The Girl Who Fell From The Sky - Rebecca Royce Page 0,58
men, my people, protecting something good. It felt deeply right, when all my life, I’ve been told that avoiding confrontation is the way to go. Be quiet. Take what you get and don’t fuss. Let others make the hard calls. Let them protect me. I never realized how angry I was about all that or how good confrontation could feel. I think…”
“Oh, don’t you stop now. I need to hear all of this.” I could hear the grin in his voice, even if he had covered his lower face with a scarf.
“I think I love this place, these people.”
“All the people?” he asked.
Something at the base of my throat tingled in alarm, and I swallowed. Some people especially, yes, but I wasn’t ready to say that out loud. Maybe not even in the privacy of my own mind. “All of them,” I affirmed. “And I love who I am here. Even if someone did come to rescue me, somebody from my world, I don’t want to leave.”
He turned me in his arms so that I was facing his solid chest. He smelled pungent, like sweat and dust and ever so faintly of beer, but it wasn’t at all unpleasant.
“And I thank every power in this universe for that,” he said, holding me so tight I couldn’t reply.
We stood like that forever, or maybe just a second, until I felt him tense. His massive arms bunched around me.
“What?” I asked, my voice muffled against his chest.
“I’ve never seen this, I mean ever. What the hell?”
“What?” I repeated, detaching myself from Mattis and turning to see.
The huddle in the center of the square had grown and now consisted of maybe twenty men. And one Reamer. Alive. On its knees. Across the dust and stench, he looked straight at me, and fear sank its claws into my spine.
“That one,” the Reamer called, his voice rising over the crowd and his grime-encrusted chin gesturing toward…me.
Torrin shot him a look that spoke of death as Astor approached the crowd. It was Torrin who answered him with clenched teeth. “You speak of the woman who belongs to me.”
Astor stepped up next to him, staring down at the Reamer. “I might just kill him for you, brother.”
Torrin kept his eyes on the Reamer. “Speak.”
“We were sent to get her. They want her. The leaders. They have the other female from the sky, and they want this one.”
I jolted. Another female from the sky? Mattis squeezed my shoulder. “They aren’t getting you.”
“Nope.” Nox walked up from behind us. Still too pale, but his gaze fierce on the scene in front of us. “Not a chance.”
They’d missed the point. I wasn’t worried for me. Not even a little bit. “They have someone else. Someone who was on my ship is with the…cannibals.”
Mattis winced. “We really hope that’s not true.”
“You and I both know it’s true,” Nox countered before he put his hands on his hips. “Torrin may want to go get the person. Now that they’ve targeted Bianca. In fact, I’d be shocked if he didn’t. We have a safety concern now.”
My heart raced, and I concentrated on breathing. Someone else had been on the ship, crashed, survived, and was now at the mercy of the monstrous men. The ones who might eat people. I shuddered.
Nox squeezed my fingers. “Bianca, I’m worried about you.”
“You’re both concerning me, and look, you got Astor’s attention. Expect to be locked up until you feel better.” Mattis kissed my cheek. “And…oh fuck.”
Nox groaned. “I don’t suppose one of these days the fucker could die.”
They couldn’t be talking about Astor, so I followed their gaze where they stared daggers at an older man who stormed toward us.
“You.” He pointed at me, and Mattis’ arm went back around me. “You are why my daughter has been shafted, and now it seems everyone has had to fight and some died because of you.”
Heaviness hit me hard. He was right. The Reamers had come for me… This was in some ways my fault. I hadn’t asked for it, hadn’t meant to cause it, but there it was. I held on to my neck. Breathing was getting a lot harder. “Sir, I don’t believe that we’ve met.”
My voice was low. Fainting wasn’t out of the question. If I weren’t being attacked, I might take a seat somewhere.
“This is Baron the Great. As he calls himself,” Mattis answered.
Nox had gone silent. Maybe it had to do with rank. Mattis’ family was scandalous but above Nox’s in rank.