Page 264 of The Queen’s Shadow

It had taken a while, but Jeremy finally managed to get the gate open. It had taken so long that I had truly started to doubt whether or not he could do it. But when that final tumbler fell and he pushed the bars forward, I nearly cheered out loud.

“Yuh a genius, man!”

Jeremy grinned at me. “Rycon would be so proud.” He said, before falling serious again. He had that look in his eyes. I had seen Raven wear that look many times before. Jeremy was out for blood, and I couldn’t say I blamed him.

Together we crept out of the cell to find that we were being held in sea caves that had naturally been carved out of the side of a cliff beneath the villa. I watched the waves crash beneath us, and realized that it was low tide. In high tide, the water would have filled the caves and likely drowned us. That was why Niahmara had not been worried about me getting my powers back. She had assumed we would be dead by then. I ground my teeth together in rage. How could I have so grossly misjudged her?

The climb up to the villa was steep and slippery, but we managed. In what felt like no time at all, we were back in the cozy mansion.

Jeremy turned to me, “You grab the sword, I’ll get the gun, then we find Niahmara.” He said, and I nodded, jogging up the stairs to the room Raven had been staying in.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found the sword right where I had left it. I disengaged the no-see-me charm and turned to leave when I found Nytara waiting for me in the doorway with a shocked look on her face.

“There you are…” She breathed, looking absolutely astonished. “You weren’t in your cell…”

I clutched the hilt of Bond Breaker, my knuckles cracking on the hilt. “Get from mi way, Nytara.” I growled.

Her dark eyes flit from me to the large comfortable bed. She seemed to take in the hammock by the patio door and the plush rug beneath my feet. Suddenly she snarled, and I frowned in confusion. I had expected her to do many things, but getting upset with the decor of her Princess’ guest suite was not one of them.

“You should have stayed in your cell, Obeah Man.” She hissed, her hand dropping to her pocket. She pulled out The Flute and I snorted.

That wasn’t going to work on me right now. She played the tune that was meant to freeze me, and I smirked, flipping her the bird. Her eyes widened in shock at my ability to move and I felt my grin widen.

“What, Nytara. Surprised mi can move?” I rolled Amon’s sword before me and assumed a fighting stance. She slid The Flute into her pocket and drew her rapier instead, narrowing her eyes at me. I could see her thinking, trying to figure out why The Flute hadn’t worked.

Suddenly there was a spray of gunfire, and I watched, with a mix of relief and horror as a stream of bullets pelted into Nytara’s side. She was blown away from the door frame. Jeremy appeared, crouched down in a SWAT position, with his gun trained forward on where I assumed Nytara lay somewhere out of sight.

Jeremy motioned at me to stay where I was, then crept forward, disappearing down the hall. There were several long moments of silence, when suddenly he flew back past the door, taken out by a ferocious blast of ice and snow.

Shit.

I ran into the hall, to find Jeremy struggling against icy restraints that had bound him to the wall.

“The gun! Conrad, grab the gun!”

I spun around to find the semi-automatic lying on the floor between Nytara and I. I ran for it, but with a sweep of her hand she blew it away from me. I watched as it clattered down the stairs and into the living room. The safety wasn’t on, and it sprayed another splash of bullets as it fell and Nytara and I both hit the ground to avoid getting hit.

We made eye contact for a brief moment before her gaze fell to Bond Breaker, which I miraculously still had gripped in my hand.

“Obeah Man -” I didn’t bother to wait to hear what she was going to say, I leapt to my feet and attacked. She rolled out of the way and I found myself at the top of the stairs with her suddenly behind me.

“Is that shadowstone?” Nytara asked, as she advanced on me. I was forced to back down the stairs, giving her the advantage of height.

“Yes, and yuh cyaan have it!” I snapped, knowing she wanted to bring the sword to Ash Nevra. She snorted.

“I don’t need it, she already has the Queen’s blades.” Nytara told me as she parried forward. I raised Bond Breaker, blocking her attack while being forced back down several more steps.

“Well, mi nah let har have dis one too-” I stopped mid sentence as I played back what Nytara had said. She had said the queen’s blades. In reference to Raven.

Shi just call Rayven Di Queen.

“Wait, yuh just say -”

She nodded. “If you want to save your friends, you need to free me.” Nytara said as she lunged for me again, narrowly missing my side. I realized suddenly, she was being forced to attack me. I was going to need to get past her defenses to free her.

“I hope you’ve been practicing, Obeah Man.” She said, her voice dark. “I told you I wouldn’t go easy on you next time I tried to kill you.”

Looking at her now, I saw the tight lines of worry and regret in her face. She didn’t want to kill me, but that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t. She didn’t have a choice.