Page 69 of Of Blackened Blood (The Blackened Blade #3)
The action makes a tight grip squeeze my heart as I watch their ease and affection, with a yearning building inside me that I know can never be fulfilled.
“You were kick-ass, Red.” He grins as he pulls back, a tender look in his eyes. “You nearly had him by the balls.”
“Annex,” Micai chides, rolling her eyes with his choice of words.
“What should I call you?” Annex asks, turning my way, a slight mocking tone to his voice as his grin grows. “Teacher? Instructor V? Or maybe old man ?”
Micai makes a strange, strangled noise as Ezra tries to stifle a chuckle. But I take no offense, finding his choice of words amusing instead.
Annex takes a step toward me, no malice or hidden hostility in his actions with my presence around his partner—something I’m sure was there when I was first brought here. His words seem taunting but in an almost playful way.
I raise a brow, a slight smirk tilting my lips as Annex’s mischievous gaze meets mine. “Call me Gadriel.”
Ezra and Micai’s white-haired partner make their way over to Micai as Annex takes another step closer to me. He eyes the blade in my hand, a look of genuine interest coating his features as he watches me.
“You weren’t half bad,” he muses. “Not as great as our Red, but ... I can see why she might have kept you around.”
A small chuckle escapes my lips before Micai throws me my dagger and I make my way over toward my duffle, placing both of them away.
Annex follows, his eyes lighting up with the appearance of the weapons I’ve stored in and around my bag for practice today.
He points to a small Kotal, a metal elven weapon not unlike the humans’ shuriken.
It’s a two-edged curved blade, twice the size of the shuriken and resembling two joined flames.
Elven script lines the centre, with the blade itself made of a special green metal, one only produced in my hometown.
“What’s that ?” he asks, a look of excitement coating his features as his fingers flex by his sides.
I take the Kotal up and hand it to him. “It’s a specialised elven blade, made for stealthy kills. Easy to pack and conceal, and with a metal that will penetrate flesh and bone like a knife through butter.”
His eyes widen as a gleeful smile takes hold of his lips and he flips the Kotal in his hand.
“Through bone you say?” His bright eyes meet mine. “That’s pretty cool.” He glances back toward my bag. “What else do you have in there?”
I show him a few of the pieces I brought, his excitement growing as we discuss each one and their efficiency during battle.
He seems to have a great respect and thirst for weaponry, having knowledge on some of the older pieces I wouldn’t imagine someone of his age to know.
Then he points to Avian, my family’s heirloom, asking about the longsword.
“It’s an elven sword, forged centuries ago and handed down through the Valor Clan.” I gesture toward it. “Only Valor blood or bonded can bear its weight.”
“Cryptic.” He nods, a small glint growing in his gaze. “But the best blades are the most mysterious.”
Before I can stop him, his hand reaches for the sword. And as soon as his fingertips touch the metal, large white static shoots from it and begins racing up his arm.
His body goes rigid, his eyes widening as a muffled pain-like sound leaves his lips. He falls backward, dropping Avian to the floor and stopping the static from continuing up his body.
I reach out for Annex, catching him and stopping his descent to the ground below us just as Micai and the others rush over.
“What the hell just happened?” barks Creed, anger rolling off him in waves as he glowers my way.
“... my ... fault ...” grits out Annex, a small stiff grin pinching at his lips as a muffled chuckle falls from the white-haired boy beside Micai.
“Mallyn!” chides Micai as she sits to the other side of Annex and brushes her fingers across his cheek, worry cinching her brows together.
“It’s just a little static.” Mallyn shrugs as Ezra’s grin grows larger beside him. “He’s been through worse.”
“He’s right, Micai,” adds Ezra. “And even you have to admit”—he tries to stifle his laughter by putting his hand over his mouth—“him going down and Gadriel catching him like some damsel in distress ... was just too funny.” His laughter finally escapes him before he continues.
“I only wish I had caught it all on camera.”
“It’s already replaying in my mind,” chuckles Mallyn as Creed turns to one side to hide his growing grin.
“Ass ... holes,” grits out Annex through his stiff features before he lifts his hand shakily to show them his middle finger.
Micai’s laughter breaks free, the soft and gleeful sound pulling us all into her mirth, the atmosphere feeling genuinely warm. And like a family.
Creed’s phone suddenly rings, his eyes narrowing at the caller. He takes a step away and answers to someone by the name of Erving .
The group falls instantly silent with the mention of his name, the atmosphere cooling as they all listen intently to Creed’s conversation. Even my own ears are perked with the seriousness of each of their expressions.
Could it have something to do with the secrets they’ve been keeping? And why Micai is training so fiercely?
Creed talks to this Erving person about something he had been looking into, gruffly telling him to “keep it brief and to the most important parts.”
It seems patience is not a virtue he will ever master.
Erving mentions finally being able to translate one of the two words that kept being repeated throughout the old parchment fragments.
My brows furrow with the mention of old parchments.
He continues on to say that he might have found someone who can read the full text, although it’s a long shot and that they might be hard to contact, but that he can still try if they would like.
Creed gives him his approval before asking what the word he was able to translate is.
He calls out the text and my eyes widen, a shiver running through me with the mention of the familiar word. One lost long ago ... and for good reason.
Micai’s eyes meet mine, cinching together as they notice the look of trepidation on my face. “Is something wrong, Gadriel?”
I turn to each person in the room as Creed’s call comes to an end before meeting his gaze. “Why are you all looking into the Domynions?”