Page 59 of Horns & Heart
Inkiri’s eyes narrowed.“We should not have traveled.”
“We need to get him to the Stone, and then we need to figure out what to do next,” Vergis said.“Where’s Lissir?”
“Back where we made camp,” Fellisse said absentmindedly.“He took an arrow.”
I squirmed.“What!?Is he okay?”I glanced up at Inkiri as best as I could with Fellisse still tormenting me.“I want to go to him.”
Fellisse hummed.“I see nothing that appears broken.I see nothing that I know to heal, but if he has suffered exposure to cold, rest will certainly be in order.”
Vergis cursed creatively.It was a cute little soliloquy.Gran would’ve chided him with her wooden spoon.
“We all need a good night’s rest, but give me ten minutes with the human at the Stone.I need to see this spell.Don’t you get it?If the Koa Esher had anything to do with what happened here, we need to know.”
“His name is Rory.”Inkiri’s voice was colder than I had ever heard it.
Just like that, I was feeling sorry for Vergis, who’d probably not had an awesome time either with me around.Okay, he hadn’t faceplanted so spectacularly, but he’d had to take another guy’s soaked clothes off, and unless I’d imagined it, he’d huddled under that scratchy blanket with me.All while being very aware that Inkiri had picked me rather than him.The guy deserved a break.
I lifted my chin.“The bagu can call me human if it makes him feel better.Put me down, Ink.”Inkiri did.Reluctantly, but he did.“Ten minutes, and no more weird interdimensional travel while we’re up there,” I told Vergis.
Vergis seemed surprised, but he hid it quickly.“Fine.Let’s go.”
The five of us walked.Mostly.All growly, Inkiri simply picked me up again.
“I broke my promise to you,” he said when we reached the church again.“I told you that you wouldn’t have to be scared ever again if you came with me, and yet I wasn’t there to make it so.”
I shrugged, or tried to.As it turned out, a bridal carry isn’t good for shrugging.
“Oh, you know.If you’ve seen the apocalypse, you’ve basically seen everything.But if there’s ever a spider, you’re taking care of it.Humanely or not, it doesn’t matter.I just don’t want to see spiders ever again, and maybe I’ll swear off the color orange as well, you know?To be on the safe side.”
Inkiri buried his head in my neck and sniffed me before running his rough tongue along my skin.“Whatever you want, sweet thing.Whatever you want.”
The rest of the short trip up to the Stone was a quiet one, and the noise of the wind was only broken by Inkiri’s clicking.It comforted me, and I let my head fall against his warm chest in a kind of surrender.He had me.I knew he had me, so it was okay to let go.
When I’d first been here, with Cat and Jacob, Cat had joked that the Stone was kind of phallic.She’d been right, but I’d seen worse.Some billionaires’ space rockets, among other things.
More than anything else, this stone reminded me more of an obelisk, even if it was rough and not shaped like an obelisk at all.Set around it in the ground were smaller, thinner flagstones, almost like tiles, radiating outward like the rays of the sun.It was a magnificent place, and the view from up here was stunning.I would’ve enjoyed it more if the memory of my last time being here hadn’t tried to take over my mind.
“Put him down,” Vergis said to Inkiri.
Inkiri did, and I stood and followed Vergis to the stone proper.
Vergis ignored me, but I was used to that by now.He closed his eyes and hummed something.When he opened them, his pupils snapped back to slits from having been super enlarged.He touched the stone with one hand, then looked at me.
“Place both hands on the Stone and don’t do anything.”
“Not doing anything.My specialty.”I put my hands on the Stone.
I wasn’t sure whether or not I felt something when my palms connected to the rough surface of the Stone.It could’ve been the wind.For a moment though, I thought there was something there, like a whisper I couldn’t quite hear, something just at the very edge of my awareness.
“Hmm.”Vergis stepped back.“Shit.”
Before Vergis had the chance to elaborate, screaming from the direction of the Mound of Hostages made us all turn our heads.
I saw blood, a terrible red against Lissir’s steel-gray skin.He came toward us in a jerky, stumbling run, shouting something in that other language.
I froze.I couldn’t make sense of the situation.I was the only one though.The other four broke into a flurry of activity.A gunshot rang out, and Lissir dropped.There was a terrible, terrible moment when his orange eyes met mine, and something passed between us.
“Lissir!”I screamed at the top of my lungs.
