The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,30
pain worse than the stab of the maid's little dagger. I hadn't been paying attention, too busy thinking of the invitation in Bryony's words to really process the tight set of the small woman's shoulders. I arched as another lightning pulse rushed into the muscle of my back, groaned as blood and flesh sizzled. It was as if she were branding me. No, cauterizing the wound.
"I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have taken that in the first place. I could've knocked her aside myself," Bryony rushed, her voice soft and a little breathless in my ear. "Oh stars, she's left the knife in."
I tried to hold Bryony in place, but the flex of my arms pulled on the wound where the knife was still embedded in my shoulder, and Bryony wrestled out of my grip easily. "There could be more," I squeezed out, words ragged.
"Then I will kill them," Bryony snapped, slipping out of my arms and scooting on her knees to face my back.
I nearly swallowed my own tongue as she pulled the knife out, an excruciating and unapologetic yank of the weapon from where it was buried, my vision going white as my fingers tried to dig into the wall to hold onto my sanity.
"Piper has her," Bryony murmured, the screams of the woman buried slightly under the white noise ringing in my head as Bryony applied her palm to the second stab wound, flooding it with her horrific magic. "Cresswell, what were you thinking?"
I wasn't. If I had been, I would have lunged for the woman, not Bryony. I could have caught her, twisted the knife out of her hand before she'd hurt either one of us, but all I'd known in the moment of Stanley shouting for me was that Bryony—not my duty, the princess, but Bryony—was in danger.
The ringing in my head grew louder, drowning out Bryony's rapid chiding, magic scalding me from the inside out, right up into my brain. The bear rumbled, and I realized a moment too late that it was taking my place in the hall.
"Oh!"
I growled, sniffing blood on the air, the stress of the woman, the sharp pinch of anxiety and sweat. My view narrowed to two points, the pretty young woman with my man's blood on her hands, now leaning against the far wall, and the predator a few yards away, thrashing in another man's grip. That was my kill.
Bryony scrambled up from the floor, racing to jump in front of me, stained fingers diving into the fur around my shoulders. "Cresswell, no! No, come back. Piper has her, and she needs to be questioned. See? See, other guards are coming. I need the man right now, Cress."
Petting a bear was a useless gesture. More an irritation than soothing really, but my man's brain recognized Bryony's effort as her touch combed through my fur. She leaned fearlessly into me, her cheek against mine, even as my snarl was open, hot breath and fanged teeth far too close to her throat.
I came stumbling back as a man, the threat my bear form posed to Bryony its own kind of alarm in my head. Her magic had done its work, a faint ache left on my back, nothing more, and I gathered Bryony against my chest as I watched over her head as two guards helped Piper subdue the woman.
I knew what I should do in the moment—take Piper's place and join the others, find Head Guard Amos and question the woman. And I knew what I wanted too.
And fuck it, they weren't so different. I would take what I wanted.
I scooped Bryony up off her feet, ignoring her shout of protest.
"Piper! Find Amos. I'm sending Martin and Farraque down to join you," I called, marching swiftly down the hall. Aric had his own techniques in inquisition, and he would help the guards get the information. Daniel would be able to sort through it better. The maid's uniform wasn't quite right, and I suspected she wasn't really castle staff.
"Got it, sir. Brummer's in the suite," Stanley said. "I can send Humphries here with you too," he added, nodding at the one guard who wasn't busy restraining the woman. Humphries was one of the men Stanley trusted. I could leave him at the door and Brummer inside, and it would be enough.
"You aren't going yourself?" Bryony asked, keeping her voice quiet and for my ears only.
I shifted her in my arms, ignoring her hmph of annoyance. "Do you want me to?"