuts at every turn.
No more. I stalked away from Leena.
“Noc.” She gripped my wrist. “I can feel it. I don’t know why, but I can. Let me try something first. And if I fail…” Her gaze slid to my blade. “I won’t get in the way.”
Everything inside me demanded I say no. But she leveled me with her hazel stare. Those eyes could tear through all of my constructs, all of my careful plans and rationalized defenses. She was an impossible force, and I didn’t have the strength to resist her.
Gritting my teeth, I yanked her toward the beast. “I’m not leaving your side. If it makes one move to strike you, it’s dead. Understood?”
She nodded. “Call them off.”
“Fall back!” I bellowed over the roar of the creature, and Kost and Ozias slipped into shadows. Without hesitation, they reappeared behind me. Calem didn’t respond. Lost in his anger, he continued to lash out at the beast.
Blow after blow connected with the Scorpex’s hide, but it only had one target now, not three. Sand dunes toppled to the ground as it whipped around and locked its gaze on Calem. And it struck. Fast. Its stinger barreled through the air and punctured Calem’s shoulder.
“Calem!” I made a move to run to him, but Leena had already taken off. She sprinted toward him, coming to a skidding halt just as the beast shook him off. Shouldering his body as it slumped to the ground, she placed herself between him and the beast.
Red-hot fury clouded my vision.
If you don’t kill her, we’ll have to intervene. The last thing you want is something unfortunate to happen, say, to one of your friends? The man’s threat ricocheted in my brain. One day. One day I had dallied, and this is what I got. A soft, jarring chirp shattered my focus, and I spotted the same bird from Midnight Jester perched on a broken palm frond.
Fucking Charmers.
The Scorpex shrieked again and shifted in the sand to bring its mandibles within piercing distance of Leena.
Leena. I dove into darkness and charged toward her, praying I’d reach her before this monster destroyed the person who could change my world.
A stunning rosewood light erupted from Leena’s frame, the same wondrous glow she’d emitted when taming Felicks. Warmth radiated from her center, and she stood tall before the beast. The fear I’d glimpsed in her eyes earlier had disappeared altogether.
“Go home. You don’t want to be here.” Hers was the firm tone of a mother reprimanding her child. This beast wasn’t even hers, and yet the love in her voice was real. Tangible. Something foreign and long forgotten stirred in my chest.
The beast shuddered. Sand shifted beneath its feet, and it sank lower into the ground.
It’s going to pounce. Darkness flowed, and I closed the remaining distance across the sloping sands in an instant. She was within my reach. I just needed to grab her, to bring her flush with my chest, and welcome her into my world of shadows.
Her light sharpened, battling against my darkness, and she reached out to place a gentle hand on the beast’s head. “Go.”
A heavy moan escaped the creature’s mouth and threatened to split my heart in two. Suffocating sadness poured from the Scorpex, and it whimpered beneath her touch. With a sharp gasp, Leena’s body started to tremble.
Intensified light shot outward from the space where her fingers made contact, and the groaning of a heavy door opening filled the night air.
“What…?” Leena didn’t move. All she could do was stare at the subdued beast beneath her.
Kost sped toward us with Ozias on his heels. “What’s happening?”
After a moment, her light faded, and the door creaked closed, taking the beast with it. Slack-jawed, Leena turned to face us. “I tamed it. I shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
Questions bubbled to the surface of my mind, but they were lost in the sudden wet gurgle spilling from Calem’s lips. “Fuck, that hurt,” he said.
“Dumbass. Noc told you to back off.” Nursing his broken arm, Ozias peeled back Calem’s tunic with his good hand and cringed. Dripping with blood and impossibly deep, a gaping hole covered in viscous green venom dominated the right side of his chest. “That will take a while to heal.”
Leena kneeled before him. Deft fingers swept across his wound. “He didn’t dislodge his barb. Good. Felicks can help seal the wound, but you’ll need to crush up some piffa root and pack it in there first. That will take care of the poison.”
“Great.” He tossed me a sheepish look. An apology for not following orders.
I steeled my anger. “You’re lucky it missed.”
“We’ll take him back.” Kost looped one of Calem’s arms around his shoulders, then glanced at Ozias. “We need to set your arm so it heals properly. We wouldn’t want to rebreak it later.”
Ozias winced. “Yeah, all right.”
“I need to check on the Scorpex.” Leena stood slowly, brushing stray grains of sand off her bare legs. Dressed in cutoff, skintight linen breeches and a sleeveless tunic, her body was covered with sand. A sinful bead of sweat dashed down her thigh, and I braided my fingers together to keep myself from wiping it away. Gods only know where that would have led.
“I’ll wait here for you.” After everything that had just happened, leaving her alone wasn’t an option.
Kost stared at me for a moment before relenting. Calem’s pained grunts spurred them into motion, and as one, the three of them disappeared in a plume of shadows. There was silence, save the constant backdrop of the ocean waves. As if the monster had never been sent in the first place. As if we weren’t evading bloodthirsty Charmers.
If I didn’t act quickly, this was bound to happen again. My comrades or Leena? My curse or freedom? The answer was harder than it should have been.
