Page 70 of Honour Bound
‘Kirsty?’
‘Mmph?’
I gestured to Bob to get out of the way. He stuck out his tongue but did as I requested. Kirsty opened one eye, fixing it on me. It took a moment or two for recognition to set in and, as soon as it did, her expression hardened. ‘You.’
‘Me,’ I said cheerfully. ‘Good to see you’re awake again.’ I peered at her. ‘How do you feel?’
‘Okay, I guess,’ she said grudgingly, pushing herself away from the tree. ‘Where the hell are we?’
I grinned.
She opened her other eye and looked around. As she glanced from tree to tree, I saw awareness set in as she realised how isolated we were. ‘We’re in the forest.’
‘That’s why there are trees. What did the little tree say to the big tree?’ Kirsty blinked at me as if I were mad. ‘Leaf me alone!’
She got to her feet and began to back away.
‘It was a joke,’ I tried to explain. ‘Not an order.’
‘What are you going to do to me?’
I frowned. ‘Er … nothing.’
‘If you hurt me, people will find out about it!’
I put my hands on my hips. ‘Kirsty,’ I sighed. ‘You’ve been unconscious for hours. If I wanted to hurt you, don’t you think I’d have already done so?’ I ignored the fact that I had hurt her by stealing her Gift but Bob raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t going to forget it.
Kirsty rubbed her forehead and continued to back away. ‘Something’s wrong,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t feel right. What have you done to me?’
My insides tightened. ‘Besides carry you here so you didn’t die of hypothermia? Nothing,’ I said, crossing my fingers. ‘You’re the one who tried to attack me, remember?’ Then, because my first attempt at a joke had fallen so flat and I needed to get her to relax so we could get going again, I said, ‘What did the lipstick say to the mascara when it tried to pick a fight?’ I paused. ‘Let’s make-up!’
Unfortunately my words seemed to have the opposite effect and Kirsty completely freaked. She spun round, narrowing avoiding smacking into Bob. Luckily she was so panicked that she didn’t see him. Then she started running, streaking through the trees with admirable speed considering she’d only just woken up.
‘She’s smarter than I gave her credit for,’ Bob said as we watched her. ‘Your jokes make me want to run away screaming too.’
‘She’s not screaming,’ I pointed out.
There was a sudden high-pitched shriek. ‘She is now,’ Bob said.
‘Shite.’ I took off after her. The forests of Scotland, even in Sidhe country, rarely contained dangerous creatures but I’d already come across one set of strange tracks. It was possible there was something else out there. I pelted forward, ready to rescue Kirsty once again.
However, it wasn’t a dangerous sharp-toothed, three-legged monster that had Kirsty in its clutches: it was Byron and Tipsania.
‘She’s trying to kill me!’ Kirsty howled. ‘Help me!’ She clutched at Byron, wrapping her arms round him in a way that made even Tipsania raise her eyebrows.
I came to a stop as Byron looked over Kirsty’s head. He didn’t seem surprised to see me. ‘I might have known you’d catch up,’ he grinned.
My stomach did an odd twist as Tipsania rolled her eyes. ‘Honestly. Integrity is obviously trying to hurt her competition and take us out one by one.Lookat the Kincaid girl,’ she snapped.
‘Help me!’ Kirsty moaned.
Exasperation overtook me. ‘Oh for goodness’ sake, I’m not trying to hurt you! Ihelpedyou. Use your damned Gift to find out.’
Kirsty twisted round, her back firmly against Byron’s chest. She took a deep breath as she tried to compose herself. She really was terrified.
‘It’s alright, Kirsty,’ Byron murmured, with a questioning glance at me.
‘Are you going to hurt me?’ she demanded.
