Page 20 of This Dark Descent
“And you only have three weeks until the Illinir.” Reid leaned toward her. “You need to make every ride count, or you don’t have a chance.”
Mikira shoved her hands into his chest. He recoiled a step, scowling, and she turned back to Eilora. Reid could describe the weather and it would probably infuriate her; what made this so much worse was that he was right. Despite all her dreams of becoming a jockey, she had never wanted to run in the Illinir. Not since she’d begged her father to take her to watch the race as a child, and he’d replied, “That’s not a race, it’s a bloodbath. No one who cares about their horse enters it.”
It wasn’t until she’d gotten older that she’d realized what he meant: the quickest way to take out an opponent was to take out their horse. All it would take was a moment’s distraction, and her life or her horse’s could be over in seconds.
She splayed her hand against the warmth of Eilora’s neck. “I want to meet the horse Arielle will be enchanting.”
“It won’t be here for a while.” Reid’s voice was still tight with annoyance. “After that Arielle wants privacy to work on it. You can meet it when she’s done.”
“But that’s—” She stopped as something over his shoulder caught her eye. He followed her gaze to where flashes of blue and white flickered through the branches of the trees from the road beyond the estate.
“Shit.” Reid marched for the fence, the cat leaping onto his shoulders as he passed.
“What’s going on?” She scrambled after him, waving down a nearby stable hand to take Eilora. By the time they reached the back porch, the pounding of hooves echoed from the road. Reid hurried back toward the side door they’d left from. Ahead, a line of horses surged through the open manor gate and raced along the drive.
The Anthir.
Reid broke into a run, and Mikira considered turning back for thestable, grabbing Iri, and getting the hells out of there. The last thing she needed was trouble with the Anthir.
But she couldn’t afford for anything to happen to Damien either.
She caught up to Reid as he stopped to open the side entrance. They thundered down the corridor and curled around a corner just as a door down the hall clicked open. Arielle stepped out. She frowned, then moved aside as Damien emerged.
“Anthir,” Reid wheezed as they arrived.
Damien’s eyes flared, but that was all Mikira saw of his reaction, for her gaze had snagged on his forearm. The once pristine white of his shirtsleeve now bore pinpricks of red like splattered paint.
When she looked up, it was Arielle’s gaze she met. The girl shook her head, just the slightest.
And then the hall filled with guards.
CHAPTER 8
ARIELLE
ARI FELT LIKEshe’d been unmoored and set adrift in the ocean—weightless and without direction. She didn’t remember waiting for Damien to roll down his sleeves and strap on his guns once more. She didn’t remember walking back up the stairs, the faded sunlight too bright for eyes that had grown accustomed to the dark.
She’d watched Damien beat those men within an inch of their lives, and she had not looked away.
Not when the blood splattered his arms. Not when bone cracked. Not when her Saba’s voice asked her how she had gotten here, with him.
Monsters rarely look like monsters.
Was she a monster for not stopping him? Would he have stopped if she’d asked?
She hadn’t asked, and he hadn’t stopped, and Ari couldn’t bring herself to regret it. Not fully. Even as her stomach tilted and the sound of metal against bone reverberated in her head, she couldn’t ignore that flare of relief inside her. The knowledge that those men had gotten what they deserved and they would not harm her again.
She couldn’t ignore that she felt safe for the first time in a long time.
And so it was when the corridor flooded with Anthir, a stern, fair-skinned young man at their lead, she shook her head at Mikira’s wide-eyed stare.
Say nothing, she willed her.
Damien put his back to the door they’d just exited, his jacket slung over one shoulder. Whatever surprise he felt at seeing the constables was buried beneath a practiced mask.
“Sergeant,” he greeted. “Is there a problem?”
The sergeant bowed—barely. “My apologies, Lord Adair,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. “We received a report claiming that you were seen abducting these men who work for the Kelbras.”
