arms around his neck, and hugged him, allowing his aura to roll over me. He went still, but I didn’t care. I needed this hug. He needed this hug. We all needed hugs, but then his arms were around me. Me, and he was hugging me back. My heart bloomed with joy.
“Keep her safe.” Uriel’s chest vibrated against me as he spoke.
“It’s what I do,” Keon said.
Uriel pulled back and looked down at me, his ember gaze a soft caress. “What did happen while we were unconscious?”
I kissed the corner of his mouth, savoring his magnolia scent, and then stepped away from him.
“I’ll tell you over coffee and donuts when this is all over.”
He gave me a pointed look as if to say, I’ll hold you to that, and then he winked out.
“Come on,” Keon said. “Night’s still young, and there’s blood to be shed.”
“Or you could just say we have saving to do.”
“I like my way better.”
Figured.
Keon made sure we approached the crossroads tavern from the opposite direction he believed Mammon’s men would arrive. We landed in the shadows by a creek behind the tavern and crouched in the darkness.
“Stay here,” Keon said. “Let me scope out the place.”
I nodded and he set off, moving so sinuously he was one with the shadows and I lost sight of him. How the fuck did he do that? I guess that’s what made him an excellent assassin.
Would I see him coming when I was his target?
No, don’t think about it. That day might never come.
But the squirm in my gut told me it would and that I was playing with fire and that I needed to stop moving forward with Keon and take several steps back. But that kiss…
The crack of a twig had my head whipping around to search the shadows behind me. “Keon?” I whisper-hissed.
A shadow rushed me, and my pending scream was cut off by a hand over my mouth. My instinct was to fight, and I inhaled through my nose, ready to do just that, and froze as my attacker’s scent permeated my senses.
My eyes grew hot, and I sagged back against him. He slowly removed his hand and gripped my shoulders gently.
My body trembled as I turned to face him. His sapphire gaze lit up as it scanned my face, and then the corner of his mouth turned up slightly.
“Hello, Fee.”
“Conah…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I received a message from Azazel. I figure the caravan will head this way.”
I nodded mutely.
“Is Keon with you?”
I nodded again. God, I’d forgotten how beautiful he was. I’d forgotten what his voice could do to me.
“Keon’s scouting.”
“Good,” Conah said. “I have a small group of men with me. We’ll get them back.”
I wanted to ask him how he was doing? I wanted to hug him, but the last words he’d said to me lingered in my mind.
He’d made it clear we wouldn’t be friends, that all we could ever be was colleagues.
I pushed back the emotions and tore my gaze from his face, fixing it on the tavern in the distance. I caught a flash of movement so quick I would have thought I imagined it if I didn’t know Keon was out there.
Conah sucked in a sharp breath, and I turned to find a dagger at his throat. He grimaced.
“I could have killed you,” Keon said. “I thought you were trained not to be distracted by the shiny stuff?”
Shiny stuff, as in me?
Conah dropped his gaze. “Keon, what did you find?”
“The caravan just pulled up. There are three carriages. I believe one holds the cadets, and the one laced with obsidian holds Azazel and Malachi. The final one must be for Mammon’s men.”
“The fact that Az and Mal haven’t broken free means they’ve been incapacitated,” Conah said.
Oh shit. “You don’t think they’ve been drugged with that stuff…The stuff they used on you last time?”
Conah pressed his lips together and nodded.
Shit. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“We cause a diversion,” Keon said. “Draw the guards to the tavern, and then one of us sets them free.”
“How many guards?” Conah asked.
“Six have been left behind to guard the two carriages. No sign of Master Luena; she may be in the carriage with the cadets. The rest of Mammon’s men are inside the tavern. I counted six more.”
“There had to have been more men,” Conah said. “They probably left by air.”
“So we create a distraction.” I looked from Keon to Conah. “What kind?”