23. Bree

23

Bree

I swayed as I followed Tez through the damp and fetid streets of Murkan.

I'd left a piece of me at the stronghold. Caliel's presence had been temporarily strengthened by the boost I'd given him, but our link faded by the hour. Without it, how could I know that he was okay?

This meeting tonight might be what we are waiting for, Riggs said . If it is, we can get him out. He, Cara, and Tyrez were in the conference room at the Talon Complex.

The words were meant to be reassuring, but they did little to ease my worry. I was so preoccupied that I tripped over a bit of debris, recovered, and then staggered. Tez's arm shot out to my waist, holding me up.

Now that Caliel had told us what was wrong—my body felt as though it was on fire. Alternating hot and then cold, with an ache deep in my bones.

"Are you okay, Bella ?" Tez asked.

"Bree," I corrected automatically.

We were passing beneath a light, and I spotted how one corner of his lips quirked. "I know your name."

"Then what did you call me?"

He hesitated. And then he said, " Bella is Spanish for beautiful."

My face flushed. Did he really think that, or was it just a term he used for women in general? I realized, suddenly, that I was clinging to him. Hanging off him, my hands on the hard muscles of his arm while I panted with every stride.

You have to hold on. I heard the desperation in Riggs's voice. But I'd prefer it not to be onto him.

I got my feet beneath me and forced myself to straighten. But my weakness had been noticed. And in this place, that wasn't a good thing.

Tez's hand left my arm, and he moved a bit away. Something in his stance?—

"What is it?" I whispered.

He fidgeted beneath his cloak—and his hand emerged with a knife, complete with sheath. He leaned close and handed it to me.

"Do you have a belt?" he whispered.

"These are academy leggings—they have a waistband that will work." I took the weapon from him.

"See that alcove?" he asked. "Head for it when they make their move."

I fought not to glance back and give us away. "I can fight," I protested.

"You can barely walk," he pointed out. "Just get out of the way. I will handle it."

I stifled the surge of resentment—because he was right. I wasn't much use like this.

I sensed rather than saw the one behind us move in, but missed the one that circled around and came at us from the fork in the front alley.

He jumped into our path, brandishing a knife almost long enough to be called a sword. The one behind us moved to push the point of his smaller knife into Tez's back.

In a lightning move, Tez spun. His foot came out of nowhere to clobber the one in front up the side of the head. Then as he twisted, his hand grabbed the knife-wielding wrist of the one behind.

I ducked for the alcove, but on the way, I opened up a gash on Mr. Frontrunner's arm. He was already staggering from the kick, and yelped when I drew blood.

I took two forward strides, before turning in time to see Mr. Come-from-behind utter a gurgling sound as Tez's free hand buried a knife up beneath his jaw. He wrenched it free as the man dropped and kept spinning, to end up facing Frontrunner.

Seeing his partner drop, Frontrunner made the most intelligent of decisions—he turned and fled.

Tez stood in a half-crouch, a bloodied knife in his fist. He looked dangerous as hell. A wave of heat surged through me, and I swayed into the wall.

"Hey. You okay?"

I blinked. Tez was now in front of me.

"Yeah. I'm good." I was pushing myself upright, barely.

You are far from good, Riggs snarled. But at least you are armed now.

Tez is dynamite with a knife, I pointed out. Not so bad with his feet, either.

Yeah, the guy can fight, Riggs admitted grudgingly . He's better off than Caliel.

Maybe Tez and I can hunker down until the meeting is over? And then Caliel can escape, too? I really didn't want to leave him here.

Caliel had been following our conversation. Not everything can be resolved with a knife. And the priority is to get you out.

Agreed, Riggs said. You can't hide if you are collared, either. Cara says they can track you with it. It isn't easy to do, and you can get out of range of the crystals they use, but it means you have to keep moving.

I'd been outvoted, and I gritted my teeth.

Then Riggs gave me the bad news. None of the Watchers have ever been to Jarsk, so we'll be gating in to Liall. It will take us hours to make the flight. You guys have to get somewhere safe to wait for me.

My gut clenched—that was crappy news. I passed that on to Tez, along with the info on the collar. "Can we use the city gateway?" I asked.

Tez's reaction to the news was barely discernible—a mere tightening of his lips. "Victor's goons are manning both it and the city entrances," he said. "No way I'll get you past them. And with that collar, we can't try to hide in the city. I'd planned to get you far enough outside Murkan's walls for Riggs to come to you."

"Come to us," I corrected.

He ignored me. "Jarsk is the next closest settlement. Just didn't realize Riggs wouldn't be able to gate right to it." A muscle jumped in his jaw. "The Priests will have those at the stronghold hopping for a bit yet, but we need to keep moving. How long will it take Riggs to get to Jarsk?"

Did you get that?

Tyrez, Cara, and I are coming, Riggs promised. A pause, and then, Cara says Liall is an eight-hour flight from Jarsk. I sensed his worry.

I hurried to reassure him. I'll be okay. I told Tez what Riggs had said.

Impossible to tell from his expression what Tez thought of that news. I was having trouble focusing on the issue at all. When he hesitated at an intersection with a major thoroughfare, I forced myself to sag into the wall rather than lean on him. Because if I touched him at all, I might not be able to stop myself from running my hands over his lean body…

Crap. What was happening? I was mated to Riggs. Wanted to be mated to Caliel. And now I was drooling over Tez?

He flashed me a look, and as his nostrils shot wide, his eyes gleamed turquoise. Was my Ice Drake attracted to what lived inside of Tez? I'd glimpsed it through Caliel's eyes, a glittering Serpent with legs, the dark metallic feathers reflecting every color of the rainbow. Its elongated head had been wreathed in a crest of them.

He'd been—glorious.

Feathered Serpents are on the Dragonian family tree, Caliel stated . Just a very rare offshoot.

She is not mating with Tez, Riggs snarled, but worry ran beneath the words.

Would you rather she died? Caliel stated.

No. I will be there.

What if she doesn't have that long?

She should mate you. Riggs sounded increasingly desperate.

This is about more than just sex. Caliel's mindvoice was curiously constricted sounding. There is a chemical component that must be satisfied, or it will not work. And I am a far cry from a Drake, or even a Dragon.

He's a blasted snake! Riggs erupted.

He's a Feathered Serpent, Caliel corrected . Trust me, that is a very different thing.

I decided it was time to stop the ranting. Will you please quit discussing me as if I am not here, I insisted. I am not yielding to Icey. She can provide her own cold shower. They were brave words, because I was currently walking behind Tez, and eyeing the way his body moved.

Just don't get Tez overexcited, Caliel cautioned . He was near the stronghold's front gate, peering out from an alley across the street. Him shifting form right now is not a good idea, considering that the Priests are still here. It isn't just your collar that can be tracked.

I sent him a wordless acknowledgment as Tez and I peered out at a main thoroughfare lit by lanterns. The alley we stood in was much darker. The rain had picked up momentum, and it found its way past my hood, leaving little damp trails of coldness winding over my fevered skin.

I was alive with sensation, even through the cloak. When Tez put his hand on my arm to guide me out of the alley, my knees went weak, and this time, I couldn't stop myself from leaning into him. He shot me a startled look in the darkness.

Not only was my Ice Drake pushing me toward him, but I was sure that the thing inside him was responding. A pulse of pure heat swept through me as the Drake made a determined bid for control.

Riggs was striding through the halls of the Talon Complex, and he pulled the sword to send me a rush of power.

It hit the Ice Drake, and she screeched her frustration. And this time, it was as though she sank her claws into my soul, and tore hunks out of it as she got pushed back.

I gasped and staggered.

Tez wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me up. While I'd been distracted, we'd crossed the street and entered another alley.

"It's getting stronger," he said.

"I'm okay," I managed.

His face was close enough that I saw him inhale. And his eyes gleamed at me again.

"It's getting worse," I admitted.

"You smell like sin itself," he agreed, removing his arm. He watched me for a few steps to see if I stayed upright, but I sensed both his desire—and his reluctance—to embrace me.

I wanted him to do more than embrace. I burned with a need that rivaled the flames of a Fire Drake.

Tez moved deeper into the alley. He reached behind a bit of broken masonry and pulled free another pack, along with a strong rope with a grappling hook.

I stared at the rope, struggling to engage my brain through the creeping fog caused by the serum. "Are we climbing?"

"We are climbing," Tez affirmed, slinging the pack over his shoulder to join the one already there, before he took my hand.

This time, my fingers clamped onto his, and he would have had a hard time shaking himself loose. He didn't try, but rather hurried us along the alley. To another. And then, another…

His little bird flitted ahead of us, darting around corners, and then occasionally returning. At first, I thought she was leading us, but Tez would often pause, dark brows drawn down as if he were listening. His eyes weren't flashing, but still…

"Are you talking to her?" I asked.

"I can see through her eyes," he said. "She's scouting the best route for us."

"Route to where?" I asked.

He hesitated, brows drawn even lower as he followed her progress. Then he answered. "The wall."

The wall stretched to a height of fifteen feet, and the moss covering made it difficult to see the stone.

It also wasn't in prime condition, with many cracked and broken sections shored up with piles of rubble. It was tall, but definitely scalable with the rope.

"Not much of a barrier for keeping people in," I commented.

"It's not to keep residents in," Tez explained as he coiled the rope to his satisfaction. "It's for keeping things out."

Wait a minute… "What kind of things?"

He shrugged. "Slade—when he was Slade—told me there are some rather nasty predators in the swamp." Tez hefted the grapple. "Victor's goons won't expect us to go over the wall. It will throw off their pursuit."

"That won't help us if we get eaten," I pointed out.

Tez met my eye. Then he smiled. And my entire world lit right up.

"We won't get eaten," he said.

"Umm…" I replied, in a rather dazed manner.

How is he going to ensure that? Riggs's mindvoice was filled with so much emotion that I couldn't decipher any of it. He'd already gone through the gateway, and his presence in this realm, even if still a long ways away, was a balm to my conflicted soul.

Tez was walking along the wall, assessing it.

He is a pretty capable guy, I reassured. And I'm not exactly a helpless maiden, either. We'll be fine.

You unleash that Ice Drake, and fine won't be the operative word, he warned.

Just focus on getting here. I hope Tyrez is fast.

He will be, he replied. I sensed his frustration that he'd be riding, not flying on his own power.

Don't push it, I warned him. You'll be a Dragon again, but just not yet.

Tez froze and dropped the two packs. He swung the rope while eyeing the top of the wall. Then he straightened and threw it. It flew true, the grapple passing over the top and then, when he tugged on it, lodging between two broken stones.

"After you," he said.

I grabbed hold and pulled myself up. Rope climbing was so not a Centaur thing, and the stones were slick with moss. But with all the rocky bits sticking out, my human body managed it with only one pause for a dizzy spell.

I hauled my Junoesque hindquarters onto the top of the wall.

Your what? Riggs sounded tense.

Caliel calls my butt ? —

She's teetering on a wall. Can we please focus? Caliel, very faint.

I looked down. The outside of the wall had, at some point, been polished smooth. Years of neglect meant that in places, the smooth surface was shored up with more rubble, but the vertical aspect had been conserved with much more care here than the inside. As I doubted the underlords over the years had cared one bit for whether residents got eaten, they must do it themselves.

The low cloud and rain made it difficult to see anything at all, so I squinted across the drizzle and darkness into the swamp. I didn't blame them for wanting a barrier. The trees towered higher than the wall; the trunks were a twisted, tangled mess festooned with plants and long bits of trailing moss. The rank smell of rotting vegetation wafted to me on an errant breeze, and with it came the hoots, chirps, snarls, and grumbles of a place with a very active nightlife.

My already erratic pulse accelerated as I straddled the wall. Tez, shouldering both packs, nimbly scaled the stone. Once at the top, he fidgeted with the grapple, rearranging the rope before slinging it down the other side.

"We'll have to leave the grapple," he explained. "But I want the rope."

I recognized what he was doing—there were now two ropes trailing down into the darkness. He'd run it through the loop on the grapple so that we could pull it free from below.

"Make sure you hold both," he reminded me, before he offered. "I'll go first."

I wasn't reassured when he drew one of his knives and held it sideways between his teeth. "Maybe we should have braved the city's entrance," I suggested.

He merely waggled his brows and dropped over the side.

I watched as he vanished into the darkness. Then I gritted my teeth and folded my fingers around both ropes, before lowering myself after him.

I had to pause twice when waves of weakness passed through me, and I slid the last few feet in a bit of a scramble.

Strong hands grabbed my waist and eased me the last bit to the ground. My entire body ached when he snatched them back from me.

The knife was back in its sheath—nice to know he hadn't needed to fight a Basilisk waiting to eat us. Did this swamp have Basilisks? By the wild sounds, it had lots of things.

As he pulled the rope free from the grapple and recoiled it, I noticed something carved into the smoothed stone to one side.

I walked over to take a look at a series of parallel slashes. My eyes struggled a bit in the darkness as I tried to decipher if it was a language I knew. And then I realized they weren't writing—they were claw marks. Dozens of them, including some almost up to the top of the wall.

"The wall is there for a reason," Tez stated.

Swallowing, I wrenched my gaze away. "Give me one of the packs," I said.

"I can carry both."

"Don't be silly. We are in a survival situation, and we need to share the load."

"It does us no good to give you a pack," he stated calmly. "Just concentrate on staying on your feet."

I grimaced in frustration, but I admitted that staying on my feet wasn't something Icey was all that keen on. I couldn't see Tez's face in the darkness, but he pulled one pack off his shoulder and dug through it, removing a small device. I squinted at it—a compass. And then he handed me a set of odd-looking goggles.

"What are those?" I asked.

"Put them on," he said.

While wearing them, everything around me turned green—it was still dark, but suddenly, I could make out details. The swamp became a whole lot less mysterious. "These are amazing. You thought of everything."

He shrugged as he donned his own. "Being prepared can save your skin." He swallowed. "Someone I once knew taught me that. These aren't as good as the night vision goggles back home—but it will be dawn soon. They should get us through."

When I took a step forward, something reassuringly small squeaked and scurried into the foliage. "How much of this do we have to trek through?"

"Jarsk is about three hours southwest of here," he said.

"That's pretty damned general," I stated. "If we don't stay on target, we'll be lost forever."

"Yeah. The compass is just to get us to the river." He pushed a button, and it lit up. The crystal powering it cast an eerie green glow onto the planes of his face.

His gloriously handsome face.

Gloriously handsome? Will you please focus on staying alive! Riggs was about as stressed as I'd ever heard him. Only a few pegs down from when Victor had snatched me.

Calm down, I admonished him. But he wasn't wrong. I had it bad. I needed to keep my mind on the game here. So I pushed through the lust and grabbed onto what Tez had said.

"There's a river?"

"And a boat, if my contact values his furry hide. As I shaved a bit of it for him, I am fairly confident he complied."

Prepared, indeed. So far, I was impressed with Tez's abilities as a rescuer. Even if his efforts had landed us in a fetid swamp.

My admiration suffered a few significant hits in the first ten minutes. By then, I'd discovered that the moss that draped over everything held close relatives of the Bumblespiders. They might not be venomous, but they were grumpier and capable of giving a damned good pinch with their jaws. Also, the ground looked solid but had a disturbing tendency to try to swallow you whole.

Tez's solution to the latter was to rope us together and keep us near the trees, so that we were clambering over their huge, buttressed roots. This, unfortunately, brought us closer to the moss and its cantankerous denizens. Soon we were both cursing and swatting at the two-inch-long beasties.

"How far to the river?" I asked, struggling to sound calm and in control. But the truth was, due to my opinion of spiders… I was barely holding on.

"From here, about a mile," he said, pausing to consult the compass.

"And there's a boat?"

He nodded. "Guy I hired it from routinely uses this river to get merch from here to Jarsk. River doesn't go right to it, but close enough. He leases boats out of the dock in Murkan. Told him I was doing some Brircan collecting, needed it brought here."

"What the hell is a Brircan?" I asked.

"It's a plant, I think," Tez answered.

"You don't know?"

"I know that the locals brave the swamp to collect it. It's worth a fair amount of dinero . I had to promise the boat guy part of the take. And I gave him money beforehand, because apparently, Brircan collectors often get eaten and don't return."

I swallowed. Tez shot me a look in the darkness, but the goggles hid his eyes. "We won't get eaten. Can't vouch for bitten. Watch that bit of moss there. It seems to have a clutch of spider babies on it."

I dodged the sticky strands with a grimace and a shudder. "Is clutch the right term?"

He picked his way over a root as big around as a Dragon. "I have no idea. I was never a boy scout."

"What in the realms is a boy scout?"

I saw a flash of teeth in the darkness. "Someone who spends time communing with nature. I've always been more of a city boy." He vanished over the root.

Perfecto, Riggs commented . And he's the one guiding you through a swamp.

Better than being Victor's bitch, I countered.

The only answer was a growl along the link. I supposed that if the situation were reversed, I'd be growling, too. I put my hand out to brace against a trunk—and the trunk moved.

Or rather, something on it did. It was the size of my entire arm and had multiple legs that scuttled away to vanish into the moss above.

I yelped and snatched my hand back.

Tez returned with reassuring speed, jumping to the top of the root he'd vanished over.

I was embarrassed. "It's okay. It ran away. It was—rather large. Startled me, is all."

"Maybe you should grow your talons," he suggested.

"Not sure that's a good idea," I countered. "Icey's a bit difficult to control right now."

"Good point. Use the knife if you have to," he said.

"I'm better with a wrist draw," I admitted.

His brows shot up before he hopped back down to me and fiddled with something along his forearm.

"Give me your arm," he said.

I extended it, and he fastened a knife sheath along it. His fingers were warm and sent alarming tingles along my skin.

"Make a fist, and curl your wrist inward." His voice was curiously hoarse. "That primes it."

"I've used spring-loaded sheaths before," I said.

"I doubt you've had one like this—it has a real kick. Give it a try."

I opened my fingers from the fist and cranked my wrist back. The knife shot into my hand so fast I almost missed the grab.

"Wow," I said. "Where did you get it?"

"From the Centaur."

"Emmanuel?"

"Yeah, think that's his name."

"He's one of the best weaponsmiths across the realms," I stated as I re-sheathed the knife. "I don't know how, but he's improved his renowned spring load. It's impressive."

"Yeah. I liked it so much I bought another," he confessed. "Blade is top quality, too, beautifully crafted."

I started to remove the knife from my waist to return it.

"Keep it. I have others." He waved it away. "It's a decent blade, not as good as the Centaur's, but decent."

"You know your knives," I said. "But he creates incredible swords and axes, too."

"Don't know a thing about swords or axes. I only know knives." Tez turned away to tackle the root once again.

That was a bit odd—most people across the realms had at least a passing familiarity with swords. "Where did you grow up?" I asked.

He didn't answer, instead vanishing again over the root. I climbed over and landed on the other side, to see him paused halfway up the next. His bird was hovering in front of his face, and I thought she was twittering at him.

He waved her away and glanced toward me. Then he said, "I wasn't raised a realm traveler."

That surprised me. "Were you raised in a virgin realm?"

He froze and stared at me. "A what?"

"A realm that doesn't know anything about gateways or other worlds."

"Oh. Yes."

"Which one?"

He didn't answer right away, but then he said, "Until a few weeks ago, I thought I was human."

A few weeks? How did he get from the human realm to the top of Victor's organization in such a short time? Riggs's astonishment was clear in his mindvoice. And I thought I detected the merest hint of something else—grudging admiration.

It echoed my sentiments exactly. But something in Tez's voice had me proceeding with caution. "What happened?" I asked.

He navigated a few more roots before answering. "Back at home, I got in a sticky situation, and suddenly I had birds everywhere—the Serpent started to emerge. The Priesthood came after me. My grandmother hurried us away, to the realms."

He'd mentioned his grandmother before. We climbed in silence for a bit, and then, he finally said, "She died to protect me."

The words were said matter-of-factly, but I sensed the wealth of pain behind them. A hint of the hell he's been through over the last few weeks.

"I'm sorry," I said.

A pause, and then, "So am I."

His power emerged, and his life was forever altered. Caliel, his voice alarmingly weak. Fate has dealt him a brutal hand.

My heart twisted, and along the link, I sensed Riggs letting go of a tiny bit more of his hostility. Through his eyes, I saw that he was astride Tyrez, who was driving hard, flying into wind and pelting rain.

My mate finally summed it up with one line. Fate can be a real bitch, he growled .