He was a fool for stringing her along like this. The closer she got to him, the harder it would be on her when he went to his death. What if she decided not to bond with another man, as Tynan had feared?
Iain turned to tell her to go back to the vehicle. He needed to end this here. Now. He didn’t want her anywhere near the violence he was about to unleash, and he sure as hell didn’t want her to witness his death.
From behind her, slinking along the path was a small, cat-sized demon.
He shoved Jackie aside and lunged at the beast before it could raise any kind of alarm. Its head flew through the air and hit the cave wall, tumbling until it bumped against Jackie’s feet.
She let out a squeak of dismay and scrambled back, hitting her head on a section of rock protruding out from the wall.
Her body sagged, but she locked her knees and held herself up long enough for him to reach her.
“Are you okay?”
She pulled her hand away from the back of her head and her fingers were smeared with blood.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered.
Iain didn’t waste time echoing her sentiment. He grabbed her arm and started hauling ass back out the way they came. There was no wind down here to push the scent of her blood around, but that hardly mattered. They had only minutes, at most, to get the hell out of here before every demon in the place came hunting for a snack.
Jackie heard the demons coming. She remembered the sound of their hunger all too well. The little ones made these odd chirping sounds, while the bigger ones would hiss or gurgle when they smelled a meal.
During her captivity, Zillah had commanded the demons, keeping them all at bay, allowing only those he chose to feed from her. She hadn’t realized until just now how lucky she’d been.
They cleared a bend in the tunnel and came face-to-face with at least a dozen pairs of glowing eyes. There was no way they were going to make it out of this alive.
“I’ll clear you a path,” said Iain. “You run like hell, shielding yourself from them.”
She remembered the scar on the back of his hand—the one that he’d gotten in a six-to-one fight. The odds here were half as good as that, and he’d said he’d nearly died that night. She refused to let that happen.
“I won’t leave without you.”
“You’ll do what it takes to get out alive.”
“With you,” she insisted. Even the thought of climbing out of these caves alone left her shaking and cold. She needed him at her side to stay strong and not break down into a quivering mass of cowardice in pissed pants.
Iain let go of her arm and waded forward, as if he was actually going to take on all of those things single-handedly.
Before he could, Jackie yanked on his power and shot a glob of fire at the closest demons.
Their fur burst into flames, and they screamed, leaping back into their own numbers. Several more caught fire, until it was one giant mass of singed fur and flame.
Iain pressed her toward the wall, shielding her from the threat with his body. “We have to move. More are coming.”
Right. She knew that. She’d been so distracted by the fact that her magic had worked that her brain had stopped spinning for a moment.
The scent of burning hair and rancid demon filled the tunnel. The magic she’d used to filter the air had failed when she’d lost concentration.
She put that back in place, and then erected a thin straw-shaped shield. The cylinder shot through the writhing mass of dying demons, glowing blue like at the heart of a flame. She ordered that skinny straw to bend to follow the curve of the rock, then widen, opening up a tunnel for them to crawl through.
Jackie tried to send Iain an image of what she was doing, but she wasn’t sure if her message got through. What she was sure of was that if she went through that tunnel, so would he.
As soon as it was wide enough for his massive shoulders to pass through, she dove in, scrambling for the far side of the tube.
Blood from her hand smeared against the wall she’d created. Those demons that weren’t being consumed by fire clawed at the shield, trying to get to her.
Panic closed in around her, making it hard to breathe. More demons were going to be waiting at the far end. She didn’t see them yet, but she knew they’d be there.
She couldn’t let them take her alive. She couldn’t go back to being used by them, starved and tortured on a daily basis. She’d rather die than live through that again.
“Don’t you fucking quit on me,” growled Iain from right behind her. “Move!”
Until his roughly given order, she hadn’t realized that she’d stopped crawling. His words had her arms and legs moving, as if he’d simply taken control of them. She wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but right now, she had other worries.
Namely, what would be waiting for her on the far side of the turn.
“Close it down behind me,” shouted Iain. “They’re following through.”
Her head was throbbing, and a slow spin of dizziness had started to make it hard to balance. She hadn’t thought she’d hit her head that hard, but now she was starting to think differently.
Maybe it was just all the slinging around of magic that was wearing her out.
Jackie tried to do what Iain said, being careful to err on the conservative side. She really didn’t want to accidentally lop off his legs. They were way too nice for that.
She kept moving, slowing as she reached the turn. She was sure that one of the demons was going to fly through at any moment, clawing at her face.
As if in response to that worry, she felt power flow through her, and a faint blue glow filled her vision.
There was a barrier directly over her face shield—the one Iain had insisted she wear in case they ran into demons that spat poison. The barrier moved with her, rather than stopping her from progressing farther. It seemed to cling to her, which made her wonder if she couldn’t simply wear it around like armor.
The stray thought clattered around in the back of her mind while she forced herself to make that final turn and face what lay ahead. As soon as she did—as soon as she saw what was waiting—she desperately wished that she’d let Iain go first.
Chapter 17
Torr followed Brenya out to where the Sentinel Stone stood. Grace was limp in his arms. Every few steps, he covered her mouth with his and forced a breath into her lungs.
He was terrified. She was so fragile, so light. Her body was even weaker now than it had been only hours before. He could see it in her pale skin and fluttering heartbeat. What if Brenya couldn’t help? What if the simple process of moving Grace was enough to kill her?
Torr was never going to forgive himself for letting this happen. He should have seen it coming. He should have known that Grace had such a soft heart that she’d do anything to ease his suffering. He should have seen it the last time she came to visit him to tell him she was taking a vacation. It was there, shining in her eyes—her determination, her sorrow-filled farewell. All he’d had to do was pay attention and he could have stopped her from sacrificing herself for him.
But it was too late for that. All he could do now was carry her weakened body and give her the breath from his lungs.
It wasn’t enough after what she’d given him. Not even close.
Brenya tilted her head to the side as if listening and then she turned to Joseph. “You have a visitor. Along the back wall. She’s been waiting a long time for someone to free her from her prison. Apparently none of you could hear her cries for help as I did.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Joseph.
“I have freed her. Go and learn for yourself.”
Joseph nodded to a couple of the men, and they set out, jogging toward where Brenya had said.
Torr didn’t care about visitors, welcome or not. His entire focus was on Grace and keeping her breathing. He held her close, trying to keep her warm in the chilly air. The blanket tucked around her body wasn’t enough in this wind.
Andra had Tori by the arm, fighting against her sister’s hold.
“I don’t want to go,” screamed Tori.
“I’m sorry, baby. You don’t have a choice.”
Tori snarled and tried to bite Andra’s hand. Brenya must have seen it happen, because she pointed her finger at Tori and said, “Behave. This may be the last time you ever see your family again. Do you want this to be the way you are remembered?”
Tori spat at Brenya, who stepped smoothly out of the way so fast, she blurred. A maternal look of thunderous intent wrinkled the skin around her mouth, and she stepped forward, grabbing a fistful of Tori’s hair. “You will tell your sister good-bye now.”
Tori winced and bared her teeth at the woman.
“I’m sorry,” said Andra. “It’s not her fault.”
“You treat her like a child. She hasn’t been that for a very long time.”
Tori seemed to calm down a bit at those words. Brenya led her by her hair to the Stone, and Torr was right on their heels, ready to go. He continued breathing for Grace, wishing his mouth were on hers for any other reason.
Her kisses had been so sweet, igniting his blood and making him want to be a better man so he deserved such a treat.
Those kisses were now all gone
Brenya lifted her hand and a white column of light erupted from the carvings in the Stone. It split the air, reaching up into the night sky. As the column widened, she turned to Torr. “Give her to me. We must go.”
“I’m going with you.”
“No.”
Anger surged, but he bit it back, knowing that this woman might be Grace’s only hope. “Someone has to carry her.”
In the next moment, Grace became weightless and lifted from his arms. He grabbed for her, feeding another breath into her lungs before saying, “I’m going with you.”
“I will not argue with you. This is the way it must be. She will live or she will die, but she will do it without you.”
But what about him? He wasn’t sure the same could be said for him. He loved her so much. How was he ever going to face the endless days without her in his life? “Please. Someone needs to breathe for her.”
“I will do this. You stay. Do not remove the disk.”
Brenya meant the disk fused into his flesh—the one that matched the one on Grace, the one that had magically transferred her perfect health to him and his poison to her. “Why not?”
“It could kill her. If it falls off, you will know I have failed and she is dead.”
With that bit of news, Grace lifted out of his grasp completely and floated through the air toward the light. Torr watched the three of them disappear. The light winked out. The heat from where Grace’s body had been only moments ago cooled. The crowd dissipated. Even Andra left, sniffing as Paul led her away in his embrace.
Torr stood there for a long time, feeling lost and empty. Grace was gone. There was no way to reach her. He couldn’t speak to her anymore. He couldn’t touch her. Couldn’t look at her.
He didn’t even have a photo of her.
Ribbons of cold sank into his cheeks, and he realized he was crying big, fat tears of loss. Grace was gone, and the pain of that was worse than any he’d ever felt before.