Page 9 of Mistake of Magic
“Anyone make a move and I will slit your commander’s throat,” Coal informs the quint calmly.
They freeze, looking to their kneeling leader for instruction until Malikai manages to rasp, “Yield,” nicking his own throat on Coal’s blade in the process.
Withdrawing the sword, Coal shoves Malikai between the shoulder blades, sending the male’s face into the sand. “Get up and let’s do this again,” Coal says, now swinging his weapon in a lazy arc. “I’ve all the time in the world.”
6
River
River gave Coal an hour to work off his aggression before reining in the male. In truth, River would have gladly let Coal wipe the sand with Malikai all bloody day, but they could keep the Elders Council waiting for only so long.
As it was, by the time the five of them descended from the practice arena, a footman was already waiting impatiently to show them to a chamber where they could change and freshen up before attending the waiting council.
“You absolutely cannot go in your fighting leathers,” River growled at Coal, who’d been leaning against the wall as if the process in no way involved him.
“At least I have pants on,” Coal jerked his chin at Tye, who appeared to have forgotten about his own clothing as he watched Leralynn negotiate the formal dress Autumn had packed for her.
The luscious blue satin fit the girl’s curves with sinful perfection, its skirts full and shifting like water in the light slanting through the windows. Rows of tiny diamonds accented the tight bodice and flowered down the back, where the material narrowed to a sparkling column along Leralynn’s spine. The delicate cut of her shoulder blades peaked like wings beneath her smooth skin.
River swallowed, throwing cold water over his face in an effort to release the sudden tightness in his breeches. Shade’s low chuckle dispelled River’s hopes that the moment had gone unnoticed.
By the time the five approached the tower, the council’s patience had grown so thin that one of them was waiting outside. And not just anyone.
River stepped in front of Leralynn as the five approached Klarissa, who stood elegantly on the steps of the marble tower, her painted lips as bright as glowing embers. Despite being dressed in an elder’s formal robes, Klarissa was as feminine as always, the champagne diamond on her finger—the same color as her flowing silk robe—failing to melt her icy gaze. The sun, bouncing off the white stone at her back, created an aura of light around the female and played off the golden thread woven into her dark chignon.
And yet... Leralynn’s untamable waves of fiery hair somehow gave her a deliciously raw quality, a rugged sensuality that made Klarissa’s cold perfection feel stale in comparison.
“You do us too great an honor, meeting us outside the tower, Elder,” River said with a bow.
“I feared you might have forgotten the way,” Klarissa replied, her alto voice as musical as it was callous.
“How is wee Pyker?” Tye drawled casually, swaggering up on Klarissa’s other side. “Has the council tried him yet for treason?”
River swallowed a groan. Needling Klarissa, as damn good as it felt, was squarely outside the realm of “smart things to do” when going before the council. Not that prudency had ever stopped Tye from doing something before.
Klarissa’s hard eyes cut to the redhead, who blinked innocently. “Unfortunately, the rogue took his own life before justice could be served.”
“Indeed,” River said dryly. Now that Tye had started this conversation, there was little use in pretending they’d expected anything different. A death or two had never presented an obstacle to Klarissa’s agenda before, and there was no reason to expect it would now. River’s heart thumped a hard, even beat. The sooner they could get Leralynn away from the Citadel, the better he’d feel.
Draping his arms loosely behind his back, River followed Klarissa’s swaying hips up the four hundred seventy-seven steps lining the inside of the tower’s walls.The rhythmic click of the female’s heels against stone beat a contrast to Leralynn’s increasingly labored breathing behind him. River looked back.Stars.He forced his eyes away from the girl before all the blood in his body left his mind to visit more primal regions. Still, if he could just lift her into his arms and carry her up the steps...
“She wouldn’t like it,” Coal murmured at his back, too keenly for River’s comfort.
River grunted noncommittally. Why under all the stars the mortal female measured her physical prowess against theirs, he couldn’t fathom. Leralynn brought life to the quint—no one needed her to bring muscle to it too. They had more than enough brawn to go around.
Reaching the landing outside the council’s chamber, River let Klarissa go ahead while he and the others waited for Shade and Leralynn to catch up. The males had slowed in deference to Leralynn’s pace, but River could still smell the blood rushing too quickly beneath her blushing skin, her breathing harsh in her chest, her light dusting of freckles more pronounced than usual.
Stopping on the landing beside River, Leralynn braced her hand on the wall and smiled at him bravely, her dimples making his heart clench.
Shouldering Coal out of the way, Shade put the flat of his palm against the small of Leralynn’s back in a too-casual gesture that neither River nor any of his quint brothers missed. Leralynn stiffened, her eyes widening as her panting eased, her skin returning to its natural color.
“A useful trick,” she murmured to Shade, who raised his brows in a plea of innocence.
River longed to touch the girl as well, just to reassure himself that Leralynn was in fact real and there and all right. His heart quickened as he took a step toward her. Stars. River was over five hundred years old, and somehow, closing the three-pace distance to Leralynn frightened him more than any battle. It was absurd. It was stupid. It was—
It was too late. River stepped aside as Tye beat him to it, putting his hands on Leralynn’s face and brushing a soft kiss right over those luscious lips.
“Just in case you’d forgotten about me, lass,” Tye said, his cocky voice filling the landing. “Not that it’s likely.”
