The Steele Wolf (Iron Butterfly #2)(56)

We reluctantly agreed and told Fanny where we were staying. She showed us out of her shielded chamber and took us back down the streets we had come down earlier and pointed us in the direction of the Jasai family home. Mixed emotions rolled off of me in waves as one moment I was excited that we had stumbled across the creator of the Iron Butterfly, or lightning catcher, but the next moment I was disappointed that we hadn’t found out who the leader of the Septori was. I was traveling at a fast and determined pace and had accidentally walked past the stairwell to Joss’ home. Hemi had already gone up the steps when I was immediately pinned from behind and pulled into an alley.

Strong fingers painfully dug into my arms and heated breath breathed down my neck. I tried to struggle but a furious voice spat at me. “DON’T.” Immediately my body froze as I recognized the angry voice of Kael. Not wishing to anger him more, I did as he said. He pulled me down another street and up a set of smaller stone steps until we were on a small balcony overlooking the drop off. Silently, I followed him and recognized that we were still on the Jesai property. When we were alone, he spun on me. “Where were you?” he growled, eyes flashing dangerously.

“I was injured and Hemi took me to find help. As you can see, I am fine now.” I twirled sarcastically with my hands up in the air showing off to him that I was uninjured. Kael grabbed my wrist to keep me from spinning and looked me over carefully from head to toe. His eyes that never missed anything stared at the bloody hole in my shirt. Kael moved his hand over my stomach to where I was previously injured and moved the cloth aside so assess the damage. Obviously there was none.

“No! Where were you?” He asked again. His chest was heaving and I could see that he hadn’t caught his breath from whatever previous activity he had been doing. “One moment I could feel our bond strong and as annoying as ever. Then the next moment it disappeared, vanished. I couldn’t feel you anymore.” Kael’s blue eyes searched mine and I could see the worry and panic that he, for once, was unable to hide from me. The SwordBrother exterior was gone and replaced by a normal, unsure young man. My eyes softened in response and I reached up to cup his face.

“I’m fine,” I tried to reassure him. “Hemi found someone to heal me; we entered a shielded chamber deep within the city so she could heal me without being hindered by the mists.” I was about to say more but Kael still held a death grip on my wrist and in one smooth motion he pulled me into him and wrapped his arms around me and buried his face into my hair.

Shocked, I stood absolutely still and felt the wild beating of his heart and the deep breaths he was taking to try and calm down. Sure signs I thought caused by suffering the after effects of being out of boundaries of our bond. Gently I placed my cheek against his chest and rested my hand against his beating heart, taking in his familiar scent. It was the same scent that had chased away my nightmares at the way station. A wall that I had built up against Kael crumbled in that moment and I felt a stirring of attraction. I turned my face up to look along Kael’s strong jaw and he pulled back to stare deeply into my eyes.

We stood like that for a moment and then Kael, realizing what he was doing, stumbled back from me awkwardly. It was one of the few times in which I had known Kael that he had appeared ungraceful. I pressed my lips together to try and hide a smile.

This time it was my turn to look over Kael. “Are you all right? Did you suffer this time from the bond?”

Kael straightened his shoulders and shook his head at me in the negative. “No, there was no pain. It was worse, far worse. A complete and utter sense of loss and hopelessness overcame me.” He stepped back and leaned against the balustrade, grabbing his head in frustration. “I felt as if my world had suddenly come to an end, and that I had failed. The feeling was so intense. I felt as if a giant hole had opened up and swallowed me and all I felt was numbness, nothing. No hope.” Kael looked up from the ground and I saw fear, true fear deep inside. He looked at me eyes pleading. “It stripped me of all of my SwordBrother senses. I’m nothing without my senses. I rushed to the house to look for you but you weren’t there. No one knew where you went.”

“Xiven knew what happened,” I answered thoughtfully. “He wasn’t injured as much as I was but maybe he went in search of a healer too?”

Kael shook his head. “Xiven has run away. His room was in shambles and his clothes are missing.”

“Why would he do that?” I stuttered.

“Because he tried to kill you?”

“No, I don’t believe that. It was an accident, we were sparring and he got carried away. What I can’t figure out was how he was able to access so much power here within the mists.” I chewed on my lip to ponder the thought before my eyes opened and I blurted out the information I had found out about Fanny and her inventions. Kael listened wide-eyed and angry throughout the whole conversation.

“So she thinks she has the name of the man who ordered this machine?” Kael started to pace. “How do you know that she is telling the truth? She could be lying to you to throw you off the scent and then escape while we are here discussing this.” He turned to me and grabbed my arm, pulling me down the stairs after him. “Show me where this house is; I will make her talk. If she knows anything she will tell me.” Kael was taking the steps two at a time and I stumbled when we reached the street level again. Violently, I shook my arm out of his grasp.