thought there should have been more to it, a longer action sequence to justify the suspense, his dramatic fall, death hovering over him. But he’d barely hit the floor himself when two decapitated heads were rolling across it, the bodies hitting stone with a thud, just like Gideon’s. The girls who could were screaming, in an annoyingly high pitch.
“How many come here at night to rest?” Daegan demanded, his blade glistening with the blood. When Gideon blearily heard more hysterical crying, he wasn’t surprised by Daegan’s commanding roar, though it made him wince. He couldn’t breathe. His heart had to be a mangled mess. Fuck, this hurt. “How many?”
It was Sarah, bless her brave soul, who came up with a coherent answer at last. “It’s always fifteen,” she stammered. “Always.”
That was the right number. Should be all of them, but there was always the possibility of first- or second-marked servants who wouldn’t fall at their Masters’ deaths. They really needed to get out of here.
Daegan was back over him. With a warrior’s brutal mercy, no advance warning and doing it quick, he broke the two arrows, pulled them free from either side and flung them away. “Anwyn is leaving Debra outside. She’s coming back down. Hold on.”
“No . . . not safe yet. Got to get out of here. I’m dead.”
“She is insisting. She felt you fall.” Daegan passed a gentle hand over Gideon’s sweaty brow. “I am not in a position to stop her. The arrow would have killed me, vampire hunter, not you. The shaft was wooden. But since the tip was steel, you need her blood, if you are going to walk out of here on your own two feet. As I know you must to maintain your fearsome reputation.”
“Bite me. No cute jokes.”
“I have rarely been accused of cuteness.” Daegan pressed his hand against the wound. “I told Anwyn to have Debra contact Lord Brian, have him bring the Council here immediately.”
“Think . . . they’ll come?”
“Yes. They need to see this. We will wait, make sure Sarah and her friends get home.”
Daegan knew. Knew how it was eating at Gideon’s gut, seeing those hopeless faces, the lank hair, the blood and bruises in places that no woman should have them. Those pretty dresses, meant to work a guy up but not to do . . . not to do what had been done to them. Gideon closed his eyes. Did Daegan know all that because he knew him better than Gideon wanted to admit, or because Daegan shared his feelings on it? Did it matter?
“Be easy, Gideon. Anwyn will be safe. If there are marked servants here, they will scatter. They are no threat to her or anyone else. When Lord Stephen’s role is determined in all this, I expect he will be replaced as Master of this territory. And on the Council. That may be the least of the punishments he faces.”
“Maybe you’ll get to be the one who takes him out.”
“If the Council does not authorize it, I will take care of it, regardless.” Daegan’s mouth was a firm line, his face resolute in a way that Gideon wholeheartedly supported. “He will answer for what he did to Anwyn.”
Gideon tried to move, and choked on the vicious wave of pain that squeezed his chest in a vise. “Jesus.”
“Shhh. Easy. Do as you’re told for once and stay still. She’s coming.” Daegan shifted so Gideon’s head was braced on his thigh, his hand still pressed on the wound in a way that comforted and reassured, even though Gideon told himself he didn’t need coddling.
“You know”—Daegan studied the opposite wall with great interest—“you could have held back, let the shot find its true mark. Then you would have had her to yourself. I guess you didn’t think of that in the heat of the moment.”
“No, damn it, I didn’t.” Gideon coughed, had the remarkably horrible sensation of his own blood bubbling up into his throat. “But . . . time machine . . . handy, I’ll go for the . . . do-over.”
Daegan looked down at him. “If I’d been at my full strength, I would have seen them. Your noble act would have been unnecessary.”
Gideon shook his head. “Still think you’re invincible. How’d they get you . . . on that table, Superman?”
Daegan grimaced, his lips twisting. “Snipers were already hidden and in position when I arrived. I might have sensed them, but the girls’ plight distracted me. Though I don’t think that was