Page 128 of The Queen’s Shadow

“I’m going to kill all the monsters, Kasha.” I promised her, and her little brow furrowed, as if she were deciding whether or not to believe me. Her eyes searched mine intently, and I held my breath, afraid to even blink. Very carefully, I opened my arms wide, inviting her to come toward me. “Come over here. Let me take you home. I’ll keep you safe.”

Her frown deepened, and her gaze flicked to the shadowstone dagger I was still holding.

“You don’t like the knife?” I asked. She glanced at me, shaking her head quickly and clutching the pillow tighter.

“It’s called shadowstone, I was going to use it to cut away the bond. Do you want me to free you here, or do you want to wait until we get home?” I asked, and she shrunk farther away, letting me know she had no interest in the blade going anywhere near her.

“Okay, I’m going to put it away. But we need to free you when we get back to court. I’ll ask Raven to help.” She perked up at the sound of Raven’s name. I gave her an encouraging smile as I wiped the dagger off on the bed sheets before slipping it into the sheath on my ankle. “Yeah, Raven is here, she’s downstairs waiting for us.” I said, holding my arms out again. I leaned across the bed as close as I thought she would allow.

“Come here, let’s go home.” I urged. She stared at me but didn’t move. I worried for a moment that she wasn’t going to let me touch her at all. I was about to tug on the bond to summon Raven when suddenly she surged forward. She tossed the pillow to the side and leapt into my arms, burying her tiny face in the crook of my neck.

Feeling like I had been shot in the chest, I wrapped my arms around her little body and cradled her against me. She shook in my arms as her sobs smothered against my armor. My breath caught and I nearly choked with relief. I was a very difficult male to kill, but at that moment, I thought I might die of a broken heart.

“I’ve got you.” I whispered against her hair as I squeezed her against me. I leaned back on my heels, pulling her off the bed with me and rocking her gently back and forth while she cried.

“You’re safe. I’ve got you.” I murmured over and over, until she was able to catch her breath. She pulled back and looked at me with a hiccough before reaching up to touch my cheek. Her chubby fingers came away wet, and I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t realized that I had been crying too.

I tentatively reached down to wipe a tear off of her cheek in return, and something painful in my chest tightened when she let me do it.

“Do you want to change back?”

I was hoping she would return to her adult form; it would be easier to get her out safely if she could walk on her own. She frowned and shook her head before diving back into the crook of my neck, her little fists curling against my armor. Remembering how the slavery bond had crippled Cerenah’s powers, I wondered if she was stuck in this form. Or if she had been ordered to hold this form and couldn’t change back until released from the command.

Fury rushed through my veins again at the thought.

I needed to get the slavery bond off of her as quickly as possible. She needed a healer. She needed to eat. She needed rest and sleep. The longer I held her, the more time I had to catalogue the numerous cuts, bruises, and new scars she had accumulated since she had been gone. Someone had marked her. Touched her. Hurt her.

I glanced over at the dead daemon and wished I could kill him a second time. There would never be enough blood. I would never feel like I had exacted enough vengeance, for what had been done to her.

I realized I was shaking again and forced myself to take a deep breath. I needed to be strong for her. I needed to stay calm. If I got upset, it might undo all the work I had just done to get her to trust me enough to hold her.

I stood up, cradling her against me, with her head resting on my shoulder.

“Let’s go find Raven.” I murmured, and she peered up at me with her large, trusting eyes. Looking down at her, I felt that tight, painful, feeling in my chest snap and I knew, suddenly, that it was over for me.

Kasha was mine.

Now that I held her in my arms, I knew I would never let her go… And I would kill anyone who tried to take her away from me again.

Raven

Rycon jogged down the stairs as I was freeing the last few slaves. They had come tearing through the main floor so quickly that I had needed to use my shadows to catch several of them. Once I was able to make it clear that the victims of the brothel were not the ones that needed to be running from me, I had convinced some of the females to help me find clothing for those in need.

I had done my best to block out the very raw and very private emotions that had rolled off Rycon through the bond during the time he had been upstairs. It wasn’t until I saw what he held in his arms that I suddenly understood.

Kasha was shaped like a child.

What the FUCK!? Our eyes met over her small blue head briefly and I felt my teeth grind together in rage. I motioned for the last freed slave to head outside to where Jeremy waited. Rycon walked through the blood and the gore that stained the floor, deftly stepping over bodies as he made his way to my side.

My mouth opened and closed several times, as I took in the tiny Kasha, with her face buried into Rycon’s throat. He was absolutely soaked in blood, and there were chunks of something thicker clinging to his hair. Kasha’s night dress was stained red, and I frowned, making eye contact with Rycon again.

He immediately knew what I was thinking. “Not hers.” He said, referring to the blood on her clothes. I tried to feel better, but I couldn’t. Just because she wasn’t bleeding didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt.

“Did you get them all?” I asked, and he nodded.

“You?”

“Yeah, Jeremy is helping the last of them go back to their homes and families… the ones that have somewhere to go at least.”