Ilona Andrews - Magic Rises

“Yes.”

“Are you going to stay?”

I shifted my head on his biceps and looked at his face. “Yes. I’m stuck.”

“How?”

“I love you too much to walk away.”

He kissed my hair.

“I’m used to watching for people with swords,” I told him. “I never saw the knife. You were too close.”

“Kate, I didn’t stab you.”

“Are you sure? Because it still hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“I’m sorry, too. Did you really think I would leave you?”

“I thought I would lose you either way. I’ve known you long enough.”

He deliberately put this whole scheme into action all the while thinking I would walk away. It must’ve sucked being trapped, his back against the wall, desperately trying to juggle me, Lorelei, and the three packs. And in his place, I might have done the same thing. Life was complicated.

“I almost pulled the plug on it,” he said. “But then I realized that any conversation with you, no matter how bad, is better than talking to a hole in the ground.”

“I don’t know. A hole wouldn’t argue with you.”

I wanted him to laugh. Instead he pulled me closer. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe,” he said.

“I know.”

We lay together, touching.

“I can’t believe I let Hugh goad me into a fight. If you hadn’t called me, I would’ve run him through, and then all of us would be dead.”

A hint of a snarl raised his upper lip. His body tensed next to me, the violent urge traveling through it like fire down the detonation cord. “Every time he looks at you, I want to kill him,” Curran said. “I’ve been picturing snapping his neck.”

“I’ve imagined killing Lorelei. I guess your plan must’ve worked, because Isabella told me I have a look on my face when I see her.”

“You do.”

I turned to him. “What kind of look?”

“Murderous.” He kissed me. “Barabas tried to attack me yesterday.”

“What?”

“When Aunt B and Keira came back. I saw it in his face. He was walking to me, and George tackled him and called me a cold bastard.”

“Did you hurt him?”

“No.”

“You’re not winning any popularity contests lately. Maybe you should work on that.”

“I know. Maybe I’ll be lucky and get voted out of office. If I did, would you go away with me?”

“In a heartbeat.”

He finally grinned. “Good.”

“By the way, why use Saiman?”

He grimaced. “I had no choice.”

“He wants to stab you in the back.”

“As a person, Saiman is completely amoral. But as a businessman, he’s above reproach. Remember when he signed the contract?”

“Mm-hm.”

“There is a provision in it that stipulates he will do everything he can to maintain our safety as a group and as individuals.”

“Nice.” Saiman was incredibly scrupulous when it came to business. He prided himself on it. We signed the contract and became his clients. Now the same ego that had nearly cost him his life made him work for us, because for him nothing short of a hundred percent effort would do. I just hoped his professional ethics would hold up.

The sky had grown pale. A golden glow spread from behind the mountain. The sun was about to rise. Soon we would have to go back to the castle and Hugh.

I loved Curran, and most of the time being with him was so easy. But when it was difficult, it nearly broke me. I wondered if it was like that for him, too. Being alone was simpler, but I couldn’t give him up. He made me happy. So happy that I kept looking over my shoulder, as if I had stolen something and any minute someone would demand I give it back.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said.

“What?”

“You and me. This wasn’t in the plan. The plan was to be alone, to hide, and to kill Roland. Being happy was never one of the bullet points. Some part of me is still convinced it’s a fluke and eventually it will be ripped away from me. Deep down I expect it. Any hint of it and I roll down the cliff. You’re mine, you know that, right? If you ever try to leave me, it won’t go well.”

“I don’t deserve you,” Curran said. The same desperate thing I saw last night flickered in his eyes. “But I got you and I’m an entitled selfish bastard. You’re all mine. Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t. Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t. If you ever disappeared, I would leave the Pack and I would look for you until I found you. However long it took.”

I knew he wasn’t lying. I could feel it. He would find me.

“I’ll try not to disappear.”

“Thank you,” he said.

When the sunrise splashed over the mountains, Astamur guided us to town, where we said our good-byes. I asked if there was anything we could do for him. He just shook his head. “Next time someone comes to you for help, help them for me. I help you, you help them, we keep it going.”

We climbed the road, me and the enormous lion. It was decided that fur was preferable to no clothes, and although Astamur had offered some, they wouldn’t fit Curran and we both had a feeling the shepherd didn’t have that many clothes anyway. The castle loomed before us.

I sighed.

“I know,” Curran said, human words emerging perfectly from the leonine mouth. “We’re almost done.”

“I’ll remind you of that the next time you see Hugh.”

A low growl reverberated in Curran’s throat.

“Temper, Your Majesty.”

We both knew that picking a fight with Hugh was still out of the question. I still had no idea what his plan was. He’d gotten me into this castle. He wasn’t trying to actively murder me. He flattered me and called me special. If things kept going this way . . . I shuddered.

Curran looked at me.

“Just pondering what Hugh’s version of flowers and candy will look like.”

“Like bloody mush,” Curran said. “Because I will crush his head and his brain will ooze out of his ears.”

I just wanted to know what the final plan was.

We walked through the gates. The cage had been moved from the inner courtyard. It now hung from a beam affixed to a guard tower, front and center in the courtyard. Hibla sat in it. I stopped. She stared at me with haunted feverish eyes, her desperation so obvious, I had to stop myself from walking over there and pulling her out.

“There you are,” Hugh strode out of the opened doors of the main keep. “Safe and sound.”

“Why is she in a cage?”

“Cages need occupants. This one was empty and she seemed like the best candidate.”

Hibla had failed one too many times. She’d let me out of the castle and lost me, and now he’d stuck her into the cage for everyone to see. “Please let her out.”

Hugh sighed. “What is it about the cage? Is there anyone I could put in there you wouldn’t want to get out?”

“You.”

He shrugged his massive shoulder. “It wouldn’t hold me.”

“Talk is cheap. Try it on, d’Ambray,” Curran said.

“I’d love to, but as I’ve said, it’s occupied.” Hugh turned to me. “So where did you go?”

I looked at the cage.

Hugh shrugged. “Oh, fine. Someone get Hibla out!”

A djigit left his post by the gate and ran down to the cage.

“I went to some caves, fell in, swam around, and was rescued by an atsany and a local shepherd.”

“Sounds eventful.”

“I’m tired and hungry,” I said.

Hugh smiled. “I’ll see you later, then.”

And why did that sound ominous?

Curran moved between him and me and we went into the castle.

Ten minutes later, I was sitting on our bed eating food George brought for me from the kitchen. Curran changed shape and put on clothes.