Страница 131 из 162
What I saw almost brought me to my knees.
“Hawke!” I cried out, too relieved to be embarrassed about how I sounded as I started toward him. “Thank the gods, you’re okay.”
“Stay back from him.” Phillips caught my arm.
I went to pull free of Phillips as I saw that Hawke carried something in his hand. It looked like a curved bow, but it was mounted to a handle of some sort, and a bolt was already nocked, somehow held in place. Whatever. It would work. “Kill him!” I shouted, slipping free of Phillips. “He was the one—”
A hulking shape appeared behind him, so huge it nearly reached Hawke’s chest. Kieran prowled toward him. My heartbeat stuttered. “Hawke, behind you!” I screamed.
Phillips caught me around the waist, dragging me back as Hawke lifted the strange bow. Kieran was almost on him, and I didn’t see any bloodstone on the bow. It wouldn’t kill him.
Hawke’s gaze met mine. “It’s okay.”
Without any warning, Phillips was torn away from me. I fell forward, landing on my knees. My braid slipped over my shoulder as I looked behind me, half expecting to see the wolven with Phillips in his grasp.
The wolven from the Queen’s Garden hadn’t moved, but Phillips…
Phillips was leaning against the pole, the sword lying on the straw. Wait. He was leaning because his feet weren’t even touching the ground, and something dark dripped onto the straw. I looked up.
I couldn’t even scream as my stomach roiled. Hawke had fired the bow. I hadn’t even seen him do it, but he had. The bolt had gone through Phillips’ mouth and through the pole, pi
Shuddering, I heard Luddie shouting. I dragged my gaze from Phillips as I turned back to Hawke.
In wolven form, Kieran stalked right past him, his large head low to the straw as he sniffed the air. Luddie charged him, but he lost his footing, falling forward.
I took a breath, but pressure squeezed it right back out of me.
Luddie hadn’t tripped.
The black bolt had caught him in the back. Stepping out from behind one of the horses was the guard who’d greeted us at the door the day before. Delano. He had those pale eyes, too. Eyes that I now knew belonged to the wolven. He lowered the bow.
Bryant bolted.
Spi
I cranked my head away at the wet crunch that echoed through the barn.
Then there was silence.
I saw the man who’d killed Rylan stride forward, his long-legged pace loose and relaxed. He smirked down at me. “I’m so glad I’m here to witness this moment.”
“Shut up, Jericho,” Hawke replied, tone flat.
Slowly, I looked at Hawke. He stood where he’d stopped, the wind lifting and tossing those dark strands of hair back from his striking face. He appeared as he had when he left the room in the middle of the night, like he had hours before that when he’d kissed me, touched me, and held me in his arms.
But he stood there with a bloodied wolven standing next to him.
“Hawke?” I whispered, my free hand grasping at the damp straw under me.
He stared at me, and my gift came alive. The invisible cord reached out, forming a co
I drew back, my chest rising and falling. Something had to be wrong with my gift. Only the Ascended lacked emotions. Not mortals. Not Hawke. But it was like the co
As formidable as the wall I built around myself when I tried to keep my gift locked inside. Was he…was he blocking me? Was that even possible?
“Please tell me I can kill her,” Jericho said. “I know exactly what pieces I want to cut up and send back.”
“Touch her, and you’ll lose more than a hand this time.” The coldness in Hawke’s tone chilled me to my very soul. “We need her.” His gaze never left me. “Alive.”