A Kiss of Shadow (Court of Starlight and Darkness #2)(17)

“Hey!” I lashed out, trying to slap him as I drew my sword from the ether.

The blade never appeared in my hand. I tried again, but the poison screwed up my coordination.

He dragged me toward a door at the side of the car, yanking me out onto a tiny smoking patio. The wind whipped by, cold and harsh. I sucked in a breath. It cleared my head enough that I could think a little straighter.

I screamed as loud as I could, the shriek harsh in my throat.

Come on! Someone, hear me.

He wrestled me toward the railing. I tugged, trying to break free, but the poison weakened me. When he slammed me against the railing, I gasped. It took everything I had to slam my knee up between his legs, but he barely flinched.

He gripped my upper arms and pushed me out over the railing. The cold metal pressed into my lower back as my feet left the ground.

Shit.

He was going to throw me overboard. Panicked, I thrashed. Overhead, the stars gleamed brightly. I looked up at them, feeling their power flow through me.

It was the only way.

Even with the poison in my system, I could still feel the magic. I drew on their light, letting it fill me with strength. As it did, I felt the strangest pull coming from him. It made my stomach turn. It was almost as if he were drawing on my magic. Was that even possible?

I didn’t want to find out. If I could hit him with enough of it, I could get him off me. So I let the starlight fill me up. When I felt like an overflowing cup, I let it blast toward him.

He tumbled backward, releasing me. The lack of contact sent me backwards.

No.

I was already too far over the railing.

Gravity pulled me over the side. I scrambled for a handhold. Everything happened too slow and fast, all at once. The world was a blur, the poison dimming my vision.

But one thing was clear.

I wasn’t going to make it.

The wooden railing slipped out of my weak grasp.

I was a dead woman.

Then a strong hand gripped my wrist and pulled me back up onto the train. I was too blinded to see who it was, but the scent made it clear. Winter forest.

Lore.

“Stay here.” He tucked me into the corner of the outdoor patio.

I pressed my back to the wall, sucking in air as I tried to get my senses back online.

Through the haze of my vision, I saw him fighting the man who’d tried to kill me. It looked like Lore was trying to take him alive—probably to question him. Otherwise, he’d have already won the fight.

The man was skilled, though. He stayed just out of Lore’s reach, taking punches but avoiding being captured. When Lore managed to grab his neck with an ungloved hand, the man shrieked from the pain of Lore’s cursed touch. He jerked away, moving so quickly that he tumbled over the railing and disappeared.

I gasped.

“Damn it,” Lore cursed.

He leaned over and looked down. From my vantage point, I couldn’t see the landscape near the train. Were we on a bridge?

With my blurry vision, it was too hard to tell.

Lore turned from the railing and bent down, scooping me up into his arms with a gentleness that took my breath away. He strode back into the dining car, clutching me close.

His face was set in stern lines of worry, his eyes dark with concern. When we reached the sitting room of our car, he turned to Merebeth, who still sat in the chair by the window.

Through the foggy haze of my mind, I heard the roughness in his voice when he spoke. “She’s been poisoned. Save her. Please.”

Did he…care?

It sounded like it.

“Put her on the couch,” the healer said.

He treated me like I was made of glass, laying me down with a gentleness that made a fist squeeze my heart.

No one had ever treated me like that before.

The healer leaned over me, her features blurry. She hovered her hands over my head, then my chest, her magic swelling on the air, bringing with it the scent of candles and herbs.

“Definitely poison.” She frowned. “I’ll be right back.”

She disappeared, and I searched for Lore, unable to move my head far. He was my rock in the storm, and I clung to his presence as the waves battered me.

He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.

I’d heard it in his voice.

It helped calm the fear that made my heart race.

I’m not going to die.

I tried to reach out for his hand, but all I managed was a halfhearted twitch of my wrist. His hand gripped mine. He wore no glove since he’d taken them off during the fight, and the warmth of his bare skin made a shuddery breath escaped me.

“You’ll be fine,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

As if he’d read my mind.

I closed my eyes, unable to keep them open any longer.





Lore



* * *



I stared at Sia, fear snaking through me. The slithery bastards tightened on my lungs, squeezing until it was an effort to breathe.

She was too pale, her skin too cold.

What had that bastard given her?

And who had they been?

I had no idea. The three contingents already on the train weren’t on the top of my threat list.

Apparently, I had to rework the list.

They could be partnered with a court that I already considered a threat. That was the most likely scenario. It would throw the suspicion off the other court.