The men let out terrified screams, batting at their arms and legs, feeling the assault but not able to see what it was.
“What the fuck? What is on me? Get it off!” The alternate leader yelled, the bag dropping from his grip, the torch hitting the damp grass with a hiss as it sputtered out. He clamored for his horse, getting on, his heels kicking into the animal. It galloped off, tearing across the dirt. The other men followed, racing back through the graveyard, their screams and howls trailing after them. The horse they brought for Vincent took off with its buddies, neighing and flicking its head.
I wanted to see the men burn.
“Kovacs.” I heard Warwick say my name, but my attention was still following the group through the cemetery.
“Brexley.” His shadow muttered deeply in my ear, my name feeling like the richest whiskey pouring over me. Arms wrapped around me, drawing me into his body though he wasn’t there. “Breathe, sotet démonom.” He snapped me out of my trance, breaking the connection with the ghosts. My lungs heaved for oxygen, my bones trembling with fatigue. I bent over my legs, sucking in gulps of air.
What the hell just happened?
My muscles twitched and tingled with adrenaline, recognizing a crash would be hitting me soon. Crickets buzzed in the air, echoing the silence around us.
“Brex?” Ash said my name quiet and low.
Slowly, I straightened, peering at them.
“What the fuck was that?” Ash stared at me with awe. Warwick was emotionless but for tightness in his shoulders and neck.
My mouth wouldn’t move, my body shaking.
“Whatever that was... it came from you.” Ash shook his head. “I felt it.”
A horse neighing in the night snapped our heads to the sound.
“We have to move.” Warwick shoved Vincent to the ground. The prisoner groaned, not trying to get up. Warwick strode over to the backpack, grabbing it, then made his way to me, slipping it on my shoulders, his knuckles brushing my cheek. “You all right?” he asked privately.
Nodding, I felt a sudden ease, like my energy was restoring. Wait. I blinked, my eyes darting up to his smirk, realizing that was exactly what he was doing. Intentionally.
Sharing energy wasn’t something new, but this felt different. Easy. Instinctual. So many other times, we stumbled into it or awkwardly used it against each other. This was like breathing air. The innate response to protect ourselves as well as each other. The link no longer saw a difference.
“Hey, guys?” Ash whistled. “Let’s go.”
“Better?” Warwick rumbled.
“Yes.” My breath hitched at the intensity and intimacy of the moment. Then it was gone. Warwick stomped over to his motorcycle, climbing on. Ash hopped on his.
“We’re gonna leave him here?” I motioned to Vincent on the ground.
“Not our problem anymore.” Warwick shrugged as the engine roared to life. “Get on, princess.” He jerked his chin to the space behind him. “They find him, or they don’t. Either way, I don’t give a fuck.”
My arms and thighs clasped Warwick as we tore off into the night, the bag with my father’s journal tucked safely between us.
Turning back to the graveyard. I could no longer see or feel the ghosts, like I depleted their energy this time... used it as my own.
And created my own army.
“Drágám!” Uncle Andris’s arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a hug. “I’ve been so worried about you.” Andris was there the moment we came down into the base, probably watching our entry on the cameras.
“I’m okay, nagybacsi.” I hugged him back, again surprised Scorpion hadn’t reached out in our link.
Andris released me, his dark eyes taking me in. “Now that I have you back, I sit with dread daily, fearing I will lose you again.”
“I’m stronger than I look.” I grinned at him.
Warwick snorted behind me, his fingers absently touching his side, where I stabbed him.
“I don’t doubt that.” Andris rubbed my arm. “Did you find it?”
“Yes.” I clenched the book against my chest.
Andris reached out for it, and oddly, I stepped back, tucking it in tighter.
“I won’t take it from you, my dear.”
“I know. I just want to look at it first.” I eased my shoulders down. “Before everyone.”
“I understand.” He nodded. “I’d like to see you as soon as you are ready. I might be able to understand things you do not.”
“Of course.” I wanted to be alone for a moment with my father’s journal. To at least flip through the pages, see what his last words were before it was taken away from me to analyze and debate. To them, it was possible evidence; to me, it was my dad’s soul.
“Okay, my dear, let me know. I will be in my office. There is a lot to take care of for tomorrow. It is crazy here on Samhain.” I had heard Samhain had become a mix of celebration for fae and remembrance of those they lost twenty years ago on the same night. In the last ten or more years, it had also become a time to protest for those suffering in Savage Lands as well, to let the governments know the people would not be ignored by bombing the gates of HDF and the fae palace.
Léopold went on total lockdown this night while we heard fireworks, celebrations, and protest outside the walls.
“Your birthday, it’s a big one this year,” Andris said.
“I don’t celebrate my birthday.” I shut him down. The instinct to reject the day was ingrained in my bones. Not only for the tragedy, but because growing up in a human world, anything rejoicing fae and their culture was deemed almost treasonous in Leopold. “Too much blood and death.”
“But also life, Kovacs. Yours and mine,” Warwick’s shadow muttered.
Andris’s head bowed in empathy, squeezing my arm before he walked away.
All I wanted was to head to an empty room and read, but I knew I had to check on everyone first.
When we entered the clinic room, Kek and Caden were gone. Only Lukas was there, but he was sitting up, a nurse rewrapping his wound, a flinch of pain over his face. Being a half-breed, you healed fast, but not as quickly as pure fae.
“Lukas!” I bumped the healer out of the way, hugging him. He still looked exhausted, but the color was back in his cheeks.
“Ow!” He laughed with a sharp inhale.
“Oh, sorry.” I cringed.
“Don’t be. I’ll live.” His smile dropped, a sadness flickering his eyes, realizing the choice of his words. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Ash told me Tracker and Ava didn’t make it.”
“I’m so sorry.” Compassion filled me. It was easy to forget that they had been Lukas’s team at Povstat, his family for a long time. Their deaths had to cut him deep.
His throat bobbed again, jaw clenching, and he looked away, dipping his head. He cleared his throat when Warwick and Ash strolled up.
“Thank you for saving me.”
“It’s really Ash you need to thank.” I nodded at the tree fairy. “He healed you and stayed, making sure you made it through.” Lukas’s head jerked to Ash. “He’s your knight in shining armor.”
“No big deal.” Ash shifted uncomfortably on his feet, embarrassed by the praise. “Just did what’s in my nature.”