Kiss of Frost (The Dragon Stone Saga Book 1)(14)

A shuffling sound ahead of me makes me turn on my heels, flashing the light toward where I heard it. There's a door in the corner of the room. Dread blooms in my stomach like a weed and I walk toward the door. Quickly, I scan for any magic or anything that could harm me if I touch the wooden surface or the metal handle, but nothing triggers my protection wards. Whew. I pull open the door and shine my light inside.

"I've got them!" I shout the words and rush forward, falling to my knees to pull the fabric from the older woman's mouth first. She's awake, her eyes wide. The little girl next to her is huddled on her side, her eyes closed in what I assume is sleep. She's got something in her mouth too, and her hands are tied in front of her. "I'm here with Kay. I'm a friend."

Tears fall from the woman's eyes and she licks at her cracked lips. "Thank you."

I nod and work on untying her hands. "Don't worry, I'm not alone. We'll get you guys out of here and to safety."

"Where is Kay? Is she okay?" The woman's voice is scratchy, like she hasn't used it in a few days, and I wince.

"She's outside. We didn't want her to get hurt in the scuffle." I free her hands and work on her daughter's, keeping the gag on her for now in case she wakes up and screams. "If I take her gag off, can you keep her quiet? We knocked out the men upstairs but I don't want her to scream and wake them up before we can get out of here."

"Keep it on until we get out of here. They've been taunting her. She might panic when we move her."

"Can you carry her, or do you need me to?"

She stands up and picks her daughter up. "Get us out of here."

"Follow me." We head back up the stairs and meet Ann, Jem, and Beck in the living room.

"Hi. We're friends of Kay's. We've got her outside. Why don't you come with us?" Ann's voice is soft and soothing, and Kay's mom follows her out of the house with a determined set of her shoulders.

I look to Jem and Beck. "What do we do with the mages?"

"Call the cops on them?" Jem suggests.

"We bind them. Or they'll come after us," Beck responds.

I gasp. "You want us to remove their magic?" I know they're evil, but removing a part of someone that's as integral as a pair of lungs is almost cruel. To have felt magic and to lose it… It would be like missing a limb.

"No. I want you to restrict it. I'll show you." Beck utters a few words, and with a blue pop, the mage closest to him jerks before lying still again.

"Got it." Jem heads back to the rooms she searched and I hear her muttering under her breath. Beck and I clear the rest of the room, but he hesitates when we reach the final man.

"What is it?" I press a hand to the middle of his back, hoping my touch will help him in some way.

"I think I know this one."

"You think you do, or you know you do?" Beck running into anyone who was a part of his torture can't be easy. I can't imagine that he'd feel friendly or merciful toward them.

"I can't be sure. But he looks so familiar. He might have been there when they cast us into the stones."

A light bulb blinks in my head and I step in front of Beck. "I've got this one. We're not going to strip him. We're going to keep him sleeping and take him with us. Then we're going to get some answers for you."

Beck whistles low. "I would not have expected you to approve of torture."

"I don't. But there are other ways we can get him to talk to us." A few of the right herbs mixed together and a line or two in Latin and he'll sing like a canary. "You want to find out what happened to your sister, and we need to know if they'll come after Kay and her family again."

Beck bends and wraps an arm around the man's middle before hoisting him over his shoulder. "Can you shield anyone from seeing me? This might look suspicious."

"I've got you covered."

Together we walk out the front door like nothing's wrong. I twirl the car keys on my finger and chuckle at the scene we'd make if the neighbors could see.

"Something funny?" Beck smirks.

"Nah, not at all." I pop open the trunk and Beck tosses the man none too gently into the car before slamming the door closed. He stands there for a moment, staring blankly at the back of the car before he turns to me.

"Let's get out of here." Beck presses a kiss to my forehead as he passes me, walking to his side of the car, and I sigh in contentment.

"Where to?" We buckle up and I look over at Beck, his light blond hair skimming the ceiling of the car.

"Somewhere we can keep him and no one will notice."

I grin. "I've got just the place."



We hustle everyone inside Ann and Jem's giant mansion, cloaking ourselves to keep the nosy neighbors from seeing exactly what we're doing. Mrs. Jones down the road can tell you about every coming and going in the neighborhood for the past ten years if you let her.

Ann and Jem take Kay, her mother, and her sister into the house first, and then Beck and I head toward the back of the house with the mage slung over Beck's shoulder again. I snap my fingers and unlock the deadlock on the cellar doors. I pull them open and wave Beck through, checking over my shoulder to make sure no one magical is watching that shouldn't be. Nothing. Whew.