Page 36 of Tamhas

13

Keira

Irubbed the side of my face, where I’d slammed it into the back of Tamhas. I’d never run into a brick wall before, but I imagined it feeling similar.

Oh, terrific. The woman whose jaw I’d kicked was standing there, smirking, looking at the two of us. We were so close to escaping, too.

She noticed the way I rubbed my cheek. “Hmm. How does it feel?”

I shot her the filthiest look I could manage. And I could manage a lot.

“What are you two doing out here?” Tamhas asked.

The man with her—I hadn’t seen him before then—spoke up. “Waiting for you. Ainsley was certain you would try to flee.”

“And he owes me fifty dollars now,” she reminded him, jabbing an elbow into his side.

He winced, then winked at her.

“Ainsley. Klaus. Don’t do this. Please.” Tamhas held up his hands, palms facing out. “Please. I don’t want to fight you, but I will.”

Ainsley’s eyes shifted from Tamhas to me. “She means that much to you?” she asked.

“What do you think?” He took my hand.

“Listen.” Klaus stepped between Ainsley and the two of us. “Nobody needs to fight right now. We’re on your side.”

“Are you, now?” Tamhas laughed. “That’s rich. Did Alan put you up to this?”

“Since when are you so paranoid?” Ainsley asked.

“He’s your brother. Why would you betray his confidence?”

Her face worked, like she was trying to find the words. “For one, I would do the same if it were Klaus in that cell. And for another, we’re not here to help you get away.”

“You’re not? You’re here to take us back?” he snarled.

The energy coming from him was intense enough to almost scare me. Not that he’d hurt me—I knew instinctively that he never would—but that he might hurt Ainsley for my sake.

As irritating as she was, I didn’t want him to bring that sort of heat down on his head. Not on my account.

“We’re not trying to help you escape,” Klaus informed him before glancing at me. “My apologies, but that isn’t why we were waiting. We were merely hoping to keep you from doing something terribly foolish.”

I glared at Ainsley. “Foolish? Leaving before you had the chance to kill me is foolish? How so?” I wished I’d had the chance to finish her off earlier. Maybe I’d get lucky and get a second chance.

“If he went with you, deliberately kept you away from the clan, things would be much worse,” she informed me. “You’d have the entire clan at your heels. You would never have a moment’s peace.”

“You paint a rather bleak picture,” Tamhas observed.

“And a rather realistic one,” Klaus replied. “She’s right. What we had intended to do, instead, was to ask Mary about the presence of the Blood Moon Priestesses. Do they still exist? Do they practice their craft?”

I couldn’t help but ask. “What does that mean to me? Any of it?” And who was Mary? Another dragon I had never met? Whoever she was, she sounded important.

“If the Blood Moon Priestesses are no longer in existence as a coven, it stands to reason that you aren’t here because of your association with them.” Ainsley’s voice was gentler than before. Much kinder, too. “We’re hoping she’ll find nothing, in other words.”

“And if they’re still in existence?” Tamhas asked. “What will happen then?

Klaus and Ainsley looked at each other, then back at him. Neither of them wanted to say it. They didn’t have to. I squeezed his hand and forced the most natural smile as I could.

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