The Crow King's Wife(123)

“He has a point.” Zoelyn observed glumly.

“Grim did what he did for a reason.” Dray objected stubbornly and Zoelyn smiled in response. She had seen the way Dray watched Grim at Delvay and hadn’t missed the tinges of hero worship that had filled the Blight’s eyes. Grim had served Dray’s father loyally, and he was the last one living that had truly known Micah well. She doubted there was anything Grim could do to turn Dray against him because of that fact alone.

“You actually waited.” Zachary said sounding astonished as they reached the end of the hall and found Havoc leaning against the stone wall with his arms crossed.

“It’s immune to fire.” Havoc informed them all as he pointed a thumb toward the wooden door. “Protective wards or something.”

“So you waited unwillingly.” Zachary corrected with a smirk and let out a quiet sigh before glancing at the two of them. “Can either of you pick locks? I can’t use Oblivion here or my brother will know what I’m about and I’d rather avoid that.”

“Look at you sneaking out of the house and past curfew too.” Havoc teased with a wide grin. His green eyes danced with merriment and Zoelyn marveled at how much he resembled Finn when he smiled.

“Sure to be grounded.” Zachary agreed dryly but was smiling as well as he watched them both hopefully for any sign that they had thieving talents.

Zoelyn exchanged glances with Dray before shaking her head slowly and taking a hesitant step toward the door. “Havoc.” She began in a wavering voice as she pulled one of her gloves off. “If I destroy the wards protecting the door can you bring it down without killing everything beyond it? I mean if the children as just past this door and you cook them it kind of ruins the rescue mission.”

Havoc’s brow creased as he seemed to consider the question. Chewing on his lower lip he dropped to a knee and slid one finger under the edge of the door. With a slow nod he examined his bent finger and stood once more. “It’s about three inches wide. If they don’t get hit by shards of wood they should be fine. I can keep the fire under control and just take out the section by the doorknob.” He explained then slammed a fist loudly against the wooden doors. “Stand back from the door it is going to kind of explode a bit!” he bellowed.

“Explode a bit.” Zachary repeated with muffled laughter as he shook his head and stepped further back down the hall. “You are such an idiot.” He added with a wide smile.

“Havoc, what if that was a guard’s room?” Zoelyn asked quietly as she stared at the Firym in disbelief.

“Then I actually get to hit something with my sword soon.” Havoc returned and waved a hand toward the door. “Please get on with it. At this rate Grim is going to have all of the real guards dead by the time we get out of here.”

“Do you realize how bloodthirsty you sound?” Dray asked with a shake of his head before taking several steps back down the hall to stand a bit behind Zachary.

“You do realize a Blight just called you bloodthirsty right?” Zoelyn asked calmly as she flattened her bare hand to the door. Her breath caught in her throat as the warm flood of magic filled her veins and she had to resist closing her eyes in ecstasy as the hunger of the curse was temporarily sated by the draining wards.

“Micah’s son so not an average Blight. Besides they are Rivasans and therefore they need to die. Have you seen the corrupted fire they use? It’s blasphemy.” Havoc protested in a disgusted voice.

“Right.” Zoelyn agreed numbly and stepped back from the door. Her body hummed with contentment from the magic and it was swiftly eliminating all desire to argue further with Havoc on anything he chose to do.

“Right.” Havoc echoed firmly before pushing her back behind him. She watched with mild interest as he squared his shoulders and drew his arms back once more. The air around him heated uncomfortably and she took another step back as he flung his arms toward the door unleashing a blinding gout of flame.

The door exploded inward sending shards of wood flying in all directions but rather than scatter as they should have they seemed to hang in the air as they spun slowly into the shadowed room beyond. Frowning Zoelyn blinked and stared stupidly at the pieces of wood as a dark shape stepped forward into the doorway with blinding speed. She saw Havoc’s hand reach for his sword but the movement was far too slow to block the flashing blade that tore across his throat. With a curse the Firym staggered back into her and the world seemed to explode into motion once more as the shards of wood spun off into the darkness. Blood gushed from Havoc’s torn throat and Zoelyn frantically tried to stem the flow with her gloved hand as she drug him further from the grey cloaked figure filling the doorway.