the shoulders.
“Ohh. She’s smart,” Raul says. He raises the hammer, ready.
The Kid struggles and I tighten my hold. “Back away from the door, Blondie,” I order.
Raul moves away.
“Open it,” I say, nodding to Boss.
Boss doesn’t move. “He knows what he signed up for.”
Shit. Shit, shit!
“Let him go,” Boss orders. “You’ll only make this worse on yourself.”
What the hell do I do now? I don’t loosen my hold on The Kid.
Boss stalks toward me. Fuck. Now what? This guys gonna beat me to a pulp and leave me for Arcayos to find—
The door behind Boss crashes in. It slams to the floor.
“Arcayos…” I gasp.
He towers in the doorway, a huge hooded shadow, his sword in his grip.
Boss spins around, running at him.
I shove The Kid hard at Boss and both go sprawling. I grab the chair, holding it up, ready for a swing.
Boss and Raul leap on Arcayos as one. Arcayos tosses them both off. He roundhouses one in the face, punching the other in the chest. His sword parries, flashing.
When they come at him again, he drops to one knee, slashing Raul across the belly. Then he pivots to the side and slashes Boss right across the throat.
Both men drop. Blood is everywhere.
The Kid rushes away from Arcayos, right at me, but he’s sluggish. I belt him right across the face with the chair. He hits the floor. When he pivots to his feet and throws a punch at Arcayos, the warrior swings the blade in a two-handed grip, swiping it clean through his neck.
Blood splatters and The Kid gurgles. He collapses to the floor and doesn’t move.
Now that the fight is over, the pain rushes back on me tenfold. I drop to my knees.
Arcayos catches me in his arms, crushing me against him.
“Cassidy.” He smoothes my hair back.
“Took you long enough,” I rasp. Then I start to sob, clinging to him.
He clutches me to him, groaning into my hair. “My sweet mate.” He covers my face in kisses, stroking my hair. “You’re safe now. I’m here.”
“They just kept coming… they just kept kicking me…” I bury my face in his neck, shaking.
“I know.” He cradles my head, crooning, rocking me. “I know.”
“I was so scared, and you weren’t here. I thought you weren’t going to come…”
“Shhh. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. My little warrior. Nothing like this is ever, ever going to happen to you again, I promise.”
The oath goes straight to my heart.
I cling to him for dear life, letting safety wrap itself around me.
He scoops me into his arms and carries me away.
27
The Book of Va’halzoret
Sometime after Arcayos took me out of that basement, I must have passed out, because I vaguely remember seeing my bed, and now I’m drifting out of sleep.
Every part of me still hurts, but the pain is dull and distant. I blink open my eyes and turn my head to the side.
Arcayos has pulled over the chair I keep by my bed; he’s leaning forward in it, his hands clasped between his knees. Sunlight streams in through the window behind him. He sits up straight, and I give him a weak smile.
“Morning, demon spawn.”
His lips twitch, his red eyes that soft, warm wine red. He gets up and lowers himself carefully onto the bed, so as not to jostle me, I guess. “How are you feeling, Cassidy Morgan?”
Funny how he manages to put so much tenderness into that name now.
I try to sit up, but he sets his hand on my shoulder. I sigh, lying back down. There is a dazed sort of feeling hovering over me.
“I feel… drugged.” I cock a brow at him.
“I gave you something for the pain.” His eyes are filled with concern.
I glance down at myself. My shirt is open under blankets that lay over me, bandages sticking to my ribs. There is another bandage around my head. “Wow, how bad was it?”
“Bad enough.”
“Not that I don’t appreciate what you’ve done, but shouldn’t I be in the hospital?”
“Not now, no. I took you to… well, the next best thing for a while. Got you what you needed to heal.”
“What?” I scrunch my brows. “How long was I out?”
“Three days. You will be fine in about a week. You were knocked out while your bones healed. Healing with javna root is painful, especially for a human.”
“What is that? Oh, no, did you use some sort of demon magic on me?”
“Not me, no. I know people. Demon healers. Relax, they didn’t do anything except allow you to heal faster