Page 13 of Cold Hearted
Zander and I positioned ourselves back-to-back, defending ourselves and each other against the two remaining fae who were still alive and conscious. Within moments we’d managed to take them out too, me by sinking my dagger into one’s chest, and Zander with an uppercut to his opponent’s jaw.
When they hit the floor, we stood there panting, waiting for another wave of attackers. After a few moments when nothing happened, Zander sighed in relief.
“Get your boots on and grab your things. We can’t stay here,” he barked.
I wasn’t about to argue about leaving. We had to get out of there. At any moment we could be attacked again, but there was something we had to take care of first.
I stared at Zander. “Take off your shirt.”
His eyes went half-lidded. “As much as I would love to do whatever you have planned for me in that regard, we really need to leave.”
I rolled my eyes and grasped the bottom of his shirt, yanking it up.
Sweet mother of all things beautiful. His abdomen was chiseled perfection, tan, tight—focus, Dawn!
I shook my head and stared at the rune etched onto his lower stomach. You could draw a dampener rune with your hand, but with the right incantation one of the masked fae could have thrown the dampener on Zander without even getting within arm’s length of him.
“Oh yes, that.” Zander peered down at it as if it were an annoyance to him. “Do you know how to?”
I gave him another eye roll. “Of course I do.”
Grabbing a small throwing knife off one of the bodies at my feet, I began to draw the rune pattern, but in reverse, hovering just above his skin and careful not to cut him. It was a methodical skill where one had to be somewhat of an artist, careful to draw the rune exactly in reverse to cancel the spell it had cast. When I was done, the green webbing surrounding him melted away.
“Thanks,” he said as he rolled his shoulders.
Regretfully, I dropped his shirt, covering his beautiful stomach.
I nodded before rushing back to my room to grab my belongings and strap on my sunstone dagger in safety. I also stowed some of the throwing knives the other fae had dropped. In less than a minute we were both fully dressed and armed. As we were heading for the door, I glanced at Zander to see that he had a deep cut on his shoulder which was dripping blood down his arm. “Hey, you’re—” I gasped when I saw that his blood was the color of a raven’s feather.
“I’m fine.” He quickly pulled his cloak around his body to cover it up and looked at me nervously.
I had to school my features, not to give anything away, but my heart was racing so fast that a wave of dizziness washed over me.
He bleeds black.
Only the Ethereum lords and those in their royal family line were cursed to bleed black. It was what primed them to carry the magic that healed my world. He was an heir, probably the brother or nephew of Lord Roan, which made sense that he was the commander of the Northern Army. Oftentimes, the Ethereum lords would put heirs and family members in positions of high power. I couldn’t help but want to squeal in excitement. Of course he was being so strict with me about the threat to Roan’s life that I claimed to have overheard. He was heir to an Ethereum throne and protecting his lord and family member. Maybe an uncle or even his own father. It all made sense now.
My hand dropped to the sheath that held my sunstone dagger, but I forced it away before my fingers could curl over the hilt. Even so, the cuffs tightened a little in warning.
“I mean, not to brag, but I’m not hurt.” I made a joke so that he would assume I never saw the color of his blood in the dimly lit room.
He rolled his eyes. “Come on, little bird, let’s hurry so we can keep it that way.”
I followed him out of the room, and we ran down the inn steps. There was no one at the front desk. The whole place was eerily quiet. But Zander stopped me before busting out into the street.
“This way,” he said, waving me over to a side door that was less conspicuous,and dumped us right next to a private alleyway that was cloaked in shadows.
It was still dark out, with only a hint of the sun coming up. The frigid chill in the air had me pulling the cloak tighter around myself and dreaming of the sunny days of the Summer Court.
Zander peered across the street to the stable where his stallion was.
“We run in three, two—” He burst from the coverage of the alley, and I was right behind him, making barely a sound as I ran in the way Master Duncan had taught me. Heel to toe, rolling my foot so that I didn’t smack the gravel and make too much noise. When we tucked ourselves into the darkness of the barn, Zander saddled the horse as I stood as lookout, my senses on high alert.
After mounting Omen, Zander reached an arm down, helped me swing up behind him, then kicked his heels and the black horse took off. I had to wrap my arms around Zander’s waist to keep from falling off as we hightailed it out of town in the early hours of the morning. I was grateful he hadn’t asked me to reconnect the cuffs and the key was still in my pocket. Either he was too busy, or I’d earned a small bit of his trust back there. Now just to get them to fall off completely and I was in business.
When we were several miles away from the inn, Zander allowed his horse to slow to a more manageable speed.
“Okay, what wasthatall about? Who were those fae?” I demanded. Truth be told, my mind was still reeling from the black blood I’d seen on his arm and what it all meant, how it would get me closer to getting the heart of an Ethereum lord, but I couldn’t ask him about that.
