Page 239 of Bitten & Burned
Quil put his hand out to stop us, and he strode forward, cupping his hands around his mouth. He yelled loudly into the night. “Ashbornes! If you allow us safe passage with our bounty, you may keep Dun Drummond for your own. You will never see us here again.” After that, Quil made a sound that could have been a wolf howling, if not so jagged and raspy. It made my hair stand on end.
There were muffled and hushed words that flew through the air like flies on a rotting carcass, but soon came an answering sound to the howl that Quil had emitted.
Quil smirked and nodded at the rest of us. “Let’s go.”
“What did you say? What did he reply?” asked Vael.
“Doesn’t really translate, but I suppose I told him to ‘end the hunt’. He agreed. We’ll be safe to leave now.”
“Ah,” Vael said with a nod.
It was then that Silas started to look worried, tied from head to toe and bouncing on Dmitri’s shoulder. “What are they… Why are they just listening to you? Letting you pass? I… they getnothingif not from me!”
Dmitri chuckled as Silas started to struggle. Wriggling around like a worm.
“Stop it! Stop them, you inbred goons! You belong to me! You obey only me!Stop them!! I command you!!”
“He’s going to give me a headache if I have to listen to him the whole way,” I said, reaching up and rubbing the back of my neck.
“Ah, yes, of course…” Vael stuffed a handkerchief in Silas’s mouth, which muffled him considerably.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much.”
Forty
FINISHED
Kravenspire, Sol, Verdune
16 Vony, Year 810
Even though he’dbeen caged in stone walls and enchanted iron chains beneath Halemont for the past two nights, Silas’s presence somehow leaked through just as it had when we first dragged him through the house, like it was staining the very air we breathed. I could almost hear him even through the locked doors, spewing his poison, waiting for me in the dark.
I stepped down the stairs, moving slowly as I made my way down into the dungeon once again. The air was damp, which made my skin feel clammy and cold.
Quil and Dmitri both followed me, but they’d promised to hang back until I was done.
“I’ll be right here for you, Sweetheart,” Quil murmured.
“You can do this, Mishka,” Dmitri added.
Both pet names felt fitting in this moment. I was Quil’s Sweetheart, but I was also Dmitri’s Mishka. I was sweet until I wasn’t. Dangerous when I needed to be.
It smelled better than last time, since we'd gotten Rellin’s corpse out. Now it just smelled like old blood and mildew. Still terrible, but at least it wasn’t Rellin’s gangrene stench.
With every step I took forward, I wanted to run back to the safety above.
Run back to Vael’s arms.
To Anton’s.
To Cassian’s.
And they would accept me. They’d allow me to hide with them.
But I knew I had to face him. I had to do this. I had promised myself I would. Silas deserved justice.
