House of Lies and Sorrow (Fae of Rewyth #1)(23)

As if on cue, Malachi’s pointed ears flickered up. I opened my mouth to ask what he was hearing, but the look he gave me made me close my mouth.

I double checked the knife I had strapped back to my thigh. Someone was here.

“Act like we’re still having a normal conversation,” he whispered.

I nodded and smiled. “Okay,” I said. I didn’t risk looking out the window.

Malachi reached his arm up and over, placing it around my shoulder. He moved his body so I was tucked into his side.

“Is everything okay?” I asked when he was close enough.

He picked up a strand of my hair and leaned in. To anyone watching from the window, it would look like he was kissing my neck.

Still, every single one of my senses was aware of his every move.

“When I say go, I want you to roll under the bed,” he whispered, lips brushing my ear. “And don’t come out until I come get you.”

I let him lean over me, pushing my torso back and reclining both of us until his entire body was covering my own on the couch.

I couldn’t speak. I just nodded.

He slid a hand up my thigh, finding the knife that he had gifted me. My skin lit up under his touch.

“I hope you know how to use that thing, princess,” he mumbled. He was so close, I was certain he was going to kiss me again.

His eyes moved to my lips, only for a split second, before the sound of shattering glass erupted in the air.

“NOW!” Malachi yelled, launching into action. Before I could even sit up, Mal was across the room. Two fae, dressed head to toe in black, concealing armor busted through the opened window.

Malachi dropped on them in seconds. He held a small dagger in each hand. Where had he been keeping those? He dodged each advance with little effort. He towered over both of his attackers by at least a foot, but they kept his attention on them I was still cowered on the couch like an idiot.

Under the bed, Jade. Get under the bed.

Saints, where was Serefin?

I rolled sideways and crawled on all fours toward the bed. I had almost made it, too, when rough hands grabbed me by the ankles and dragged me backward.

I screamed and kicked as hard as I could, but my attacker just launched himself on top of me, pinning me to the ground.

I searched for Malachi in the dark room, but saw him fighting hand to hand with the other attacker.

A rough hand grabbed my hair, pulling my head backward.

“Please don’t,” I begged. “I have a family to take care of!”

The man laughed. It was rough and ugly. “Unfortunately for you, so do I.”

I felt the cold steel of a blade against my neck.

This was it. I hadn’t fought hard enough. I didn’t try hard enough.

I was going to die.

Warm liquid poured over my back, and my attacker went still.

“Are you okay?” Malachi asked.

My heart pounded. I waited for the weight to lift off my back before I turned over.

Both attackers were dead.

And Malachi held a severed head.

I couldn’t talk. I could barely breathe. I backed up slowly, scooting away from the pool of blood that I was now covered with. It dripped down my back, still hot.

Serefin busted through the bedroom door. He took one glance at Malachi, holding the severed head, and cursed. It was then that I noticed Serefin also splattered with blood, and his sword already drawn.

“We’re okay,” Malachi informed him. “Two of them came through the window. They didn’t even wait until I was asleep.”

“Bastards,” Serefin mumbled. He walked to the body that was still intact and rolled it over. Malachi had stabbed him in the chest. “There was one in the hallway. He ran off after I landed a blow, but I heard Jade’s scream.”

“Do you recognize them?” Malachi asked. Serefin shook his head.

“Someone in this castle will, though.”

Serefin stood up and looked at me. I cowered into the corner, my entire body still shaking from what just happened.

“You okay, princess?” Malachi asked again, finally dropping the head he had been holding. It rolled to the side with a sickening thump.

I nodded yes, but I was sure they knew I was lying. I should be dead right now. What Malachi just did, the speed at which he moved….it wasn’t possible.

Malachi had ripped that man’s head off within a second.

It was pure feral behavior. Pure predator.

Serefin and Malachi exchanged a knowing glance.

Mal walked over and knelt beside me, lifting my chin with a finger.

“People want you dead, Jade. They want you dead so badly that they’d risk fighting against me to get to you.”

His eyes were intense, and I sat in silence as his focus moved from my face down to my throat.

He reached out and rubbed a thumb against my skin. It stung, but I didn’t flinch. I hardly felt it.

When he pulled away, his thumb dripped with my blood.

His wings flared once more, and he drew his eyebrows together in an intense expression that nearly made me look away.

“You’re hurt,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“I’m fine.” My words sounded foreign.

“Don’t tell me you’re fine. You’re bleeding.”

He balled his hand to a fist and stood up slowly, looking between me and Serefin.