Page 87 of Rising

“I thought they were Pansies!” Reina said defensively. “I was closing in on a deer and he got in my way.”

Moe wiped the blood off Wrath, sheathing her. “And after the first arrow, we couldn’t let them squeal. It’s fine. Think they were alone,” she justified.

The handprints around her throat indicated there’d been more of a fight than they’d let on.What the fuck were they doing out there?

“Theonetime you two go off alone, this is what you do?” I scolded, tossing Reina her pack, trying to speed up our departure.

Alexiares let out a deep groan. “Do you know where we are?” he asked, as if it were basic knowledge.

Before the words had cleared his pink lips, a group of hounds dashed into the clearing and seven soldiers in their wake, guns drawn. They were in terrible condition. If it were different circumstances, I’d be congratulating my friends for putting up a good fight. A few of them had obviously been involved in the altercation, their eyes and frame of their noses purple and badly bruised. Their black uniforms shredded through.

I lifted my hands into the air and glared at my friends. “No Tomoe, I’d say they werenotalone.”

“Let me handle this,” Alexiares muttered under his breath, taking a step forward and placing his body between the armed men and our group. “My name is Alexiares Drakos, and it’s in your best interest to take medirectly, to Caelon Thomas.”

A soldier with fiery hair snarled at him. “We know who you are,traitor. Thought we wouldn’t switch up our patrols with your running free in the wild?”

“And Cael Thomas isn’t here to save your ass this time,” another rasped. The tight coils of his hair peering from beneath his hood.

“And why is that?” Alexiares challenged, rings sliding down his fingers one by one, as he worked each hand at a time behind his back.

“Slide another one down and I’ll blow her fucking head off.” The voice making me jump. I’d assumed it’d been Moe or Reina coming up behind me. A gun stabbed into the crown of my head as four more men came out the brush, flanking our sides.

The man pressed the gun against my skull for emphasis. “Cause he’s dead.”

“Died not too long after you left actually,” the one with curly hair teased.

“Got real sick, real fast they say,” another chimed in. The group clearly enjoying the game of telephone they were playing.

He closed his eyes, his chest rising as he took a deep breath. “Who’s in charge.”

Not a question, no. He knew the answer, just needed it confirmed.

“Finley. Your wife.” The soldiers chuckled, but made no further movement.

My bones stiffened and my blood went cold. She was here, had to be. They were stalling, waiting for their true leader to arrive.

“Really, like what she’s done with the place if I’m being honest,” the one with fiery hair said, tossing his head in signal for the group to move in.

The guard behind me slapped a metal cuff around my wrist, pulling it down and behind my back. Commotion rang out behind me as Seth tossed his head, head-butting the man who’d attempted to cuff him as Moe brought her boot down onto his skull. A shot rang out and Seth went down, grasping at his knee as blood poured out the wound.

My ears rang from the shot, hearing nothing but muffles as time slowed down. Reina’s face came into frame. She used all her strength to drag the smaller woman soldier who’d managed to cuff her, tears cascading down fueled by the water magic that lay beneath her skin. Kicking and screaming, trying to get to Seth and Moe who had now locked her legs around the soldier who’d stood over Seth, attempting to get the cuffs around his hands as he grasped his knee in shock.

It was chaos. Alexiares stood to my left, trying to reason with the soldier who still had a gun trained on the back of my head. A plea telling them he knew how to get us to stop, to call his men off. I slapped his gun away, lunging for my friends, wanting to put my body between them and the wicked men digging into them.

The soldier ignored him.

My knees gave out from under me, and I was down too. Blood gushing from the wound in my thigh, an attempt to get Moe and Reina to calm down. It hadn’t worked, only fueled Moe more, put her in survivor mode as Reina kicked her feet out towards anyone who came close. Alexiares pressed his hand onto my thigh, trying to stop the blood, shooting out bursts of flame at anyone who attempted to pull him away.

His rings were gone, yet he remained in control.

I felt his body tense. The pressure remained on my wounds, but he’d frozen in time, eyes wide. I turned my head, wanting to see what had spooked him as a strikingly beautiful woman strode from the tree line. Her face defined by sharp cheekbones and a prominent nose, her eyebrows dark and thick in contrast to her wavy light hair.

Her blue eyes settled on Alexiares, then down at me. The woman from Moe’s vision, just as she had described her.

“Finley,” I whispered weakly to Alexiares, seeking confirmation.

It was her that answered, “In the flesh.”

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