The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire, #1)(21)

“You’re going to see Queen Irina?” Lorelai stepped back, icy calm washing over her as Leo stopped laughing and moved to her side, his eyes guarded.

“I am.”

Lorelai’s hands slowly closed into fists as magic raced down her veins to gather in her palms. “You said you owed me a debt.”

He inclined his head graciously, though a watchfulness had entered his gaze.

“Then do me a favor and forget any of this ever happened.” She leaned toward him. “Forget this village. Forget my bird. Forget the two of us. Don’t mention any of this to the queen. She punishes those who displease her, and this village has enough problems without adding the queen’s wrath to the list.”

Kol touched his brow again, and said quietly, “I owe you a much greater debt than simply omitting today from my conversation with Irina. You saved our lives.”

She met his gaze. “And by keeping silent, you will save ours.” She glanced at the village again. “Ours and hundreds of others.”

He held out his hand. “You have my word.”

She slowly laid her palm over his. He pulled her closer and slid his hand up her arm to cup her elbow in the traditional Eldrian greeting. Heat unspooled in her stomach, and her heart quickened—a foolish response she had no time for.

Casting about her lessons for a polite way to say good-bye to an Eldrian, she said, “May the skies grant you protection on your journey.”

Kol’s eyes widened as though surprised that she knew the phrasing, but he responded, “And may heaven watch over you on yours.”

She gave him a tiny smile as she pulled away from him and then turned to disappear into the forest with Leo.

“One more word about courtly conversation from you, and it will be the last thing you ever say,” Lorelai said as they hurried through the woods toward the village.

“I wasn’t going to say a thing!” Leo protested as they leaped over a fallen evergreen. “Though I do think the entire conversation was very—”

“Leopold Arlen Wolfgang Diederich, don’t you dare.”

“Fetching.”

She opened her mouth to insult him—not that she could ever think of an insult that could get the best of him—when Sasha’s thoughts arrowed into her own, a silver-quick image of Gabril sagging against the back wall of the pub, blood pouring from a wound in his chest and puddling on the cobblestones at his feet.

The breath left Lorelai’s body, and panic curled through her stomach. Not Gabril. Not like this. Her lips trembled as she started running for the village.

“What are you doing?” Leo demanded as he caught up to her.

A rush of magic burned down Lorelai’s arms, and she clenched her fists. “Gabril is hurt.”

Bleeding fast, fast, fast. Big wound. Sasha’s thoughts darting through Lorelai’s mind, showing Lorelai an image of a crudely made spear lying beside Gabril, its sharp tip covered in blood.

A homemade spear one of the villagers had thought to use against the Eldrians but had used against Gabril instead. Why? Because his wards were helping the Eldrians escape? Because Gabril had tried to stop the mob himself instead of going to the mayor’s wife, Risa, for help?

It didn’t matter how Gabril had been wounded. All that mattered was that they get to him in time to save his life.

Lorelai leaped over a tumble of stones and skidded around an oak with drooping brown leaves still clinging to its branches. Leo sprinted past her, his longer legs eating up the ground. He reached the gate ahead of her, threw the bar to the ground, and heaved it open, his eyes full of the same desperate fear that pounded through Lorelai with every beat of her heart.

Gabril was all the family they had left. He was their surrogate father, their protector, their mentor, and the rock-solid foundation upon which they’d rebuilt their lives.

He was not going to die.

It only took a few moments to run from the north gate to the alley behind the pub, but it felt like forever, the distance stretching endlessly before them while Gabril’s blood poured out of him with every passing second.

Leo reached him first and wrapped his arms around Gabril as the older man stumbled toward him on legs that shook.

“We’ll take him to Risa’s. She can send for the physician,” Lorelai said as she put her arm around Gabril and helped Leo support him.

“The physician left town a month ago,” a woman said from the pub’s doorway.

Lorelai turned to find the owner of the pub standing behind them, her watery blue eyes full of anger.

“Then Risa will know where to find medical supplies.” Lorelai turned away. “Come on, Leo.”

“There be no medical supplies in Tranke. And even if there were, you wouldn’t be getting any of them.” The woman spat on the cobblestones and crossed her arms over her chest as Lorelai turned to stare at her again. “Best be leaving now, girl.”

Magic stung Lorelai’s fingertips, and it took effort to sound calm as she said, “We can’t leave. He’s badly wounded. Risa will know—”

“Risa won’t have anything to do with you after what you just did. Not if she knows what’s good for her.” The woman’s voice was as hard as the look in her eyes.

“But we’ll help you. We’ll get food for the village, I promise. Just as soon as Gabril is stable, we’ll—”