20. LONNIE

20

LONNIE

THE CUTTHROAT DISTRICT, INBETWIXT

A sharp gasp escaped my lips as the massive door swung open.

I'd been prepared for another hallway, or perhaps another room of traps, but we were not so unlucky.

A vast vault stretched out, overflowing with glittering treasure of all shapes and sizes. The gleaming gold and sparkling jewels seemed to radiate their own ethereal light, casting a spell over the room. I couldn't believe my eyes - it was like stumbling upon a secret pirate's hoard or a dragon's lair. My heart raced with excitement, pounding too hard against my ribs.

"Dammit, Cross," Scion breathed, looking around in wonderment. "How much do you think is in here?"

Bael laughed. "Does it matter?"

Scion shrugged. "I simply never thought about how much the thieves bring in. What is he planning to do with all this?"

"Build tunnels, apparently," Bael said blandly. "I don't suppose it was cheap to dig out a facility entirely under an existing city."

"Do you think there's more in here than in our vaults?" Scion asked, looking more curious than envious.

"No," Bael scoffed. "Close, though. We should be careful to watch him if he ever comes to dinner at the palace. Or I'm sure we'll find our vaults a lot lighter."

Both chuckled, then stopped abruptly. As if they'd remembered at the same moment that we didn't currently have a palace. Or any vaults, for that matter.

"Right," I said briskly. "How are we going to search this place?"

"I don't suppose you have some sense of these things?" Bael asked me, looking hopeful.

"Do I have a sense of where treasure I've never seen before is kept? No. If I did, I'm sure I'd be a rich woman."

Bael shrugged, looking slightly disappointed. "I suppose we'll just have to look, then."

We spread out and began to search. According to Celia's book the jewel of Inbetwixt was a large, oval ruby, about as wide as both my thumbs held together. Unfortunately—or fortunately, if you were Cross—there were dozens of loose jewels in the vault, all of which we had to carefully inspect before tossing aside.

For over an hour we searched in silence, only occasionally broken by a yell, and then a groan of disappointment every time one of us thought we'd found something.

I began making piles on piles of coins, trying to keep track of what I'd already seen and what I hadn't. There was more money in the small piles on the floor than I'd ever seen in my life until recently. Any one of these jewels could feed all of Cheapside for a year. Maybe two years if no one lived lavishly.

A tiny voice in the back of my mind whispered that I should take some. That we needed the money, now that we'd been expelled from the castle and anyway, Cross had stolen all this to begin with. He couldn't exactly complain about the taste of his own medicine.

I glanced over at Bael and Scion, both of whom were also making piles of jewels worth easily ten thousand silver pieces. Each.

They might be far more educated than I was in almost everything–they had tutors and had time to read thousands of books and learned to speak multiple languages. But this was not the first time I'd noticed that the Everlast family didn't grasp the value of money.

Of course, they knew how much it was worth, but they didn't really value it. None had ever had to earn anything, and as a rule they didn't carry money on their person. What if we had to trade for something in the next city? What if we had to stay at an inn and had no coins to pay for it?

Before I could further talk myself out of it, I grabbed a large handful of gold and shoved it hastily down the front of my dress.

"Hey!" Bael yelled.

I jumped a foot in the air and spun around, thinking he was about to scold me. Except, he wasn't even looking in my direction.

"What?" Scion asked, sounding grumpy.

"I think I found it." Bael held up a huge oval ruby to the light of my conjured fire, and inspected it. "We should have brought the book with us to compare the jewel to the drawing, but I'm almost positive this is the right one."

"Perfect," I let out a long breath of relief and jumped to my feet. "Let's go, then. I don't want to stay here one moment longer than we have to."

"Let me go first, little monster," Bael said quickly, holding out an arm to halt me before the door.

"We've already been through here," I reminded him.

"I know, but still. I'd rather be overcautious than lose you."

He stepped through the door alone, grinning over his shoulder as he strode toward the statues. "I suppose you were ri?—"

Bael's words broke off as a sharp, guttural noise of pain escaped his lips.

I screamed, downing out the sound of wheezing arrows as they flew everywhere, striking Bael repeatedly in the chest. My horror rose as I watched blood pool on the front of his already crimson jacket. The metallic scent filled my nostrils and the sight of it dripping onto the floor made me feel dizzy and sick. My screams became louder, echoing through the room and redoubling back on themselves.

Time seemed to slow down as I stood frozen, unable to tear my eyes away as he fell to his knees, slumping forward like a broken doll. The same frantic numb thought pounded over and over through my mind: He was going to die here.

We were all going to die here. Because I'd drain all my blood if it meant I could save him, and once I did, we'd all die anyway.

"Put him on the ground!" Ambrose yelled, darting toward us as we rushed out of the caves.

He reached for Bael's arm, helping Scion to lower him to the floor, then bent over Bael's body staring intently at each wound in rapid succession.

For once, Scion said nothing to Ambrose. He said nothing in general, stepping back to allow Ambrose more room to help. Scion's normally handsome face had turned the color of sour milk, and his scar stood out all the more prominently because of it.

Not that I could see much anyway, as blinding tears streamed down my face.

I'd screamed myself hoarse in the vault, and now my throat was in shreds though I hardly noticed or cared. I felt a bit lightheaded, and blood streamed down my arms where I'd taken one of the arrows and slashed at my wrists, forcing my blood into Bael's open mouth. I was quite sure the blood was the only reason he was still breathing at all, though for how much longer, I couldn't tell.

I collapsed to my knees on the stone floor, and crawled over to Bael's, his once powerful form now limp and lifeless. My heart felt like it was being torn apart as I cradled his cold fingers in mine.

Ambrose knelt on Baels otherside, now running his fingers rapidly over the wounds. There were eight broken arrows sticking straight out of Bael's chest, as well as one in his shoulder. We hadn't dared to pull them out in the vault, knowing he'd bleed out instantly so Scion had snapped the lengths off to make it easier to carry him.

"We have to pull them out." My voice shook. "He can't heal while they're still in there."

"I fucking know!" Ambrose barked, more aggressively than I'd ever heard him speak to me. Seeming to realize what he'd said, he looked up at me and lowered his voice. "I know. I'm sorry. I just can't see how to get them all out before he loses too much blood."

I didn't say anything, merely lifted my still bleeding wrist back to Bael's mouth.

"No!" Ambrose yelled, knocking my arm out of the way.

"What are you doing?" I demanded angrily. "He needs blood."

"I know, but you can't be the one to give it to him."

"I already did!" I argued. "It's too late to worry about what happens now, if he doesn't have more he'll die."

"So will you," Ambrose snapped. "Even if we ignore the very real likelihood that you'll trigger the curse, you're still half human. You can't lose that much blood either."

"I don't care!" I yelled, about ready to shove him out of the way.

Ambrose ignored me, and shoved me back hard enough that I toppled into Scion's legs. I jumped back up, practically spitting venom, only to see Ambrose bite down hard on his own wrist and press it to Bael's still open mouth. I gaped, both surprised and relieved.

Suddenly, Scion had moved out from behind me, so quickly I didn't even see him until he was kneeling on the ground as well and slicing into his own arm.

"Will that work?" I demanded.

"Yes," Scion said shortly.

"But—" I began, unsure what I was even asking. I widened my eyes at Scion, exploring for him to explain.

I thought only mates shared blood. Perhaps Scion could help. Since they were both mated to me, they were loosely connected by more than family. Ambrose, however, seemed out of nowhere.

I didn't have the time to argue about it.

Suddenly, Bael coughed and sat up, his eyes opening. I let out a wail of surprise and misery, and forgot everything I'd been thinking about moments before. Any anger drained out of me, leaving only fear and the tiniest hint of hope behind.

"Don't sit up," Scion muttered, pushing Bael back to the floor. "We still have to pull these things out."

Bael allowed himself to be pushed back to the floor. A sheen of sweat had appeared on his brow, and I knelt behind his head and pushed golden curls off his face while Ambrose went about figuring out how to remove the arrows.

Bael's lips moved, and I leaned down desperately. "What did you say?"

"I said, don't cry little monster," he rasped.

"You're an idiot," I told him, still crying. "Completely insane. Why would you do that?"

He didn't respond to my question, instead holding back a shout of pain as Scion tugged the first arrow from his chest.

It didn't matter though. I didn't need to hear his answer to know he'd done it for me, and would do it again in a heartbeat even if it killed him.