CHAPTER 4
Rider
The others followed me out of the sacred pool’s chamber, Ash still clinging to Sage as if his life, and maybe hers, depended on it.
Would he work up the courage to talk to her? If Sage was the woman I thought she was — which was only my instincts because I hadn’t spend time to get to know her — she wouldn’t dismiss Ash because of his scars.
He would protect her, I told myself. I wouldn’t be necessary if she had Ash.
Except my wolf hated that idea. She could have an army of men at her side, but he wouldn’t be satisfied if he wasn’t there, too.
“We also need to be careful who in the Order we go to,” Quill said quietly as we hurried through the winding passages in the sacred grove, the white and pink glowing flowers illuminating our way.
“I agree,” Talon said. “There should have been someone on guard in the chamber. We don’t know who to trust.”
“We have to trust someone,” I growled, frustrated that Talon was right while trying to convince my instincts that I was right, too. “The sacred pool’s chamber has been damaged and defiled, and at least four fae have been killed in their physical form. We can’t keep her hidden from this.”
“We sure as hell can,” Ash snarled.
We reached a dead end where the flowering vines thinned against a stone wall, and Talon reached into the thicker foliage at the edge of the wall and pressed the button that opened the hidden door.
“She was attacked. She deserves justice,” Quill said as we strode inside.
The hidden chamber hadn’t changed in the hundred years since Talon and I had last been there, and because of the magic in the Garden, everything was clean and pristine, even if the room hadn’t been used in a while.
The space consisted of three rooms, the first being a comfortable, cozy sitting room with soft couches and chairs, thick rugs, and pillows. A fire burst to life in the hearth, and two of the six lights in the chamber brightened, casting a soft, warm glow around the room.
But none of us stopped in the sitting room and we all headed to the bedroom.
“I also want to know why she didn’t just release her spirit form and escape.” Ash laid Sage on the large, soft bed.
Quill sat on the bed beside her and lifted her arm to examine an intricately wrought silver bracelet around her forearm.
“It’s the bracelet,” he said. “This word here is for lock and this is for spirit.” He pointed to small words engraved along the edge. “It must be keeping her spirit form locked in the Garden.”
“Who the fuck would make something like that?” I growled.
“It looks like an artifact,” Quill said. “If it is, I doubt even the magisters know who made it.” His expression darkened. “But no one in the White Tower has said an artifact is missing.”
“Which means it might not just be the Order we have to worry about,” Ash replied, his voice dark.
A growl rumbled in my chest, and my spirit form trembled. My wolf strained to break free, hunt down the rest of the men who’d attacked Sage, and tear them to pieces. But the man in me knew we needed to be smart about this.
“Our first priority is a healer and someone who can take off that bracelet,” I said as Talon ran to the bathing room and grabbed towels from the rack just inside the door.
“Also she needs someone to look at her marks,” Quill added. “They shouldn’t be this bright when she’s unconscious.”
“I don’t know what Wells was doing, but of the ones in the room that I recognized, all of them were unmated.” Talon brought the towels to the bed, where Ash grabbed two, slid one beneath her head, and placed the other across the relatively shallow gash along the top of her chest. “Everyone we get to help needs to be a woman or mated.”
“Agreed.” I leveled my gaze on him. “Talon, get Onyx. We need to report what’s happened to the Order and he’s high enough in rank to get things done. Lark will understand if we need to borrow her mate.”
“Lark will ask questions,” Talon warned as he wrapped one of Sage’s wrists in a towel.
Ash wrapped her other wrist. It was cumbersome, but it would slow the bleeding until we could get her a healer. “Bring Lark, too.”
My wolf heaved and fur rolled over my hands and forearms. “No. I’m not getting my sister involved in this. It’s too dangerous.”
“Red needs someone she can talk to and it can’t be us,” Ash insisted.
“Why not?” Talon demanded and Ash glared at him.
“She was afraid of Wells and Crane and the other unmated males before this,” Ash replied. “She might be worse when she wakes.”
Another growl slipped free. “How do you know that?”
Talon’s eyes widened as he stared at Ash. “You’ve spent time with her.”
The muscles in Ash’s jaw flexed and he hesitated, his gaze locked on Sage’s too-pale face, his body rigid. “Anyone with eyes can see she’s afraid of males. She made a point of avoiding them. Rider, you’re the only one she seems to have said more than a few words to, and she hasn’t been back to the courtyard since her first night.”
Maybe he’d done more than just watch her… although everything he’d said could have been learned through careful observation, something he was skilled at.
Except, I’d never seen him react to a woman like this. It gave me hope that perhaps the Goddess would bind their souls together, and he could finally forgive himself for that horrible night.
But that wouldn’t happen if we didn’t take care of her.
Shit. Every instinct I had screamed to keep Lark out of this… and to stay with Sage and protect her. But protecting her would give her the wrong idea, and I didn’t want to make things worse.
“We’ll involve Lark if absolutely necessary,” I said. “Let’s see how Sage is when she wakes. Quill, Flint can’t heal spirits but Zinnia can. Get her and a mated magister you trust to deal with the bracelet and her marks.”
Everyone’s attention jerked to me.
“You know her name?” Talon asked. “No one knows her name. That’s been the talk throughout the Garden since she arrived.”
“She told me when we first met,” I growled back. “I asked. Maybe the rest of the men need to stop seeing her as a thing and start treating her like a person.”
“She wouldn’t have let anyone get close enough to ask,” Ash said, his voice soft. “Afraid of the men, remember.”
“But not afraid of you.” Quill tilted his head to the side, examining me. “Will you look after her?”
“No,” I bit out as my wolf strained to say yes. “I don’t want a mate. I’m not here to court her. I’m going back to the sacred pool to get everyone’s scent and look for clues about what they were doing.” I turned my attention to Ash as he pulled two blankets from the chest at the foot of the bed and covered her with one of them despite the fact that her dress was still wet, while leaving the second one folded at her feet in case she wanted it when she woke.
I opened my mouth to tell him to get her out of her wet clothes first but stopped myself. If she really was afraid of men, waking naked would only scare her more.
“You stay here,” I told Ash, “and keep watch.”
Ash jerked to his feet. “I can’t.”
I bit my tongue against trying to convince him that maybe this time would be different. I didn’t know if it would be, and even if I did, he wouldn’t believe me.
If it hadn’t been a woman who’d broken his heart so completely by looking at him with horror, gasping, and gossiping, I would have beaten up everyone who’d hurt him. He was already punishing himself. It was plain to see with his scars manifesting on his spirit form. He didn’t need anyone else making it worse.
“Someone needs to stay,” I told him. “Her marks are too bright. If she wakes and Talon’s here, his shadow will overwhelm her.”
“And the last thing she needs is being caught up in his allure,” Quill said. “You could probably find Zinnia, but you’re not as familiar with the White Tower magisters as I am, and we need to be careful who we bring in on this.”
“Between the four of us, you’re the best at close quarter fighting.” I placed a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention away from Sage.
“No,” he bit back. “She’ll be terrified of me.”
“Ash, please.” I needed him to protect her. My wolf wouldn’t rest easy— I wouldn’t rest easy, unless I knew she was safe while I hunted down everyone who’d hurt her.