A dry bark escaped Caden. It took Shea a second to realize it was a laugh.
“Fallon lives to keep the people he cares about safe. He’s done all this to build the foundation of something that will guarantee the survival of the family he intends to have someday. You willingly jeopardizing that is not going to go over well.”
“Family?”
Caden sighed, his intense gaze meeting hers. “You. And whatever children the two of you create.”
Shea’s faintness returned.
“I thought I was just a passing fancy. That he’d eventually grow bored and move on,” she whispered.
Caden snorted. “For all your brains, you’re a bit slow.”
He stood and shook his head. Shea watched him go with an open mouth.
Family. Her. And Fallon.
She’d just begun to accept that they might have a chance at a small romance. That she might have some feelings for him. That she’d miss him if he was no longer in this world.
Last night. She’d accepted that fact last night.
She wasn’t ready for the rest of it. And definitely not the tiny people who would depend on her for everything. No. Just no.
“Bring the traitor. Fallon will want to see her,” Caden ordered. He pointed to a third man. “You. Help the idiot down to the valley. Things should be wrapping up there by now.”
The trip went quicker than she would have thought. In her pursuit, she had steered dangerously close to the battle and was more than half way there already.
Fallen had indeed wrapped things up and emerged victorious from the ambush. The lack of attack from above combined with the poor timing of the two ambush groups had worked in Fallon’s favor. His men had routed their attackers handily, sustaining no casualties on their side and only minor injuries.
The enemy had been decimated. Bodies clad in black were strewn between the trees, their life’s blood watering the forests’ roots. Only a handful had been left alive. Shea had little hope they were long for this world.
Amid this carnage was Fallon, standing apart from the rest.
“My lord, we’ve brought you a present,” Caden announced. “It seems you were right, and she couldn’t resist watching your defeat.”
Indra was shoved to her knees at Fallon’s feet, her hair grabbed and head dragged back.
Fallon’s eyes skipped over Indra to land on Shea’s blood stained figure. He stiffened. Rage gripped his face, flooding the air around him until the nearest people took a step away. Indra whimpered.
Even Shea, all the way across the clearing, fought to keep from retreating. It was scary. He was scary. His anger, so intense that it felt like the roar of a wildfire, singed her skin even at this distance. It was like being stared at by a great, wild beast held in check by only a thought.
His eyes shot to Caden. “I thought I told you to keep her hidden and safe.”
Caden glared dourly at Shea. “She had other thoughts. She chased the woman down before I could stop her.”
Fallon’s eyes said they would discussing this later. Shea’s responded that there was nothing up for discussion.
He finally looked down at the woman at his feet. The rage drained from him, leaving a dispassionate disinterest in its place.
In a way, that unsettled Shea more than the anger. You could accomplish some truly heinous things once emotion has been tucked away.
Anger dies, eventually, if you sate it with enough blood. Hate fades. Grief dwindles. There are reasons behind emotion. Such is not the case with true detachment.
“Where is her blade?”
Caden held out the blade Indra had used during her fight with Shea. Fallon took it, examining the dried red still staining it.
Shea’s blood. She swallowed hard, not liking seeing evidence of it outside her body, where it did not belong.
She wanted, no, needed, to sit down. Shea stiffened her legs. There would be no showing weakness right now. Not with the air so thick with tension and anger she nearly choked on it.
It was the response of a wild animal, trying to avoid the attention of a bigger predator.
Fallon touched the blade gently. His arm flashed out carving a path down Indra’s arm and leg before she could react.
For one long moment, there was silence as she stared up at him disbelieving. Then, a small sound escaped. A longer wail followed as Indra fought against her two captors, trying to stand, to get away.
The wounds Fallon had made were in the exact same spots as Shea’s.
“Who are your co-conspirators?” Caden asked.
“No one,” she cried.
Nobody moved as Fallon drew the blade down the opposite arm.
“You are not smart enough or bold enough to have planned all of these assassination attempts. Tell us who helped you.” Caden crouched beside her. “Tell us quick, and we’ll give you a clean death.”
“I was in it alone.”
Shea couldn’t help feeling a grudging smidgeon of respect. Not much. Just a hint really.
Caden heaved a sigh and stood. Fallon joined him.
“Shea, come here,” Fallon ordered.
Shea didn’t care for being called to heel but obeyed. She didn’t know how he would react to any resistance in his current frame of mind.
Fallon’s hands lightly skated over the bandage on her arm and leg before one came to light softly on her neck. A thumb lightly caressed the skin there, sending a shiver racing down her back.
Speaking to Indra without taking his eyes from Shea’s face, he said, “You hurt the one most precious to me. Do not imagine for a moment that I retain even an ounce of mercy for you.”
“Your precious one,” Indra nearly spat out the last two words, “is nothing more than a mongrel’s leavings. She is not fit for even the lowliest of our people. I only wish I had finished her when I had the chance.”
“But you couldn’t,” Shea snapped. “You weren’t good enough. This lowly mongrel beat you. I won. You lost.”
Fallon’s lips twisted into a semblance of a smile as his hands dropped from Shea. “This woman is going to rule at my side as I conquer these lands and lead my people into a golden age of prosperity. Our children will rule long after we have left this world and their children after them.”
Shit. He really did plan on children.
No, she hadn’t agreed to that yet.
“They will do this never having heard of you or the Snake Clan. In my future, there are only six clans. I am going to wipe every person who ever claimed kinship with the snake from this world. You have a child among the snake, if I remember correctly.”
“No,” Indra moaned, her mask of calm superiority crumbling. “You can’t. He’s just a babe. He has nothing to do with this.”
Shea felt a stirring of unease.
“Fallon-,”
Caden grabbed her and rasped, “Hush. Trust him.”
“I can and I will. You know me well enough to know I never say anything I don’t mean. Give us a name, and I will merely disband your clan. Those who were ignorant of this plot will be allowed to petition the other clans for entry. This is the best offer you will get.”
“No other clan will take someone from a clan tainted with this,” she said bitterly. “You will doom my son to grow up clanless.”
“At least he will grow up,” Fallon said fiercely. “Now, a name. I will not ask again.”