Fortune Favors the Cruel - Kel Carpenter Page 0,57

Lorraine was already walking. They stopped at the edge of the cave to put their boots back on before continuing onward, up the shallow hill where Draeven waited.

“Finally, you’re—” He turned and froze, his eyes widening. “What are you wearing?” he asked, keeping his voice down so the two Cisean guards that stood a few feet away would not hear.

“Clothes,” Quinn answered tartly. “That the Cisean’s were nice enough to give us. You should be glad I’m not naked.”

Lorraine choked on a cough beside her as Draeven ran a hand down his face, muttering to himself about gods, let it be fast. “You know what? We don’t have time for this. We are late to the feast and they’ve started without us. If Lazarus has a problem, he can take it up with Thorne … or you.” He stepped aside and motioned for them to move it.

“He better not take it up with me,” Quinn protested as she led the way down the hill and onto the winding path of large oak trees.

“Oh, may the gods be merciful,” Draeven muttered, redirecting her when she reached for the rope ladder of the tree hut they were staying in.

“What? Where are we—”

“I’ve just said. They’re holding a feast in our honor, Quinn. Come on.” He prodded her in the back, and she snapped. Quinn turned, bringing her fist up at the same moment and punched him square in the jaw.

“Ow!”

“Stop prodding me, bastard,” she growled. The two Cisean warriors stepped up beside her, glaring at Draeven.

“She-wolf no like you touch,” the one on the left said. Draeven rubbed his jaw, opening and closing his mouth.

“Quinn, can you explain to them I wasn’t trying to hurt you?” Draeven asked, eyeing them warily.

“I most certainly will not,” Quinn replied, turning on her heel. He reached out to stop her and the same one that had spoken stepped in front of her, while the other came up on her side to escort her forward.

They stayed like that, one walking beside her and one behind her as they led Quinn to the feast while Draeven and Lorraine trailed behind.

“She has a point, you know,” Quinn heard Lorraine tell Draeven. “You shouldn’t have prodded her like cattle. She’s part of this house now.”

Draeven’s reply was lost in the noise as they approached a set of wooden steps that led up into a tree hut far larger than the others. Two guards stood on either side of the railing, halberds at their sides and pelts around their shoulders. They nodded to Quinn as she climbed the stairs to the very top. Where there should have been a door, only three walls and a thatch roof stood. The place for the door had been left open so that those seated could look out over the forest behind her.

Five long tables were filled to the brim with exotic fruits and stews and roasted meats. Most of the places at the tables were full, only a handful of seats had been saved at the center—the largest—where both the Cisean leader and Lazarus sat. The woman from earlier who had brought them clothes sat on Thorne’s lap, ripping juicy meat from the cooked leg of a bird and feeding it to him with her fingers. She wasn’t the only one, Quinn realized. Most women didn’t have seats of their own, but instead lounged on the laps of their men, not a child in sight.

Thorne sat at the head of the table, with Lazarus on his right and the pale-eyed warrior, Vaughn, to his left. Beside Lazarus, the seats had been taken, the one closest occupied by a stunning beauty with hair the color of rubies. Quinn narrowed her eyes at the slight hand that touched his arm.

Quinn took a step forward, toward that side of the table and paused. A flash of anger ran through her as her stomach hardened, as though someone had poured cement down her throat and let it settle. Heat ran to her head. The rush making her woozy with power. It was that trickle of darkness that started to swirl around her and the creeping tendrils of a web being spun that made her pause.

She wavered on the edge as Lazarus looked up. His dark stare sliding from the beauty at his side to the tendrils of fear snaking along the table, straight to Quinn as she reached up and unclasped the cloak. It slid from her shoulders and she caught it with one hand before it