Fae (33 page)

“I thought you’d prefer me naked, but if you like this so much I’d be happy to. Every day. Once we’re back home.” She paused with her hand on the doorknob, because Kiernan pressed his hand to the door holding it shut a moment.

“I like you in anything,
mo ghaol
.” He leaned down and kissed her again, quickly, before stepping back and palming a gun in one hand, and a dark knife in the other.

Neala smiled and yanked the door back, but the hall was empty. Stepping out, Kiernan walked next to her and they both headed toward the north stairs. Her eyes were trained on the space in front of them when two of the guards passed across the end of the hall. Kiernan crossed the distance between him and them in a matter of seconds, thrusting the knife up through the jaw of one of the guards, cutting off a shout of warning. He used him as leverage to kick the other guard back. Neala caught up an instant later, and brought her sword across the belly of the second guard. Then she quickly covered his nose and mouth to keep him quiet as he collapsed to the floor.

Her body sang with the rush of battle again, and the way Kiernan looked at her made her feel radiant, powerful – all of the things she’d never felt in this house.

“Upstairs?” Kiernan whispered as he wiped the knife off, and she nodded. Thus far they had made it through the morning unexposed, but it was going to be a lot more difficult with fifteen girls to move with. Near the top of the stairs, Neala stopped Kiernan.

“When we hit the top of the stairs, the female quarters is all the way to the left, and there’s no cover between us and the door. Whoever is at the door is going to see us coming.” She whispered it, adjusting her grip on the sword. Kiernan slid his knife back into its sheath and checked the gun.

“Then we silence him as quickly as possible.” He muttered it and started up the stairs again. When he cleared the top he took off at a dead run, and she could hear the shout of surprise from the guard at the door. As she raced after him she saw Kiernan stop and level the gun as the guard started shouting.

“CODE BLACK! CODE BLA-” The guard’s voice echoed down the hall before a loud pop came from the gun in Kiernan’s hand and the guard dropped. Kiernan cursed and continued down the hall. Neala stepped up behind him to find him tugging a small plastic bud out of the guy’s ear, pulling the wire from under the guard’s collar.

“He got that out. We have to move faster.” Kiernan said it as he ripped a key off the guard’s belt and passed it to Neala. In a click the door was open and Neala saw them all standing around, gaping at her. She looked down at herself, black combat clothes, a swipe of red across her sword, a wild gleam in her eyes – they’d never seen her like this, never seen her as anything other than a slave like them, never seen her as anyone other than
Fae
.

Neala’s eyes came up and Ebere was smiling at her. She wanted to tell them all that this is who she was, who she was always meant to be, but there wasn’t time - and Ebere knew her story anyway.

“You really came for us.” Ebere smiled and clapped her hands. Irena ran at Neala from her right and almost knocked her over in the bear hug she delivered. Her wings were flicking madly again, and it made Neala want to cheer because she hadn’t lost her to despair. Neala squeezed her back with her free arm and then let go.

“Of course I did. Now, everyone listen up, we have to move
fast
. We’re going to go down the north stairs, and to the storage near the kitchen where they keep the winter clothes. Once you’re dressed for the snow, we go out the back doors and move away from the house towards the tree line. Stay behind us, okay?” Neala waved a hand to encourage them to hurry up as they all rushed forward to bunch together near the door. She noticed Mei-Li was pulling Caridee towards them but that Cari was wide-eyed and struggling, digging her heels in to the carpet.

“No! No, they’ll punish us! They’ll hurt us, we have to stay in here! Please -”

“Neala, I don’t know how long we have with the alarm that guard sent out, we have to move now.” Kiernan spoke under his breath to her, his eyes watching Caridee.

She growled and walked towards the frantic girl, moving Mei-Li out of the way. Neala took a breath and spoke in flawless Spanish. “Cari –
Cari
listen to me.”

Caridee was stunned into silence, and Mei-Li jerked her head back as well as Neala spoke.

“I know you’re afraid, and I know it’s my fault that bad things happened to you. I know that you have
no reason
to trust me, but I need you to. I need you to trust me so I can get you out of here.”

“You speak Spanish?” Cari’s mouth hung open, and Neala grinned.

“Fluently. And before you ask,
yes
, I did understand every mumbled comment you’ve ever made about me. Now, will you please come with us? Will you please come with me so you can be free?”

Caridee stared at the floor, her body visibly trembling, but from the tangled curtain of her hair Neala heard a soft, “
Yes
.”

Mei-Li moved in and wrapped an arm around her again, guiding Cari towards the group and Neala walked back to the door with a deep breath.

Kiernan turned to look at her and tilted his head. “Is she good?”

“She’s good. The men’s quarters are in the other wing, there’s only three of them, but we can’t leave them either.” Neala clenched her jaw for a moment as she argued internally between what was right and what would
feel
good. Somehow, morality won out. “There’s also one more slave. Lena. I have no idea where she’s sleeping now, but it’s not in the female quarters.”

“Let’s get the girls out first, then we can go for the others if we have time.” He kissed her cheek and flashed a brief smile, and then Kiernan stepped ahead of her into the hall.

“Stay quiet, okay?” She spoke to the group and several girls nodded, then Neala moved into the hall as well. They could all hear shouting downstairs and Neala jogged ahead to catch up to Kiernan. As soon as they reached the north stairs they could hear heavy footsteps starting up. He looked at her with a calm that only experienced warriors had. There wasn’t a trace of doubt in him about who would win and who would die.

“Don’t let any of them get back up, they all stay down. Permanently.” Kiernan locked eyes with her and she nodded. Neala turned and held a hand up so the girls stopped in the hall. They were all huddled together with their eyes wide with fear, sitting targets. She really wished she had time to make them at least hide against the walls, but then the first guard rounded the bend in the stairs and she and Kiernan both stepped backwards to lure him up the whole way.

Three more came behind him, and they seemed surprised when Kiernan lifted the gun. He fired three shots, hitting each of them in the chest, and they tumbled back down to the landing. The first guard made it to the top of the stairs and he tried to rush Kiernan, but Neala stepped forward and brought the sword across the back of his thigh. The blade sliced through fabric and flesh like it was nothing, and he went down hard with a guttural scream. She put a foot over the cut in his thigh, pressing down until he screamed again, writhing on the floor.

“You, bitch!” The guard screamed, slipping a knife out of a sheath on his hip, but she saw it and slammed the tip of her sword through his hand, pinning it to the floor. He screamed again, and Neala heard a few of the girls gasping and whimpering behind her.

Kiernan just watched her, and then tried to bite his cheek to stifle his smile before he spoke. “Tell me what a code black is.” Kiernan crouched in front of the guy, tapping the gun against the side of the guard’s head.

“Go to hell.” He spat, and Neala brought her foot down hard on the back of his thigh drawing another sobbing scream from him, a stream of profanity tumbling from his lips until she eased the pressure.

“Code black?” Kiernan repeated.

“AGH! It’s a code that tells everyone there’s a lethal threat on the premises.” He groaned as Neala applied more pressure to his leg again, “God! It means - It’s when we get the master of the house to a safe room and neutralize the threat. That’s it!”

“Thanks.” Kiernan stood up and fired the gun once, putting the guard out of his misery. Neala arched an eyebrow and he looked at her, then past her to the girls. “Let’s go.”

They moved down the stairs fast, and at the bottom Kiernan took the guard position while Neala shuffled everyone down the back hall towards kitchen storage. She didn’t want to leave the girls unprotected, but letting Kiernan out of her sight made her stomach twist. He looked back over his shoulder at her and forced a smile, giving her a nod to encourage her.

She gave a quick smile and nodded back, running down the hall to get ahead of Annika who was at the front. As soon as she passed her, a guard turned out of another hall in front of her. She grabbed his shirt and slammed him into the wall, holding her sword to his neck before she got a look at him.

“No, Fae!”

“He’s nice, don’t –“

“Wait, don’t hurt him!”

A chorus of cries came from the girls behind her, and it was the only thing that kept her from slitting his throat. His eyes were wide, and in his relaxed hand was a handgun, his finger way off the trigger. It took her a second, but she recognized him as Hills, the one who had told her to
be careful
as he’d escorted her after she’d first arrived, and who had brought her
back
to Marik and Butler the day before.

For that alone she wanted to kill him.

“Please! Fae!” From the same hall stepped Alec, the tall, blond cook of the house. He looked horrified, his hands reaching for the guard. “Please, don’t hurt him. He’s good, he’s with me.”

Hills swallowed and she watched as his Adam’s apple grazed the edge of the blade. Alec was her friend, and she liked him, but Hills was a guard. Weird, and strangely concerned for her, but still a guard. He’d handed her over to them knowing they were going to hurt her, he’d probably even seen the array of whips laid out on the bed when they’d sent him to her. Neala’s hand shook with the urge to hurt him back, to make him feel even a fraction of the pain they’d put her through – but the girls had asked her not to, and there were tears in Alec’s eyes as he pleaded with her.

Dammit
.

“He’s a good one, Fae, he’s been helping us.” One of the girls behind her said it, but she didn’t move the sword yet.

Then others spoke up saying he had brought them food, taken them from the guards’ quarters, helped protect them, given them first aid supplies. Alec really looked like he was going to cry. All their pleas finally pushed her decision over the edge and she dropped the sword from him. Then Alec pulled Hills towards him - and kissed him. Neala’s eyes went wide, watching as they held each other tightly.

Oh. He was
with
him.

Their kiss broke and they leaned their foreheads together, whispering soft words for a moment. Then Hills turned towards her. “I want you to know, I am so, so sorry Fae.” He was almost as tall as Alec, but where Alec was all blond hair and light eyes, Hills was brown hair, freckles, and honey brown eyes. He seemed sincere, and everyone had vouched for him, and he
had
been gentle with her as he was leading her to those bastards. He’d urged her to be careful. She sighed and nodded.

“Do you know how to use that?” Neala gestured at the gun in his hand and he kept his finger off the trigger, but adjusted the weapon back into his grip.

“I spent four years in the army. I know how to use it.” Hills kept one hand on the gun, and the other interlocked with Alec’s. It suddenly made a lot of sense to her that Hills would volunteer to serve as escort - he had no interest in the girls. It ensured that none of the guards got too much alone time with one of them, and it let him check on them. There was a chance he had chosen to escort her to keep the other guards away from her as well, even though the result with Butler and Marik was predetermined.

She was suddenly glad she hadn’t hit him, or worse.

“Good.” She cleared her throat. “I need you to lead them to the supply room, get them dressed for the outdoors, and get them outside through the back. Ebere can help you.” Neala gave the command and he didn’t flinch, didn’t even give her a side eye for ordering him around. He just nodded and moved down the hall. It was odd, but she trusted him.

Neala jogged back towards the stairs, and she heard some kind of commotion. Panic filled her as she turned the corner to find Kiernan fighting two guards, but then she froze in place.

He had
definitely
held back when he had sparred with her.

She watched as he spun, all power and grace as he delivered a hard kick to one of the guards, knocking him down. Then Kiernan blocked a punch from the other, returning with his own, and following it up with an elbow to the guard’s solar plexus and a knee to the stomach in such a fast sequence that the man had yet to react to the first strike when Kiernan stepped back. Fluid and smooth, and each hit delivered with way more power than he’d ever used with her.

The guard on the floor started to get up and it broke her out of her trance. Neala slid the sword into the sheath on her back with a grin. He didn’t even see her, which made it relatively easy to grab his arm, twist it into an arm bar, and drop her elbow to break it. When he screamed and lunged at her with the other one she pulled the knife and sliced his forearm open. Kiernan stepped up next to her, the gun back in his hand, and the other guard was dead on the floor. The guard was cursing at her between sobs, his blood pooling on the floor under him, and then she stepped behind him and snapped his neck. It was quick, and it was better than he deserved. They both heard shouting in the foyer and nodded at each other in silence, moving towards it slowly.