Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,49

but none of them were Conley’s men, and no one seemed to want to kick me back down into the chasm.

Someone pushed through the ring of miners and dropped to a knee beside me. The figure took off their helmet and lifted their head, revealing black hair, green eyes, and pretty features.

Reiko, the dragon morph, leaned down closer to me. “Don’t worry,” she said, her voice surprisingly gentle. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Heal her.” That masculine voice called out again. “Now.”

The icy command boomed through the cavern, and a man scuttled forward, crouched down beside me, and removed his helmet. This man looked to be in his sixties, with brown eyes and gray hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail. Deep wrinkles grooved into his bronze skin, although his face and hands were curiously free of the dust that coated the other miners.

“Hello. My name is Javier. I’m one of the mine’s bone masters.”

Javier studied me with a sharp, critical gaze, magic flaring like matches in his eyes as he took stock of my injuries. “I’m sorry,” he murmured in an apologetic voice. “But this is going to hurt.”

Before I could croak out a response, he placed one hand on my left arm and the other on my left leg. More magic flared in his eyes, making them gleam a bright topaz. Then his power slammed into my body.

Javier was probably trying to be gentle, but the bones in my left arm and leg writhed around like coral vipers as they wriggled into place and then fused back together. Then those vipers invaded the rest of my body, relentlessly pulling, yanking, and tugging everything back the way it was supposed to be.

In some ways, the pain was even worse than when I had first hit the ledge, and the continued, prolonged, white-hot agony was so intense that I couldn’t even scream, although tears and sweat poured down my face, stinging my eyes and adding to my misery.

Slowly, much too slowly, the writhing vipers stilled, and the white-hot agony dulled to warm daggers stabbing into my body. Eventually, the daggers shrank to pinpricks, which faded away to nothingness. I lay on the ground, still crying and sweating, although my breath came much easier, and my mind was clear now.

Javier dropped his hands, released his magic, and sat back on his heels. “I took care of the worst of her injuries, but she needs several more rounds of healing, as well as food and water and good, old-fashioned rest.”

“Can she be moved?”

Javier nodded. “Yes. She is stable enough to be taken out of the mine.”

He stood up, and another man strode forward and knelt down beside me.

Instead of a miner’s grimy gray coveralls, this man was wearing a black cloak over a black riding coat, along with matching gloves, leggings, and boots. A light gray tearstone sword and matching dagger dangled from his black leather belt.

The fluorestones gilded his black hair in a silvery sheen that also accentuated his sharp cheekbones and straight nose. His eyes seemed more black than purple, and he looked like a shadow knight, a dark, unstoppable force that had stepped out of a nightmare and into the real world to wreak havoc and destruction on anyone who dared to get in his way.

“Leonidas?” I rasped, my tongue heavy in my dry, dusty mouth. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving you.” He bent down and put his mouth close to my ear. “And it’s Leo, remember?”

His warm breath tickled my skin, and an involuntary shiver swept through my body.

Only to your friends, I murmured in my mind.

Amusement filled his face. Aren’t we friends? After all, we’ve saved each other’s lives.

If I’d had the strength for it, I would have shaken my head. I don’t know what we are.

Certainly not friends. Like it or not, he was still a Morricone, and I was still a Ripley. We might have saved each other’s lives now, but we had both tried to kill each other as children, something that I clearly remembered, even if he did not.

Reiko was still kneeling beside me. “My lord, what do you want us to do with . . .” Her voice trailed off, as though she didn’t know my name.

“Lady Armina.” Leonidas supplied my alias. “We need to get her aboveground at once. Give me some room.”

Reiko tipped her head. “Of course, my lord.”

She got to her feet and shooed Javier and the miners back.

Leonidas bent forward. He carefully hooked one arm under my