A Thief of Nightshade(75)

“No!” Ian screamed and rashly dove for the Queen, only to meet a blade to the back before he could reach her.

Saralia motioned for them to release their hold on Given, who had cried out as Ian was struck.

Given caught Ian as he slumped over a few feet from the Queen. “Why would you do this?” she sobbed.

Ian opened his mouth to reply, but his eyes glazed over and he fell limp in her arms before he could.

“You evil bitch!” Aislinn roared at the Queen. “Jullian, wake up! Look at Aubrey, look at me! You know us. I’m your brother, she’s—”

Saralia clapped her hands, amused as Aislinn was struck mute by the Queen’s power. “That’s enough of that, Ellohim.

What a show! I might have drug this out a bit had I known it would prove so ...

entertaining. Such a shame, Ian was a handsome one—for a lesser.” She turned her attention back to Aubrey.

“And you, such a pathetic display.”

She stepped close enough that Aubrey could see her skin glisten with moonlight.

She touched the false wings at Aubrey’s back, shattering the illusion like a spider’s web. “I see my daughter has taken it upon herself to bear your wounds?” She shook her head. “That just won’t do at all.”

As Saralia whispered, the Time Wraith’s wounds on Aubrey’s back swelled to life and the most excruciating pain ripped through her back, leaving her slack and breathless in the guards’ hold.

“You knew what you were getting into by walking so brazenly into my court.

I don’t believe for a minute that you were stupid enough to think I wouldn’t expect you. You were arrogant enough, however, to think that it wouldn’t matter if I did.

Allow me the pleasure of correcting you.”



Aubrey turned her gaze then from Saralia, who was taking great pleasure in her pain, to Jullian. She expected the same cold, emotionless face that she’d seen moments before to look back at her then.

Instead,

just

before

she

lost

consciousness, she caught a fleeting glimpse of doubt.

Aislinn didn’t have much to be grateful for. For starters, he was soaking wet from the chest down. They had been thrown into a well of sorts, how deep he didn’t care to guess. He couldn’t be sure how much time he had left as a man and he didn’t have the first notion as to how they were going to get out of this predicament and find Aubrey. Given had fought so hard against the Sidhe as they took her that she’d managed to get herself knocked out cold.

He knew Shades were delicate, but had Given just kept her mouth shut ...

He held both of them up with his feet braced against one wall and his back against the other, Given in his arms.

She moaned as if she’d heard his musing.

“About time. You know we really should talk about when to admit you’re outnumbered.” He hadn’t been entirely certain that Saralia’s spell had worn off, but his voice came easily enough.

She bolted upright. “She has the Oran. Saralia has the Oran.”

Aislinn paused to regain the footing that she’d jolted loose. “I was there, remember? It’s unfortunate, but nothing we need to worry about right now.” He tried to get her to look at him, to see the words he couldn’t say aloud for fear of being overheard. She wasn’t paying any attention to him.

“Nothing we need to worry about?

Aislinn, do you realize what...”

He took her chin with his metal hand and directed her to face him. “We can’t do anything about it right now.”

She seemed confused, but clearly knew he was trying to tell her something.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she seemed to understand. “Oberon?” she asked. He nodded and she looked away, letting it sink in.

When she didn’t say more, he whispered into her ear, “Saralia will never lay hands on it. I’ll destroy it if I have to.”

Given had tears in her eyes but didn’t grant him any more than a terse nod to acknowledge what he’d said.

“Hey, listen, we’ll get out of here,”

Aislinn cooed. “We got out of Koldavere didn’t we? I mean ... I did have to rescue you.”

“Shut up, you big oaf. You would have torn off my head had I granted you the chance.”

He shrugged. “You don’t know what I would have done. How can you when I don’t even know what I would have done?”

She rolled her eyes and changed the subject. “This water is deeper than it looks.”

“Hmm, perhaps.” Without thinking it over, Aislinn dropped his feet and tightened his arms around her, letting them momentarily sink. Given gave a muffled cry and threw her arms around his neck, her heart rocketing so hard in her chest that Aislinn could feel it. He laughed, merely because he’d meant the move to lighten the moment so they could relax enough to figure something out. She didn’t seem to see the humor in it. In fact, she was too angry to speak.

“Oh, lighten up a little. I’m not...” It dawned on him then how insensitive he’d become to human, or in her case, Shade emotions. She wasn’t angry–she was frightened. She held onto him with bruising force. He moved one hand to run it through her damp hair and laid his cheek against the top of her head. “You can’t swim, can you?”