House of Dragons (Royal Houses #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,64

curly hair until Kerrigan yelped in pain. “Yeah, you have a knot. Let’s get you back to the mountain.”

“No,” she said right away.

“No?”

“The Wastes.”

He looked at her skeptically. “The mountain has healers. You need to be seen immediately. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“I know. The Wastes have healers, and they’re closer. Also”—she moved uneasily toward the balcony doors, where she bent down and retrieved the discarded knife—“I have a friend I want to ask about this.”

“This isn’t a good idea,” Fordham growled low as they approached the entrance to the crime lord’s lair.

“Probably not,” Kerrigan conceded.

But she didn’t have another choice. By the time they reached the Wastes, she could barely walk. She never would have been able to reach the mountain in time. Unfortunately, she’d have to put her health in Dozan Rook’s hands once more.

“Remind me why I decided to help you again.”

“I have no idea. This was your idea.”

He rolled his eyes. “I am never doing a favor for anyone ever again. Certainly not a halfling.”

The words have none of his venom though. They were almost friendly. Or maybe he was just trying to keep her mad so she wouldn’t pass out.

Kerrigan rolled her eyes. “Just get me inside, princeling. I can do the rest.”

He shot her a distrustful look. “Why was there an assassin after you anyway?”

“If I’d known, do you think I would have let them stab me?”

“Let them stab you? That’s an eloquent way of putting the scene when I walked in and saved your ass.”

“I would have been fine.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you always this overconfident?”

“Yes, she is,” a voice said, appearing at the entrance to the Wastes. A dark and broody crime lord, wearing the black and red of his establishment and a frown of displeasure.

“Dozan,” she croaked.

His eyes trailed down her body, where she clung to Fordham for support, then to the prince of the House of Shadows. She could tell he was not pleased, but he could shove it for all she cared. Word must have traveled fast for him to be here at the entrance when she turned up.

“What have you done with my fighting champion?” he asked Fordham.

Fordham’s eyebrows rose at that. “Fighting champion?”

“I’ll tell you all about it after I don’t have a hole in my shoulder,” she grumbled. “Dozan, this is Fordham. Fordham, this is Dozan. He runs the place and is a kind, magnanimous figure, who is going to get me a healer for this gods-damned shoulder.”

Dozan quirked a half-smile at the introduction. He was far from kind or magnanimous. He was ruthless, irritable, and unyielding, and he hated being bossed around. He always had. Even five years ago, when he’d first brought her back to the Wastes to find her a healer after… after everything. Her heart twisted at that. She still didn’t know why he hadn’t left her for dead that first time. He got power out of the equation, but she’d offered nothing when she lay mangled and bloody on the ground.

Dozan raised an eyebrow at Fordham. “You can leave Red here, and we’ll take care of her.”

To Kerrigan’s surprise, Fordham’s grip on her tightened. “I think I’ll take her to the healer myself.” His voice held bite and possessiveness. Even his posture straightened.

She knew Dozan well enough that if he kept this up, a fight would break out, and she really didn’t have the time. This was about that absurd authority that men had to push against to see who was the alpha among them. If she wasn’t injured and half-falling over, she would hit them both up the side of the head.

“Stab wound, remember?” she said through gritted teeth. “Can we not do this right now?”

Dozan set his jaw. The look he gave her said that someone was going to pay for this later. But she was as stubborn as he was and didn’t care about the cost.

“Follow me,” he said tightly.

Then, the crowd parted for him in the Wastes and they moved past a bar full of regulars, girls in scandalously clad dresses who winked at Fordham as they passed, and past the stairs that led to level after level of debauchery far below. And at the center, on the very bottom floor, was the Dragon Ring. Even this high up, she could hear the cheers of the crowd, their thirst for blood. It made her skin tingle with want.

They didn’t head down. No, they headed up to Dozan’s quarters. The only area that actually existed up.