I Am the Wild (The Night Firm #1)- Karpov Kinrade Page 0,78
Lily. “Work together on the closing argument. And…buy me time. Make a commotion if you need to. Liam will come with me.”
They each nod in unison, though they don’t look too happy as they return to their notes.
I rush out of the courtroom, in the most polite-yet-quick walk I can manage, and find Liam pacing by the fireplace. “What’s happened?” he asks, red-hair disheveled, as if he’s been running his hand through it over and over again. “Is the trial over?”
“Not yet.” I grab his hand and pull him toward the exit. “Come on.”
I've lost track of how long it's been since the trial began. Since I was last outside. Since I had any sleep. At least a few days. And when I step out onto the stone square of the courthouse, a storm greets me. Winter has come in earnest, it seems, and brought with it all the pent-up energy of waiting for fall to end. The wind lashes at my face, causing my eyes to tear. Ice, thin and sharp, falls from the sky, beating across my skin. I wrap my arms around myself, shaking, my breath a fog before my eyes. Liam yanks off his cloak and throws it over my head like a hood, then pulls me close, shielding me with his figure. An unnatural warmth radiates from his body and the chill inside me fades away. Liam is so close, his scent overtakes me. Charcoal and wood and the feeling of coming home to a roaring fire. Other feelings begin to rise in me as well, but we don’t have time for those right now.
“Quickly,” I yell over the wind. “To the carriage. We need to get to the Broken Cathedral.”
Liam nods, leading me to a grand stable, fit for fifty horses, opposite the courthouse. Over the last three days, Lily took breaks from the trial to feed her steeds and take them out for rides. There are stable hands in service to the court who do that as well, she told me, but she prefers to do it herself.
Once in the stable, we’re offered some respite from the cold, but it doesn't last long. The smell of straw and manure fill my nose as Liam quickly finds our carriage and opens the door for me. I shake my head, pointing to the driver’s seat. “We need to be able to talk.”
He nods, and together we take Lily’s usual place behind the horses. A part of me wishes I had asked her to come with me, so I could sit cozy in the back with Liam, but when it comes to delaying the court with a distraction, I have more faith in Lily than anyone else. She’s not a lawyer. She doesn’t have as much to lose due to bad behavior. And from what I’ve heard, she’s good at mayhem.
I just hope all of this is worth it.
Liam yanks on the reins and we’re off, rushing down the cobbled streets of the Otherworld, the harsh winds piercing even the warm protection the fire Druid provides.
“What’s going on?” asks Liam. “What happened?”
“I…saw…something,” I say, teeth chattering, making my words stilted and broken. “In the memory. There…might be another witness. Someone who saw the truth. But I’ll need your help. I’ll need you…to catch them.”
We arrive at the Broken Cathedral, the Otherworld sky darker than I have ever seen before, the storm clouds blocking out the Dragon’s Breath, and no lanterns to light our way. I nearly trip climbing off the carriage, and Liam raises his hand, his palm lighting with a soft flame, illuminating our near surroundings. “Thanks,” I say. “I’m surprised you didn’t do that earlier. How could you even see the roads?”
“I can see better in the dark than I once did,” he replies quickly. And I remember what Sebastian once told me, that vampires are creatures of shadow.
“What are we looking for?” asks Liam, holding his blazing hand up higher.
“A gargoyle. I’ll know it when I see it.”
He nods, and together we run into the cathedral ruins. In the main hall, half of the roof is gone, making way for snow and ice, and I walk carefully to avoid slipping. “Are the gargoyle’s here alive? Like in the mausoleum?” I ask, as we keep searching.
“They were once,” Liam says somberly. “But when the earthquake that brought this building to ruin came, the gargoyles gave their life so that some of the cathedral could remain standing. They are just stone now.”