Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,29

forced my eyes open as he stepped into the room. His gaze swept the three of us and then returned to me. “Why are your eyes bleeding when you didn’t have Nex or Vita with you?”

“It would appear I can use their lightning without actually holding them.”

“I didn’t think that was possible.”

I accepted the cup he handed me with a nod of thanks and drank it down in several swift gulps. It didn’t immediately ease the dryness in my throat, or the weakness clinging to the rest of me.

“Neither did I.”

He squatted beside me and gently touched the wounds on my neck. “And these?”

“The Aranea dug his claws in while attempting to choke me.”

“So it’s his ashes on the stairs?”

I nodded. “I didn’t get up here in time to save the woman, but the child is still alive.”

His gaze briefly flicked to her, but his hand remained pressed against my neck, and the warmth of his touch pulsed through me, chasing away some of the weariness. “She doesn’t look like a halfling.”

“That may be the whole point,” I said. “And it makes no sense that the Aranea was sent here to kill them. Why not move her—especially considering we didn’t even know she existed?”

“They must have been under the impression that we did.” He studied the girl for a moment. “It’s also possible that they had no intention of killing the girl.”

More than possible, when I actually thought about it. One blow could have easily killed her; instead, he’d simply hit her hard enough to knock her out.

The sound of approaching sirens invaded the brief silence. Luc glanced toward the window. “That’ll be Jason’s people. I’ll head down and update them—you going to be all right for a few seconds?”

I smiled. “I’m not that fragile, Luc.”

“Normally no, but whatever the force you used was, it’s damn well drained you. You’re looking decidedly gaunt right now.”

“I’m too well rounded to ever look gaunt.”

I said it as a joke, but he didn’t look amused. “Elemental magic can kill the user just as easily as those it’s set against—and you’ve barely recovered from the force you unleashed at the hospital.”

“This wasn’t elemental—”

“The smell in the air says otherwise.”

I frowned. “Elemental magic hasn’t got a smell—”

“That depends entirely on the element. Storm magic—or, more specifically, lightning—has sharp smell, not unlike something inorganic burning, such as electrical wires or plastic. That scent still rides the air here.”

Did that mean the force coming from Nex and Vita was elemental in origin? That made absolute sense, given the king’s sword drew on the power of all elements and the daggers were not only created in the same forge, but of the same steel. So why would Mo say they drew on the strength of their wielder?

I wearily rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Nothing is making much sense today.”

“No, it’s not.” His fingers left my neck, leaving me feeling colder than I ever thought possible. I shivered and crossed my arms; Luc immediately took a blanket from the bed and draped it over me. “I’ll be back with the medics in minutes.”

“I’ll be fine. Really.”

He gave me a disbelieving look and then left the room. I tugged the blanket around my neck and tried to get warm. The fact that my borrowed pants, shoes, and socks were all soaked wasn’t helping the situation. If I didn’t wake up tomorrow with a chill, I’d be very surprised.

A sharp sound had me looking down. The little girl whimpered. I hesitated, and then wrapped my hand around hers. “It’s okay, little one. No one is going to hurt you. You’re safe.”

At the sound of my voice, her eyes sprang open. Shock coursed through me, and a gasp escaped.

The girl’s eyes were sky blue ringed by gold.

She was a De Montfort.

Chapter Five

But … how was that possible?

De Montforts were few and far between here in England. There were certainly branches of the family living in multiple other countries, but there’d only been a dozen or so De Montforts located here in England when both Henry and Gareth had been killed. And Ada—their sister—hadn’t yet had any kids.

Had her parents come here from overseas? If so, where were they? Or was she simply the result of Darkside’s witch breeding program? My gaze jumped to the battered woman—surely if she was the girl’s mother and had been impregnated by the dark elves, she wouldn’t have willingly remained here. There were no obvious signs of restraints on her or in the house—though I guess