Nameless (Nameless #1)(57)

He laughed, his hot breath a poisonous vapor of warning. “Fine. Lie, if you think it will buy you time. If I don’t find her tonight, the Seer will in the morning. Nothing happens inside the Gate that she or her spies don’t see.” His hands moved to Zo’s rib cage. “Nothing.” He kissed the corner of her lips.

Stop! She screamed inside. In her mind she raked her long nails across his face, gouged out his protuberant eyes, spit down his throat. In her mind she took the knife from his belt and thrust it into his cold heart. Once. Twice. A thousand times.

Outside she was a perfect statue. It was the only way to survive. For Tess. For the Nameless. For the Cause.

The Gate Master pulled her closer still, pressing her body to his. He kissed her again, this time finding her full lips. “You. Are. Mine.” He grabbed her by the waist and threw her several feet into the thick trunk of a tree. Her head cracked against a branch. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth after she bit off a piece of her own tongue.

He charged with all his Ram speed to tackle her to the ground.

“Stop!” called a wild, deep voice.

The Gate Master turned his rage on a dark figure in the road. She didn’t even see him reach for the daggers in his hands. It was as if they just appeared. Zo heard fists connect with flesh as the two men engaged, but didn’t bother to watch the fray. She crawled away as fast as her throbbing head allowed. Several stitches on her stomach were torn open. Blood soaked into Mrs. Drea’s old dress.

Men shouted over the pounding in her head. Zo was too frazzled to understand what they were saying. She found a good tree fifteen yards from the road and climbed until the branches were barely thick enough to support her weight.





“Yield!” said Gryphon, forcing his knee deeper into the Gate Master’s spine while stretching back the man’s arms.

The Gate Master growled something incoherent. That was good enough for Gryphon. He released his superior officer and climbed to his feet.

“I could have your hands chopped off at the wrists,” Master Leon raged.

Gryphon was still too heated to say what he should. “Not for self-defense, Sir. You attacked me.” Gryphon couldn’t stop seeing Zo’s body connect with the tree. The fear in her face as Master Leon charged.

The Gate Master stepped closer, his boot inches from Gryphon’s, and thrust a fat finger into his chest. “You were in my business.”

Gryphon leaned into his superior’s finger. His voice could barely be heard over the wind. “The girl is my business, Sir. She belongs to me.”

A slow smile spread across the Gate Master’s face. Gryphon felt the hair on his neck raise. “The healer is yours, but the little sister is mine. I’ve come to collect her.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The Gate Master raised his hand to silence Gryphon. “You’re losing your edge, soldier. When the Seer comes tomorrow, produce the child.” He took several steps away then turned. The same dangerous smile plastered to his face was made worse by the harsh shadows of night. “The healer might live in your household, but she belongs to the Ram.” Gryphon could translate that easy enough. “She might be yours, but I’ll still have my portion.”

Gryphon shuddered and stepped off the trail in search of Zo. He found her clinging to a high branch in a tree. Her almond eyes were closed. Her breath caught as she tried to calm her nerves. Even though the wind had died down, the leaves on her branch shook as she trembled.

“You can come down now.”

She opened her eyes slowly, like the sun takes its time cresting a horizon. When she recognized Gryphon she didn’t speak, but started to climb down with sticky, choppy movements.

“Slowly,” he said when she almost stumbled. She winced from pain as she moved. The poor creature had endured so much. When she came within reach, he offered his hand. To his surprise, she practically fell into his arms.

He set her on the ground and without thinking, pulled her into an embrace. She hesitated then leaned into his chest. He rested his chin on her head and rubbed warmth back into her arms. She was fragile. Like brittle glass that might break into a hundred pieces and slice him open if he wasn’t careful. What could he say to fix what had just happened? Nothing sounded quite right in his mind. So he held her.

Until she shoved him away. “Why did you do that?” she hissed.

Gryphon felt like he’d swallowed his tongue.

“Why did you stop him?” She covered her face with her hands. “At least it would have been over.”

Gryphon shook his head. Surely he’d misheard her.

“Men like that are in it for the hunt. Every time you get in his way he’ll only try that much harder. It will be worse next time.”

“He hasn’t ever … ” for some reason Gryphon couldn’t finish the question. “Has he?”

Zo stared down the road, holding one hand to her stomach. “Does it really matter?”

A lion roared in Gryphon’s chest. For some reason beyond his understanding it mattered very much. Too much. But there was something in the way she avoided his eyes, something about the shy set of her jaw that made him think she’d escaped Gate Master Leon’s clutches so far.

“That’s why you always caked mud on your face, isn’t it?”