Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (94 page)

Her terror
twists
like a knife thrust in me
.
“You don
’t need to do this,” I whisper
to her.
“Stay
here
with Preben!”

Shaking her head slowly, Anya’s green eyes me
e
t mine.
“Don’
t underestimate
me, Evie,” she says in a voice that quivers
. “You need me.”

“Y
ou’re afraid,” I state
, not like a question.

“Yes,” she ad
mits as her chin bobs
. “I’
m f
reaking out—the bad kind
, but that’
s a small sacrifice for
love
.”

Facing away from me, toward
s
the doors, Anya
takes a position
between my arms.
Pressing her wings in tight
to her body, s
he mak
e
s
me lift
the battle
axe so that I grasp
the shaft in both my han
ds with the handle
resting against her abdomen.
Glancing a
t me over her shoulder, she says
, “Now,
it looks like
I’m your prisoner.”

I breathe
a heavy sigh, attempting to calm my lurching heart. “Op
en the doors, Preben,” I order
, meeting his
eyes.

His jaw tightens
as he struggl
es
with hi
s need to protect us, but he does
what I ordered
and pulls
the ba
rdiche from the handles. H
e swi
ng
s
the doors wide.
Brennus i
s no l
onger near the threshold. He has
moved back into the center of the room. The hazy veil
that shrouds
the magical real
m distorts
his image, making him
wa
ver like the smoke from a fired gun.

“Here we go,” I breathe
low
into Anya’s ear, while we
both
step
forward, breaking the plane of the room.

Weightlessness captures
me
,
and
with it,
a sense of floating in a soundless night sky. My
hair
spread
s
out around me
, like
in
the ambient submersion of
water, but my skin remains
cool
and dry. Abruptly
that changes
,
replaced by
the rush of tumbling and
falling sideways.

In the next moment, Anya and I
a
re sprawled upon the hard, flagstone floor of a very different Knight’s Bar. In this realm, the kirk is twice as big and the proportions are entirely off.
The vaulted ceiling is cavernous, lofting high above my head.
The gothic chandeliers that levitate beneath
the exposed beams are enormous, three times as big as
the ones in the
destroyed
bar had been. The rosette window
s
are la
r
ger and different, too. They no longer contain shattered shards of colorful stained glass but now are covered in an in
ky, shifting film that projects
a starry sky filled with an orbiting array of planets.

The
armor lining the walls i
s
no longer human either, but the
collection of F
aerie armor that had been stored within the Archive Room.
It shi
ne
s
like polished diamonds, reflecting against the dark, Celtic knots
carved into the
walls.
And within every suit of a
rmor, a Gancanagh soldier stares
back at me with cold, dark eyes.
They stan
d in divisions along the capricious room and arching galleries a
bove
.

Get
ting to my feet, I wait
for Anya to rise ne
xt to me. Her hair, li
ke mine, waves
and floats
, as if
it's
caught in a current of
a magical pool.
Seeing the in
tense fear in her eyes, I want
to tak
e her hand again, but I resist
the impulse.
Something slid
es
quickly across
my peripheral vision, drawing my gaze to it. Brennus
move
s
with such speed,
s
peed I ca
n’
t remembe
r him ever possessing, to stand
just a few feet fr
om me. Startled, my mouth opens
a little, betraying my shock.

Without me seei
ng him do it, his finger reach
es
out and touch
es
my chin
, gently closing my parted lips
.
My
nostrils
fla
r
e
in fear, while my eyes go wide.
He’
s hundreds of times faster than me!

Seeming to read my mind, a smile spread
s
too quickly upon his li
ps; it
doesn’
t
develop, but is
just there in a fraction of a second.
“If dis were music,
mo chroí
,” Brennus explains
, “y
e’
d be playing in adagio…slow tempo. Ye didn’t believe that I would let ye in here wi’out some kind of promise that I could c
ontrol ye,
did ye?” he asks
me
as h
is voice chu
rns
the air around me in
pelting
rhythms of ominous sound.

“Somehow I knew that y
ou’d find a way to make me
claw my way off your playground—
”
I begin, but I stop and wince as Brennus reaches out and squeezes my upper arm tight. It’s a not so subtle signal for me to shut up.

His Cheshire-cat grin swi
m
s
near my face as he exposes
his sharp fang
s that mak
e my skin ache with the
echo
es
of remembered
pain.

“Shhh,
síorghrá
,” he croons while he dra
w
s
my face
up
to
his chest; it presses
against the heavy fabric of his dark suit jacket. Holding one hand to the bac
k of my neck he strokes
my hair
with his other hand.
“A
s bad as I like ye right now,
’
tis
worse wi’out ye. Do na make me kill ye.”

I want to lift my cheek from him
to scan the room
for Reed, but I dare
not move.
“Who is dis ye’v
e brought wi’ ye?” Brennus asks
in a brittle
tone. His hand on my neck isn’t
allow
ing me to move, so I ca
n’t see Anya at all.

Heat spread
s
to my
cheeks while my stomach twists. “A gift…” I utter
feeling choked.

“Is it now
?” Brennus asks
with doubt in his tone. “
’
Tis said dat
’
tis only for her own good dat da cat purrs. Whah about dis gift makes ye purr?”

“She’
s special,” I reply
.

“
She’
s na
da o
ther.
Y
e believe
dat I would take jus
any
aingeal
?” he growls
, his fingers thread into my hair, tipping my head to the side so that my neck is exposed
.
His lips move to my throat and I feel his fangs puncture the surface of my skin.

“No—” I exhale
,
but
I
c
a
n’t say anymore
because his
hand tighte
ns
on my throat threateningly
.

He doesn’
t drink
,
but pulls
back a little to hover over the small hole
s on my neck that begin to well up with blood
.
He inhales the scent of it
.
“I told ye ta bring da o
ther.
Ye disobeyed me
.
If ye
intend for me ta kill ye—
ta send ye off ta some other place where ye’ll be safe from me
,
dan
ye’re mistaken
.
I’
ll na let ye be destroyed. Ye need ta begin to hear me
aga
in
, ta know dat I am yer king
. Pain is a good teacher. A good thrashing
will go a long way wi’
ye.
”
His hands shift to my bottom, rubbing it softly.

“No,” I whisper
.

“
Dún do chlab
,” Brennus says
with menace, telling me to
s
hut my gob
as
his hands squeeze me threateningly
. His black hair has
fallen
over
his forehead in disarray
.
“
Ye will be punished, but dat
will be later...in private. Ye’
re stil
l me queen and da fellas need ta
respect ye.
”

I shiver at what Bren
nus has planned for me.
“
And you
’
r
e
very sadistic and you’
ll
enjoy it too much to do it now,”
I say in a low tone.

“
Dere is dat too,
mo chroí
,
”
Brennus admits with a cunning
smile. “
I plan to enjoy every moment of it
—of ye
.
”

“
If yo
u do that, I’ll hate you,”
I promise
.

“When I do dat, I’ll own ye,”
he replies.
“
But for now, dere is other pain ye need to learn.
”
Before I can
think
, Brennus
order
s
, “Kill dis
aingeal
!”

“
Tristitia
e
!” I snarl
blackly
at Brennus.

Brennus ho
ld
s
up his hand, stayi
ng the handful of fellas who circle
Anya with vicious smile
s. “You said you wanted revenge! W
ell
,
I’m giving it to you!” I sneer
. “If you kill her now, then you’ll have to come up with another plan
to get Russell because your
last idea completely
FAILED!”

In an instant
,
Brennus’ cool fingers entwine
in
my hair at the back of my head
, tilting my
face up to his. My breath catches in my lungs as he
half pulls half drags me over to face Anya. My hands reach out to his sleeve to steady myself as my feet stumble along.

Anya’
s eyes widen
as I come to an abrupt halt in front of her. Brennus leans down and
inhales
the scent of my skin
before his soft breath tickles
me.
“Ye mus
t explain whah ye mean
when ye say me
plan failed
,
mo chroí
,” Brennus whispers
in my ear.

Feeling like my knees might
buckle from fear, I reach
out to him, resting my hands on his shoulders for suppo
rt. “
Tristitia
e
,” I whisper
, “y
ou to
ld me once that it means sorrow—
that it’s my weakness.”