Dragons Against Them (Kingdoms of Fire and Ice #2)(49)

“That’s why she wanted to marry Zayne so badly, isn’t it? To get away from our father?”

“Partially, yes.”

“Partially? You mean there’s more?”

“Aye.” Quinn reached down to retrieve a nearby stone from the ground. He turned it over and over in his hands. “She wished to escape, ascend to Edana’s throne, then seek her revenge.”

“Revenge?” Addie snorted. “Like Zayne would have let her start a war.”

Quinn cast her a sideways glance, the look on his face grim.

“Oh, nuh-uh. She was going to marry him and then kill him off?” She ran both hands up into her hair. “Good Lord, what is wrong with my family?”

“Your family is a noble one, my lady. Your father, though his behavior of late has been questionably dark, is not a rash tyrant like Edana’s King Robert. Tristan is pure of heart and strives to see the best in his peoples.”

She frowned. “Yeah. In everyone but Zayne.”

“’Tis but a brother protecting his sisters, my lady. And of course, there is you.”

“Me?” Addie looked to the sky and shook her head. “You say that even after hearing me swear I’d kill the person responsible for hurting Zayne if it wasn’t my father?”

“Aye. Because though you spoke a moment ago in anger, I do not believe you to be a murderer.”

“You try to kidnap me one more time, buddy, and you might come to believe otherwise.”

At that, Quinn actually grinned. “Then I shall refrain from doing so.”

“Even if Rosalind orders you to?”

He looked to the ground and began turning the rock over in his hand again. “If—no, when—we bring your sister home, I will do everything in my power to help her see she can find happiness without blood being spilt.”

Addie studied him a long moment, surprised by the soft underbelly being shown by a man who, up until today, had been the villain in many of her nightmares. But he wasn’t a villain or a bad guy, just someone who’d suffered great loss in his younger years and had closed the world off to his gentler side. Everyone but her half sister.

“We’ll find her, Quinn.” Addie placed a hand upon his shoulder. “And I’ll do everything I can to help convince her of that too.”

“Thank you, my lady. What we require most now is for Zayne to heal so that he may take us to her.”

He met her gaze, a sudden flare of determination in his eyes. Addie withdrew her hand and shifted subtly away from him.

“Uh, yeah. We do. Which is why Tristan went and got the potion, remember?”

“The potion was necessary to stop the ice crystals’ damage but will take too long by itself to restore his strength. We have hours, not days, to prevent this war.”

Addie squirmed beneath the intensity of his gaze. “Then we’ll just have to stay hidden while he rests and hope my father spends that time looking for us instead of charging into Edana and demanding King Robert lead him to the witches. Unless you have a better idea?”

As soon as the words were out, she regretted saying them. Quinn, however, looked entirely pleased upon backing her into the proverbial corner. His eyes took on an amber glow as he leaned in closer, a wolfish smirk tugging at his lips.

“Actually, Princess, I do.”





Chapter 27





Rosalind stood hidden in the woods not twenty paces from Quinn, watching as he leaned toward her half sister with a devious smirk upon his face. His handsome face. The very face she had memorized long ago, and used that memory to provide her strength all these weeks even when she felt too weak to go on.

The face that belonged to her.

Yet there he sat, spellbound by her meddling half sister. It wasn’t enough to steal my betrothed, she-devil? Now you seek to steal Quinn from me as well?

Hands clenched into fists, she stepped forward, a low growl escaping her. But Jaxon caught her arm in a shackle-like grip. She tried to break free from his grasp, wanting to rip every last strand of silken hair from her sister’s all too pretty crown, but he dragged her back, away from the clearing. When she opened her mouth to protest, Jaxon pulled her tight against his chest and clamped a warm hand over her mouth.

“If ye want to return to Weston this night, ye shall bite your tongue, Princess. There are four of them and only two of us.”

“I don’t care,” she hissed. “I’ll kill her. I swear I will.”

Jaxon looked back in the direction from which they had just come. “Was that her, then? The sister you wish to send away?”

“Aye, now release me. I shall kill her this night and save us all the trouble.”

“Oh? Then I hope ye have enjoyed this fine night, as it would be your last if ye did such a thing. If your father did no’ kill ye for your actions, he would at least lock ye away for the rest of your days.”

She struggled against her confinement. “Would be…worth it.”

“Stop.” His grip tightened to the point of pain, and she bit back a cry. “Stop I say. Do no’ make me slap ye to bring reason back to your mind.”

“I want her dead.”

Jaxon turned her to face him. “And I want to live.”

Rosalind ceased with her struggles and, chest heaving against him from exhaustion, stared up at her captor. His clear eye glowed a dim russet color but showed no malice or anger, only determination. It was useless to fight him, and defeat crashed over her like a giant wave. She looked back toward the battered churchyard and, unable to see in the moonless night if her beloved sat nestled with Adelaide still, hung her head.