“I don’t suppose you can use your wilderness skills to go hunt us something fresh?” I asked.
He smiled, the campfire casting strange shadows on his face, now that night had fully come. “I would if there was anything alive out here. It’s just us.” He eyed me, taking in my shivering. “Don’t you own a warmer coat?”
“Where am I going to get a down coat in Tucson?” I demanded.
“This time of year? Any sporting goods store. For the skiers. Lara could order you one if you can’t be troubled.”
“I think Lara and Tim are in love,” I said abruptly, remembering that bizarre development.
“What?” asked Kiyo, as astonished as I had been. “Are you sure?”
“Well, they’re in infatuation, at least. Volusian, were they together when you went back?”
My minion was off in the shadows, only his red eyes visible. “Yes, mistress. They were in bed, their bodies naked and—”
“Okay, okay, stop,” I exclaimed. “I don’t need to hear anymore.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Kiyo. While we’d dated, he’d been witness to their phone battles. “But I guess stranger things have happened.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Look at us. We’re sitting in an iron landscape, being led by a ghost to a mythical object, which—if it even exists—may or may not make me scary enough to end a war.”
“Fair point,” said Kiyo, his smile returning. We sat in companionable silence. It was a nice change from the animosity and tension that had surrounded us for so long. I’d missed him, I realized. “Eugenie?”
“Hmm?” I glanced up, feeling embarrassed by my thoughts.
“Why didn’t you bring Roland with you? He could’ve fought unaffected. And God knows he doesn’t want gentry power.”
I looked away from those dark eyes, down at the fire’s blue heart. “He doesn’t want me to have gentry power either.”
“Yeah, but he’d put that aside if he knew you were walking into—”
“He doesn’t know anything,” I said bluntly. My voice then grew soft. “We aren’t speaking anymore.”
“How …” Kiyo paused, no doubt trying to wrap his mind around this. “How is this possible?”
I shrugged. “He cut me off. When he found out I’d been keeping the truth from him, about the Thorn Land and everything else … Well, ever since what happened with Leith, he’s refused to speak to or acknowledge me.”
“But your mom …”
“Talks to me occasionally. She’s caught in the middle, and I don’t want to make it harder on her than it already is. She shouldn’t have to go against her husband.”
Kiyo’s confusion was becoming anger. “Yeah, but you’re her daughter! She should be able to—”
“Just forget it, okay?” I drew my knees up to me and wrapped my arms around them to draw in more warmth. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Eug, I’m sorry.”
I kept quiet. There was nothing to say.
He cleared his throat. “I don’t suppose you brought anything else to keep you warm? Blankets? Camping supplies?”
“I didn’t think about the possible overnight part,” I said, grateful for the subject shift. “I’ve got a change of clothes like these, food, weapons, and first aid supplies.”
“You brought first aid stuff?” He sounded impressed. “It’s not like you to think ahead. Er, I mean, you don’t usually worry about—”
“I know what you mean,” I said with a weary smile. “And don’t worry, the universe is the same. I didn’t plan ahead. It’s for current injuries.”
“Current?”
“I got hit by a table.”
There might be a million reasons that Kiyo and I were wrong for each other, but one nice thing was that when I made a statement like that, he just didn’t question it.
I was still freezing when it came time to sleep, forcing Kiyo into a bold suggestion. “Come sleep over here, between me and the fire. The cold doesn’t bug me as much, and I can block the wind.”
“Kiyo—”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Dorian. But if he wanted me here to protect you, then here’s the perfect chance. Besides, we all know you can kick my ass if I try anything.”
I said and did nothing. When this continued for about a minute, he sighed and lay down on his side, back to the wind. I attempted the same, after ordering Volusian to stay on watch, but even with the fire’s warmth, I was still cold. I’m tough, I’m tough. I played those words over and over through my head, not wanting to admit weakness. After about fifteen minutes, I gave in and crawled over to Kiyo’s side of the fire.
There was no “I told you so.” He simply made room but was surprised when I positioned myself to face him.
“I thought you’d want your back to me.”
“Can’t,” I said. “That’s where the injuries are.”
“From the table.”
“Right.”
He could have attempted propriety by turning over so his back faced me, but that would have put his face to the wind. He didn’t deserve that. I wiggled myself closer, curling myself against his body, and resting my head against his chest. He was big enough that he did almost completely shield me. His whole body stood still as I made myself comfortable, either from his astonishment or for my ease. Once I was settled, he relaxed slightly and tried to put his arms around me. He suddenly fumbled and pulled them away, grazing my breast as he did. I don’t know if he noticed. I certainly did.
“Wait. Where are you hurt?”
“Back. Left shoulder.”
Tentatively, he reached out again and wrapped his arms around my waist. “This okay?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Holding me, he shifted closer so that our bodies pressed together, holding in the warmth. “This?”
“Fine.”
He relaxed again and exhaled. Tucked against him, I couldn’t see his face but had the sneaking suspicion that I wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight. Survival-wise, this plan was sound. I was warm(ish) now, protected and heated by him. But I was also pressed up against a body that I knew intimately, one that used to move in mine with a possessive fierceness. Dorian claimed me with mind games and exquisite acts of dominance. Kiyo had always done it through strength and ferocity, an animal taking his mate.
I bit my lip and closed my eyes, hoping I’d fall asleep if I mentally enumerated the reasons we’d broken up. But mostly, I kept remembering how his hand had lightly rubbed my breast. Sleep finally took me, but it was a long time in coming. As I drifted off, I wondered how he was coping. This probably didn’t affect him at all. If he really wasn’t sleeping with Maiwenn again, then he was probably out picking up women all the time. Kitsunes had kind of a supernatural allure, and God knew he’d been pretty persuasive the night we’d met.
I awoke a couple hours before dawn—and not by choice. Volusian’s warning came only seconds before the surface below us began to tremble. I was up in a flash, but unsurprisingly, Kiyo had already beaten me. I’d gone to sleep with weapons, uncomfortable though it was. I hadn’t known what I’d need out here, except that I wouldn’t need the iron athame since this was a gentry-free zone. I had my gun (safety on) and the silver athame. Both were out as Kiyo and I stood back to back, staring around us.
The tremors shook the ground, forcing some fancy footwork, and creating more of the cracks that already covered the ground. A few more seconds passed, and then all went still.
“An earthquake?” I asked uncertainly.
“No,” said Volusian. He was in his solid, two-legged form, staring around with narrowed eyes. It was a little disconcerting that he didn’t seem to know precisely what the problem was.
“Then what are we—”
The ground below us suddenly split open. With only the light of the fire, my vision was bad, but I thought I saw what looked kind of like a serpentine shape emerge from the earth. No, it was exactly like a serpentine shape because a moment later, a giant fucking snake shot up
and landed neatly in a perfect coil, its head towered over Kiyo and me as it regarded us with glowing green eyes. The light from them illuminated a flicking, forked tongue, and the loud hissing that followed was kind of a given.
“Volusian!” I yelled. My minion sprang into action. The deadly touch of his hands made the snake jerk in surprise. Beside me, Kiyo was shifting into fox form, and I decided a gun was probably going to get me farther here than the athame’s small blade. A drop of venom fell from the snake’s mouth, and it sizzled when it hit the ground in front of me. Lovely. Still, I felt confident the three of us could take this thing.
At least until the ground shook again, and another snake popped up. It was soon followed by a third.
“Son of a bitch.” I deliberated, wondering if mass force on one snake at a time was the way to go. No. I’d leave Kiyo and Volusian to the first. I yelled a warning to Kiyo that the snake was poisonous, but it was hard to say if he understood.
I turned on the two new snakes. Even with part of their bodies coiled, their heads stood a good ten feet above mine. More venom dropped before me. Deciding not to play favorites, I aimed the gun and quickly fired off a couple of rounds into each. I’d had the foresight to load up silver bullets, but it didn’t look like the gun was going to kill the snakes anytime soon—at least not without fifty more shots. Mostly, the bullets seemed to piss them off more.
Still, I kept firing since that seemed to make the snakes keep their distance. It proved to be a short-term solution, seeing as my bullets soon ran out. I reached for another clip. I could reload a gun quickly, but that pause gave one of the snakes an opening. Its head—no pun intended—snaked toward me, giving me a close-up view of large fangs. I’d been on guard for such an attack and jumped out of its way, only to be struck by the other’s tail. It knocked me several feet away, causing me to lose my grip on the new cartridge. The cartridge disappeared into the night, and I landed hard on the ground. My back and shoulder screamed in agony, but I had no time to baby them. There were two other clips in my belt, but as one of the snakes came for me again, my hand went to the athame after all.
The snake that had hit me leaned down, its face and dripping jaw inches from me. Rather than run again, I leaped forward and plunged the blade into its eye. It cried out in pain, suffering from the silver, just as any Otherworldy creature would. Well, actually, any creature with a knife in its eye would probably suffer, magical or not.
I had the sense to jerk my athame out, having no desire either to lose the blade or get pulled along as the snake reared back up. The suffering of its pal made the other hold off. In those moments, I shoved the athame back into my belt, yelping in surprise. Apparently, the snake’s eye was poisonous too, and whatever liquid had come away with the blade ate through my jeans and burned my skin. Nonetheless, I managed to get another cartridge loaded. Without hesitation, I turned and emptied the entire gun into the snake’s head. I wasn’t precise enough to hit the eye, but all those bullets took their toll. The snake wavered in the air, blood mixing with venom on its skin, and with a last hiss of pain, it fell over and slammed into the ground.
Wondering why the other snake hadn’t come for me, I spun around and saw Volusian and Kiyo attacking it. I took it on faith that the first one was dead and loaded the gun with my last cartridge. Volusian’s touch was searing the snake’s skin, and Kiyo was simply ripping into it with his teeth. Opting for what seemed tried and true, I fired into the snake’s head again. Between the three of us, we soon literally took the snake down.
I stood there tense and ready, empty gun in one hand and athame in the other. The world was silent except for the wind and the occasional twitching of the third snake as it died. Moments later, Kiyo morphed out of the fox shape, giving me a better view of any injuries now that he wasn’t covered in fur. He grimaced and spit on the ground a few times, but biting the snake apparently hadn’t destroyed his mouth or face. A couple red spots on his arms made me think he too had been splattered with the venom. Otherwise, he looked unharmed.
He sighed and raked a hand through his black hair, which was curling slightly from sweat.
“You know,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to bring myself to watch Dune again.”
Chapter 11
“Cute,” I said.
Kiyo turned to me, giving me the same assessment I’d just given him. “You okay?”
“A little venom and probably some bruising tomorrow.”
He nodded, relieved, and then did a double take. “You’re bleeding.”
“Am I?” I asked, almost as surprised as he was.
He hurried over to me. “Your shoulder.”
“Oh, shit,” I said, craning my neck to look back. “That’s the table injury.”
“Take off your shirt. And don’t even start with some ridiculous modesty spiel,” he added, seeing me start to protest. I knew he was right and gingerly lifted off the Mötley Crüe shirt. He helped me part of the way, saving me from raising my arms too far. Examining the shirt, I saw blood soaked in it.
“Bad?” I asked.
“I’ll know once I take the bandages off. Please tell me you have more and that we don’t have to reuse these.”
“I’ve got more. I told you I brought supplies.”
Carefully, he peeled off the gash’s cloth coverings and tossed them to the ground. In the firelight and dim glow of sunrise, I could see the fabric was completely red with blood.
“You broke some stitches,” he said wearily. “I don’t have the tools to fix it.” I’d once been kind of freaked out that he used his veterinarian skills to patch battle wounds, but now I kind of took it in stride.
“Pain aside, is that going to matter?” I asked.
“You’ll bleed more, though I’ll wrap it as much as I can. You’ll risk a scar too if you don’t get it stitched again. Once we finish this craziness up, I can do it for you back in Tucson if you don’t want to explain it to your doctor.”
“My regular one’s kind of used to this,” I said.
He snorted. “I imagine so.”
I fetched my pack, and we both sat on the ground. The light was increasing, making it easier for him to work as he tidied up my back. The old bandages were tossed away, and I winced as he swabbed everything with antiseptic wipes.
“I thought the danger didn’t start until we were in the crown’s cave,” I muttered.
“As often happens, mistress, you’ve made an incorrect assumption,” said Volusian. “The legends say the path to the crown is perilous. We are on the path. Your testing has begun.”
“Fantastic. Ow!”
“I’m saving you from infection,” chastised Kiyo. That seemed to be the last of the sanitizing, thankfully, and from there he began layering gauze and tape. What he did was far from erotic, but it amazed me how gentle and steady his hands could be after seeing him savagely fight and rip things apart.
I glanced over at Deanna, who had simply observed the fight. She’d said nothing, but I thought I caught a glimpse of relief on her face. My death would have put a serious hitch in our bargain.
“How long until the entrance? When we lose you guys?” I asked. Annoying or not, Volusian would be missed—especially if these snakes were just the warm-up act.
“A few hours,” said Deanna.
I frowned, unsure if I should dread it or not. We’d lose our backup but be that much closer to finishing this anti-vacation.
“I suppose it’d be too much to hope you’ve brought any painkillers?” asked Kiyo, still layering me up. I felt like I had a quilt on my back.
“Vicodin probably isn’t the best asset for impending battle.”
“I was thinking more like aspirin.”
“Nope.” But it did remind me I was due for another antibiotic dose. I’d arrogantly thought I didn’t need them but now was glad for my mom’s vigilance. Not that I wanted to admit any of this to Kiyo. The thing about dating a doctor was that he’d always been on me about taking better care of myself
. I didn’t want to hear any I-told-you-so’s now. And unsurprisingly, there was more advice to come.
He finished the last of the tape and helped me put on the clean shirt I’d packed. “Eugenie, wrapping this is a nuisance, but any gentry healer could have fixed this up in their sleep. Dorian’s got great healers. Why didn’t he have one of them take care of this? He should know better.”
I shifted around so I faced him. “How on earth did this suddenly become Dorian’s fault? Why is he responsible for everything evil? Of course he offered to get a healer. I refused because I figured other people needed it more.” I’d also totally forgotten to ask Shaya.
Kiyo’s expression relaxed and actually grew apologetic. He looked away. “Of course you did. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for accusing Dorian or for forgetting I’d be foolishly altruistic?”
Kiyo turned back, a small smile on his lips. “What do you think? There’s very little I feel apologetic for when it comes to Dorian, especially when I’m still convinced he wants to father Storm King’s heir.”
I smiled back. “I’m sure he does too. But it’s a moot point. I’ve still got birth control pills. I still don’t want any kids. My life’s stressful enough.” Belatedly, I recalled his adoration of Luisa. “No offense.”
“None taken,” he said, still smiling. “Really … I should be better about trusting you. I just keep thinking …” The smile dimmed a little.
“Thinking what?”
“I don’t know. That one day this will all get to you. And I don’t mean about Storm King. I mean just … everything. You’ll totally give yourself over to this world. I’ll lose the Eugenie I know.”
I grabbed his hand without thinking and squeezed it. “Hey, stop that. You said it yourself: trust me. I’m the same Eugenie. Still split between identities … but nothing can change that.”