Blood Oath (Darkest Drae #1)(13)
“The soldiers saw us,” he said, his voice low. “I don’t know how you’re . . . alive. But you need to leave. I’m going to try to fix it, but I can’t risk . . .”
He made no sense, yet his warning seemed sincere. I stared into the stone-cold face of the king’s Drae and could have almost mistaken the wild look in his eyes for. . . fear.
“What is wrong with you?” The wriggling in my stomach swelled, and anger laced my voice. “I thought you were going to swallow me.”
His fear made me furious. What did a Drae have to fear? “Why are you so upset? Because—”
He grabbed my shoulders and said, “Listen, girl.” His grip tightened. “I’ll give you this warning once. When I let go, run. Run home. You and whoever you live with need to get out of here. Do you hear me? You must never come back.” He shoved his face to mine, eyes blazing. “I’ll kill you myself if I see you again.”
My brain rattled in my head as he shook me. The upheaval of his emotions was too much, and I wrenched myself from his grasp. “Stop. Please!”
He let go, but continued snarling words I couldn’t hear through the increasing buzz in my ears. He watched me, his eyes lit with an intensity I’d never seen before.
My nerves were frayed. My emotions were taxed past the point of being reasonable. Something inside me recoiled with a sharp snap. For the first time in my life, I raised my hand and slapped someone across the face.
We stood in the dark, empty alley, staring at each other as I lowered my hand.
My chest heaved with emotion, and he shuddered slightly as though about to explode. The outline of where my thumb and index finger had connected with his skin was visible in a pink welt. “I’m so sor—”
“Get out of here,” he gritted out, shoving me toward the next corner.
I took flight, sprinting through the streets as though the king himself was behind me, which in many ways he was.
Eventually, I calmed enough to recognize the outskirts of the Inbetween.
I adjusted my course, and as soon as I was in our housing section, I slowed. I was breathing way too loudly for creeping, so I put my hands on my knees, taking in deep gulps of air while I waited for my heart rate to settle.
The night was warm and dark; this normally brought me comfort. Instinctively, I looked to the sky, but instead of stars and the inky canvas I loved so much, I heard the beating of wings spread wide, far above my head. He was there, I knew, invisible against the sultry night. The beating sound moved in a circle overhead, and my skin prickled with the awareness of his attention as, I assumed, he waited for me to go inside.
The king’s Drae knew where I lived.
Comforting. That wouldn’t give me nightmares at all.
I gave myself a mental shake and rolled my shoulders back until I stood tall. Doing so was the last thing I wanted to do, but it made me feel better to appear dignified when I’d been obliterated with fear ten minutes ago.
Circling our home twice, and finding no signs of Snake and Toady, I cracked open our front door to slip inside and talk with Mum. I peered up at the night sky one last time, unable to resist, a bolt of fear splicing through me as a set of fiery reptilian eyes burned into mine from the darkness high above.
6
I lay wide-awake in bed, staring at the dark ceiling, blankets yanked to my chin. Four hours ago, my mother lost control. As I’d told her of my day, and I’d held nothing back, she became more and more panicked.
I was afraid. My mother was supposed to make the decisions; she was older and smarter and stronger. But tonight, Mum was just as scared as I was.
My bulging rucksack sat in a corner, ready for tomorrow’s journey, and Mum had told me to take whatever I didn’t want to be without. I knew what that meant.
I could still hear her downstairs, trying to be quiet as she made preparations, doing the exact opposite of what she’d told me to do. We couldn’t do anything out of the ordinary to attract attention before we left, which included smashing around to pack when we should be asleep.
I stiffened as a scream rent the air. The sound was outside, maybe from a few houses away. Mum stopped in her fear-driven ruckus below, and my heart rate doubled as I lay still.
Another scream followed, along with men shouting and the hammering boom of fists on wood. Close. Too close.
I leaped out of bed, already dressed on Mum’s orders. The door flung open a moment later, and Mother rushed in.
“We’re leaving now.”
“What’s happening?” I asked, reaching for my bag, but Mum pushed me toward the door and then pulled me back, only to push me toward the window.
“They’re coming for you. They’ve gone to the wrong house.”
How was that possible when Snake and Toady knew where I lived? “How will we get . . . ?”
The rest of my sentence evaporated as I caught sight of my mother’s face and spun to the window just in time to see Lord Irrik climb through. If this situation didn’t leave icy-cold fear in every part of my body, I would have been rolling on the floor with laughter. The Drae even looked mildly disgruntled at being subjected to the indignity of a schoolboy entrance. He was dressed exactly the same, in fitted black clothing.
His dark gaze rested on me, searching up and down. Then it went to my mother. His nostrils flared, and his eyes widened as he gasped a string of words in the same guttural language I’d heard him use before.