Scorched Treachery (Imdalind, #3)(2)

My mind pulled right into his, the large expanse of the Münzenberg Castle Courtyard surrounding us. Wispy projections of people walked around us as Talon’s memories fueled the T?uha. The castle was whole and intact as it once was centuries ago, the cobbles of the road pristine. I was never alive in this castle’s time, but this was Talon’s mind, what he envisioned our T?uha to be.

“Talon?” I asked as he wrapped his arms around me as we stood in the middle of the courtyard. His tense muscles strained against me as he held me, the movement not helping to ease my anxiety.

“They were attacked.” My body froze, my eyes flying open in shock. The tension that now flowed between both of us was too much to contain, and the people around us zapped into vapor, colors floating through the air as they disappeared, leaving us alone.

“Are they all right?” I asked. I didn’t want to hear the answer, I didn’t. I did not need to hear of injuries or brutal battles. I could already feel what hearing this had done to Talon.

He had reacted the same way a few years ago when Edmund’s men captured Ilyan. Talon had felt like a failure. He had been raised to guard Ilyan. It was his job, but Ilyan had dismissed him when he took me as his mate. No matter how much he tried, Talon could never move past what had been his entire life up until a hundred years ago. He still felt responsible for Ilyan, and blamed himself if anything went wrong. I knew he was doing it now, putting the words of guilt into his own head, even though there was nothing he could have done.

Ilyan was far more powerful than Talon. If Ilyan could not protect himself, then nothing could be done. Except now, there was Joclyn too, and I had no idea if she was capable of protecting herself or not.

Talon shook his head no in response to my question, and I felt my stress intensify. His muscles tensed, his arms pressed uncomfortably into me as he lifted me off the ground to his eye level. I wasn’t surprised to see the sparkling sheen in his brown eyes, the tears threatening to escape from him.

“It’s not your fault,” I said before he had a chance to let the words he was painting himself with become more of a weight against him. He nodded once and held me against him again, his hold tight as his breathing slowed. He lowered me back down to the ground, releasing me.

He pulled away, the wetness gone from his eyes, his composure back. He did not show emotions like that very often, but when he did, it was my job to build him up and always love him. I would always do that.

“Does he know who betrayed him?” I asked as Talon moved away from me and toward the large, carved stone bench we always sat in. I followed him, my bare feet slipping against the slickness of the cobbles that lined the courtyard, before sinking into the hard, unrelenting seat next to his.

“No,” Talon answered simply. His hands brought my feet onto his lap, and he began to trace the dark marks that graced my left foot, the jagged swirls matching the ones that ran along the entire left side of my body.

“He wants me to watch for signs that someone might know what happened before we announce it. It is probably our best chance at tracking whoever it is down.”

I nodded, not knowing how to respond. Everything Talon had said only re-affirmed that someone was inside of our perfectly protected shelter. Someone who should not have been able to had gotten past Ilyan’s protective shield. You had to have Ilyan’s blessing in order to get past the gate, you couldn’t even use a stutter to get inside. But, somehow, someone had managed it.

All it would take was one.

Get one of Edmund’s men inside, and then, like ants, the rest would follow. They would place themselves in dark corners and hide where no one else would go, waiting until the time was right. Then they would jump out and attack, and within moments, the last of the Sk?íteks would be gone. I had seen it happen before. There was a reason there were so few of the Sk?íteks left. It was probably the sole reason I still was not fully accepted in these halls. I had marched against them once upon a time.

I shuddered at the thought, for once actually wishing I wasn’t so morbid.

“Are you okay?” Talon asked, his voice worried.

I ripped my eyes away from the blob of mud on the cobblestone path that I had been unwittingly staring at to smile at him, my smile more like a grimace. It seemed somewhat fitting, so I didn’t try to fix it.

“Who do you think it is?” I asked, avoiding his question and moving to snuggle into him. He welcomed me into him, his arms wrapping around me as he held me tightly against him.

“I don’t know, Wynny.”

I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t know how to phrase what I was feeling. I wished we could find the traitor, and fast. I wished I could tear their arms from their sockets and torture any of my kind they had let into the halls of Prague. It was my sanctuary now too, my home after my father had exiled me and my brother had tried to kill me. I felt my magic increase in eagerness beneath my skin, my heart thumping erratically in either excitement or fear; I wasn’t quite sure which.

“I will keep you safe, Wynifred.”

I froze, my breathing caught in my chest, my heart lost between beats. Usually, I would have screamed at him and clocked him upside the face for insinuating that I couldn’t take care of myself, I didn’t need him to protect me. But, I heard what he said between the lines; I heard how much he cared, and so, my frantic heartbeat continued. I listened to the sound of my full name on his lips, the promise of my safety heavy on the air.