Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

F ury floods me, and with it, my claws sharpen and my voice becomes a growl.

My back aches with the painful, prickling sensation that precedes the appearance of my wings.

I grip the keeper, one hand tangled in his bloody hair, trying to keep his head from falling to the floor, my other arm holding his torso to my chest as hard as I can.

"Do you think you can simply slip away from me?" I snarl into the silence, my lips near his ear. "Do you think it's as easy as allowing yourself to fade into nothing?"

My voice rises. "You owe me, keeper. Do you think a broken heart changes that?"

The weight of his body only increases and the amount of blood seeping from his wounds makes his torso slippery.

"Do you hear me?" I scream at him. Hot tears slip down my cheeks. "I'm not done with you." My voice lowers to a whisper. "Not by a long shot."

I press my lips to his cold cheek and my claws into his side, and I snarl at him. "Now breathe ."

His gasp sounds at my ear. A rattled breath. But he doesn't speak and his exhalation dies down, the softest sound in the silence.

For a moment, I think it was simply a final expulsion of air from his chest, but when I press my cheek to his, I feel the quiet movement of air.

Cold air.

He's still freezing.

And unconscious.

"I'm going to get you warm," I say, my voice strangled as I speak with him, as though he can hear me. "I'm going to keep you alive. Not because I care about you, or because I want you, but because I meant what I said: I'm not done with you."

My snarl fades as I hold him closer.

I'm not done with him.

Taking a shaky breath, I keep hold of his head and lower him carefully to the floor so I can adjust my position. Hooking my arms under his armpits and around his chest, I call on my strength and drag him toward the opaque opening.

A cry leaves my lips as I breach the energy that's keeping the room separated from the corridor outside. "Help!"

My pack is right where I left them all, although Halle and her hellhound are now standing farther away on my left.

Jonah lurches upright as soon as he sees me, hurrying across the distance.

As quick as the jotunn is, Riot and Lucian reach me first, taking the keeper from me while Rumble and Strife quickly step in beside Jonah to assist. I'm grateful that they don't ask questions, immediately working together to lift the keeper into the air.

Anarchy is at my side as I stumble backward. "Darkness! You were gone for hours."

"I… What?"

Her face is paler than normal. "We thought you might never come out. I was ready to rip out Halle's throat."

Anarchy might not be able to kill Halle, but she and her brothers once fought off James Vanguard with their panther claws and teeth. She could certainly do some significant damage.

"I'm okay. Really." I hurry to assure Anarchy. "But I need to get the keeper warm and figure out a way to help him."

I spin to Halle as I finish speaking. I want to take her to task for her claim that nobody could die in Veritas, but now is not the time to delay.

"I'm taking him back to that room. My place. With the forest and the cottage." I stumble a little because I have no idea what that place is called. "I need a warm environment, and it will respond to my needs."

Halle has already ventured forward to consider the keeper, her lips pursing as her gaze darts from his head—now dark-haired—to his bloody chest and finally to the ring-shaped crown on his finger.

I expect her to argue or have a different opinion, but she quickly nods. "Yes. Immediately."

She gestures to Orlan, who has also lurched away from the wall. "Orlan, if you will."

I step in front of the warlock. "If you plan on translocating him to that room, then I'm coming with you."

Orlan shakes his head. "Using translocation magic could cause him further injury. But I can use my power to carry him. It'll be quicker this way."

The warlock claps his hands together, the runes on his palms lighting up bright blue as he pulls his hands apart and stretches the light between them. Then, his fingers move rapidly through the air, weaving the light until it has formed a lattice that floats beneath the keeper's elevated body.

"You can let go now," Orlan says to my pack. "I will float him to your destination." He inclines his head at me. "Under your watchful eye, of course."

"Good. Keep him beside me." I step close to the keeper as my pack carefully releases their hold on him and he remains suspended in the air. "Let's go."

I hurry forward and Orlan keeps pace with me, half-jogging on the keeper's other side while my pack stays close.

Along the winding tunnel we go, moving silently until we reach the same door where the cottage and orchard are located. I lean forward and press my left palm against the door, waiting for the sharp prick when it takes my blood.

"Give me warmth," I whisper.

I'm surprised when it doesn't sting this time, but I guess it must know me already.

The door swings open.

A blast of cold air hits me, knocking the breath from my chest. "What? No… "

A snow-covered clearing lies ahead of me.

The brightness of the sunlight reflecting off the cold surface hurts my sensitive eyes, and I fling my arm across my face, squinting hard to see what lies within the snowy landscape.

Trees stretch out from both sides of the doorway, forming a line so thick that it feels like a barrier on this side of the clearing.

Directly opposite me, on the other side of the clearing, is a long, rectangular cabin. It's set against the side of a mountain that extends high into the sky.

There are no obvious openings into the cabin until I crane my neck to the left, identifying what looks like a door on the short end, and, if I peer hard at the cabin's roof on the long side, I can just make out concealed turrets in it.

On the left of the clearing are two smaller buildings, also hewn from wood. One is enclosed and looks like a little hut, but the other is open at the front and contains a solid-looking metal table, the shape of which looks a bit odd to me. It isn't like the kind of table I've eaten food at because it's narrow and tapered at one end.

It's a strange experience to see a door opening into a wild landscape like this while the trees on either side of the doorway give a sense that the area extends in every direction, including backward.

"What is this place?" I struggle to understand how it came to be when I asked for warmth. "This isn't what we need."

I lean through the opening while the keeper's unconscious form floats on my left.

Halle's voice sounds at my shoulder. "Are you sure? This room only opens in response to touch, and you?—"

" Oh. " My gasp is strangled. "What if it wasn't me?"

I consider Emil as he floats beside me.

A chill settles at the base of my spine when I focus on the way the strands of his dark hair are floating outward and brushing up against the door.

My heart is in my throat as I whisper, "This place belongs to the keeper."