Prisoner (The Scarred Mage of Roseward #2) - Sylvia Mercedes Page 0,80

tight, keeping his mouth close to hers. For a thrilling, terrifying instant, he wondered if she would draw him back for another kiss. Candlelight gleamed in her eyes, which blinked with startled incomprehension as she stared up at him. Her breath caught sharply, and her lips moved several times before she finally breathed out.

“S-Sam?”

Soran frowned. He tried to pull back further, but her fingers dug in, catching hold of his ear. “Miss Beck,” he said, his voice rougher than he meant it to be. “Miss Beck, it’s me. Silveri. Can you sit up on your own?”

She gaped at him, her brows drawing together tight, her eyelashes fluttering. Then he saw recognition stir in her eyes. She gasped, let go of his ear, and grabbed his shoulder instead, pushing and pulling by turns in her effort to get out of his arms. He hastily let her go. Almost too hastily. She nearly fell flat, and only her grip on his shoulder saved her.

Who had she thought held her just now? Sam . . . A lover? From Wimborne?

Soran ground his teeth and placed his cold palm atop her hand. A shudder ran along her arm. “Miss Beck—”

The baying of skullars shocked the night, rolling through the air in threatening echoes.

Nelle’s eyes flashed to meet his. Her whole body trembled violently. “Is that . . . is that . . .?”

“Kyriakos,” Soran confirmed.

She swallowed hard. Her fingers tightened around the handful of fabric at his shoulder. “I . . . I wrote a spell. Called it to life.”

“I know.” Soran indicated her spellbook lying where he’d dropped it beside her earlier. “And now he’s coming. For you.”

He rose to his feet, drawing her up with him, one hand resting lightly on her elbow, careful of his claws. She snatched up the spellbook and stuffed it into the satchel at her side. Her eyes flashed to meet his again, frightened, and full of questions she dared not ask.

She wasn’t the only one; a whole storm of questions clamored in his head, demanding to be heard. Why had she ventured out to Dornrise against all his warnings? Why had she brought that book with her, obviously prepared to work a spell? What could possibly have driven her to risk so much?

But there was no time.

“Quickly, Miss Beck,” he said. “We must barricade the doors.”

“We . . . We’re staying here?” she quavered. When he let go of her and moved to grab the nearest of the worktables, she swayed heavily, and he feared she would collapse. But she braced herself and moved to help him. “What about the lighthouse?”

“We’d never make it,” Soran replied as he hauled the table over to the door, its legs scraping loudly on the floor stones. “The skullars are already between there and us. We’ll make a stand here. I will go out and face them. I want you to block the door behind me. The rest of Dornrise is shut down fast. You should make your way deeper into the house, find somewhere to hide. Not the banquet hall—the smell of death will draw the skullars like flies. Perhaps the library or, if you can find your way, the attics. Put as many doors as possible between you and them.”

She listened to him in silence until they reached the door. As he moved to step out into the yard, her hand caught his sleeve. “I want to fight,” she said. He could hardly see her face, for the candle was behind her, but her voice was tense and trembling, and he could just discern the gleam of her eyes. “I don’t want to cower inside like a mouse. I’ll stand with you.”

He shook his head, tried to shake her hand off his arm. “You are no match for Kyriakos.”

She held on fast. “And you are?”

His claw-tipped fingers tensed. That spell was still strong, for the moment at least. How much longer it would last, he couldn’t say. The second weapon spell waited inside his robes, ready to be summoned to life. They might be enough. They must be.

But he was weak. So weak. The battle with the Thorn Maiden had taken so much out of him. Would he even be able to manage the second spell?

Soran vehemently shook his head. “As you value your life, you will do as I say. Bar the door behind me. Hide as deep in Dornrise as you can. The Thorn Maiden is bound for the time being, so you will be safe