Page 181 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
“Please remember to pace yourself—control your breathing. You’ll need to fend them off at least until Sedge or I can reach you.”
I continued gnawing the hell out of my lip. “All right. I—I can do that.”
Goddess, I hope I can do that.
Something dark quivered in Pete’s mouth as he glanced at Sedge. Then, causing me chills of both excitement and anxiety, he bent to whisper, “And I know I need not tell you, Shorty—if we don’t reach you, use that fire.”
The only way they wouldn’t reach me was if they were—
No, I’m not even going to think it!
His next words were slow, punctuated. “And if you use your fire,no onegets away alive.”
Because there could benowitnesses to my fire.
“Even if we don’t get our chance to kill Gentian—” Because of Pete’s death. “You still can’t risk him learning you’re a fire sylph. He’d slaughter his own cadre to get his clutches on you—the weapon you could be. So, youcannot,under any circumstances, let him find out.”
“I get it. I—I won’t let you down.”
Pete pulled back to offer a small, encouraging smile.
“Wait! What about my tether?” I glanced at my boot. “If I’m supposed to run as far as I can, then I’ll need more length. How will you know how much to give me?”
Pete blinked at me. “Shorty, I untethered you the moment you agreed to help me kill Gentian.”
To say I was bowled over was an understatement. “That was weeks ago!”
At least I’d managed to make him look less serious. “Aye.” He chuckled.
“And you didn’t think you shouldtellme?”
He laughed again. “Christ, Shorty, I thought you knew. Didn’t you feel it slip off you?”
I blinked down at my ankle. By Goddess, it did feel lighter. “I was a bit emotional at that moment! I wasn’t exactly being observant!”
Pete sighed. “And here I was, thinking I’d made a symbolic gesture. I suppose I’ll get no credit for it now.”
“Maybe.” I studied him, gauging his sincerity. He was an honest SOB, for sure, but something didn’t make sense. “You really untethered me?”
Unbothered that I’d question him, he nodded.
“But—where—where’s Andy? Where’s my totem, Pete?” That, I’d remember him returning.
Enjoying some private joke, Pete twisted to open his satchel. Seconds later, he held a rumpled Raggedy Andy doll. “You mean this tuft of fluff?”
I gasped in disbelief as the harbinger sent to capture me for dark and foreboding sources tossed me my totem.
Pete shrugged. “Was merely keeping him safe for you.”
Tears welling in my eyes, I clutched the tuft of fluff to my heart, not caring that the latter might burst. Also not caring about boundaries, I flung my arms around Pete’s neck and hugged him with the strength of my relief. And the strength of my desire to free him from his own tethers.
Pete froze in my embrace, confused about how to be. Then, with a shake of his head, he wrapped his arms around me. And he hugged me back—reallyhuggedme—a fortress of testosterone.
Our hug lasted a fervent length—possibly an uncomfortable length for Sedge—before the two of us receded from each other. Then I wiped my tears and gazed down on Andy’s geometric features. He was a sight for sore eyes, but now wasn’t the best time to be seeing him.
“You know what?” I said to Pete, who scratched the back of his head, flummoxed as a teenage boy. “You keep him for now.”
Pete’s brows drew together. “I—what?”
