Mark of Love (Love Mark #3) - Linda Kage Page 0,159

they were stillborn deaths to her, and then I held her and stroked her hair in sympathy while she mourned them. Best act of my life, I tell you. But then, maybe not; she’s quite possibly the most gullible person I’ve ever met, too.”

I heard scuffling and a clunk as he did something near the doorway. “But it works out better for me this way. With the kids hidden away from her and being raised by a trusted source, I can bring them up in the true way of the Graykey.”

The true way of a Graykey? I had no idea what that even meant. But coming from Qualmer, I didn’t figure it was pleasant.

“I mean, they’d need to be trained from an early age to rely heavily on their magicks and prove themselves worthy so I can know which one is the most powerful, and therefore which one to keep alive, don’t they?”

I was beginning to think that being saved by him was going to be a worse fate than if I’d just stayed here with Everett.

His footsteps came my way again, and I tensed with no idea what he had planned. When a lit torch appeared under me, I gasped, fearing death by fire.

“Oh, calm down,” Qualmer muttered impatiently. “This is for the map. Not you.”

And he set the blazing torch against the edge of the enchanted parchment, where his attempts to destroy it finally saw fruition. The sheet began to blacken and crinkle as the fire took hold and burned through it, incinerating all proof of where the remaining Graykeys lived.

But then it began to burn me too. Heat lanced my front as if I was being roasted over an open flame, and smoke filled my nostrils. I sputtered and coughed, my eyes filling with stinging tears.

Finally realizing he was cooking me along with the damn map, Qualmer muttered, “Whoops, shit,” and he stomped out the flames with his boot until only black charred remains of the map were left. “Don’t want to kill you there. I still have need of you.”

Yeah, that did not sound promising.

“Now how the fuck do we get you out of this damn thing?”

He inspected the extractor for a few minutes before growling, “You know, a little helpful advice would be nice. You want out of this thing, don’t you?” He nudged my leg. “What’re you just lying there like a damn mute for? I remember when you were a child; we couldn’t get you to shut up. It was annoying as hell.”

I squeezed my eyes closed, wishing I could tell him exactly why I couldn’t talk.

And so he spent another five minutes cursing as he studied the extractor before grumbling, “Fuck it.”

He kicked the remains of the map out of his way, and he started unbolting the clamp on my wrists.

With my strength completely zapped, my arms simply sagged down toward the ground once each was freed. Qualmer jerked a step back after the first dramatic arm-drop. “Damn. You’re not dead already, are you?” He nudged me, then pinched my arm, finally getting me to jolt in response.”

“Nope. Still breathing,” he decided.

He freed my ankles next, then the brace over my hips, and my head after that, so he could save the one across my chest for last. When I fell to the ground, utterly unable to catch myself, I landed with a jarring splat that knocked me unconscious.

When I came to, Qualmer was rolling me over onto my back.

“Mother of God,” he gasped, lurching away as he gaped at me. “You look like hell, my dear.” Then he inched closer again to cringe and inspect every bruise and swollen laceration on me. After a dry, unamused laugh, he shook his head. “And they call us the monsters. Jesus. No wonder why you couldn’t answer me or even use your powers to save yourself.”

Wait. He still thought I had my abilities? Strange. I’d been without them for so long it seemed like everyone should know I no longer bore any magic.

The retractor was jerked from my mouth. I sobbed from the pain but also the relief that followed. My body shook from the intense reaction, just like it did every time my jaws were freed from their unrelenting clamp.

“Seriously, how the hell am I supposed to get you to Lowden alive while you’re in this condition? You could die just lying here.”

He fetched a cup of water and tried to pour it between my lips, but I was used to sucking my