Burning Up (18 page)

As Amaris circled with Tannaz, retreating, parrying, trying frantically to stay alive, she got fleeting glimpses of Marin and Raniero. The child hung limp in Korban’s arms, her eyes wide with helpless terror as he chanted, the Blood Orb hovering close.

Raniero’s blade flashed in bright moonlit arcs, shield ringing as he blocked the Varils’ massive battle axes. Blood streaked his armor, both vampire red and reptile green.

But Amaris didn’t dare divert her attention from her father’s murderous blade.

Then one thin slipper hit a pool of her blood, and slid. With a cry, she went down on one knee. She tried to throw herself backward, twisting away from the thrust she saw coming right for her heart.

Too late.

The blade slid between ribs and left hip and kept on going, right out her back. She bit back a scream of hot agony.

Tannaz grinned down into her eyes, fangs flashing.

A
n axe strike clanged against Raniero’s shield as he spun, avoiding the second reptile’s attempt to hack his head off. He retreated in a fighter’s crouch, watching his opponents with narrow eyes. They prowled, attempting to circle behind him, thick lizard tails twitching hungrily. They were slower than he was, but they were also much stronger, as evinced by the dents they’d left in his shield and armor. He was surprised Amaris had held her own with them as long as she had; only her Blood Rose speed and agility had kept her alive.

The thought of Amaris made his gut coil into a solid knot of anxiety. The last he’d seen of her, she was fighting her father. Yet he couldn’t see her now.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t help her until he’d taken care of the Varil.

An axe thunked against his shield with a force that drove him back on his heels. Damn, the bastards were strong. He spun away from the blow, using the momentum to launch an attack at the other lizard. His blade crashed against Blue Stripe’s axe, skidded along the steel, and bit into a scaled shoulder. The Varil hissed in pain and rage, jerking away as green blood flew.

Unfortunately, it was a shallow cut, not enough to disable the big lizard. And Raniero had collected some ugly wounds of his own, despite his stolen armor. His hands were slippery with blood, and a wound on his thigh throbbed in time to his pulse. His sword was growing heavy in his hands, and he knew he was slowing down.

And that could be the death of him, because vampire speed was all that kept him alive. He had to keep moving, or the lizards would trap him between them.

So he retreated, dancing away from his foes, darting in and out between them as he hacked at any target the Varil presented. He knew he had to wrap up this fight before Amaris or her sister died.

Then, as he ducked the brutal swing of a spiked tail, he glimpsed Amaris on her knees, her father’s sword rammed completely through her body. And his heart froze in his chest.

It was a lethal moment’s distraction. The two Varil saw it and lunged forward in simultaneous attack, one great axe swinging for his head, the other for his torso.

He sensed the twin attacks more than saw them. Throwing himself forward into a long, flat dive, he felt one blade skim past his ass as the other scraped one kicking armored shin. He landed in an acrobat’s tumble and came up just in time to hear an anguished roar.

In missing him, Blue Stripe’s axe had buried itself in his partner’s chest. Cari’f fell, tail lashing in death throes.

Taking Blue Stripe’s axe with it.

Blue Stripe lunged for Cari’f’s axe, grabbed it out of the convulsing clawed fist, and whirled.

Too late.

Raniero heaved his great sword in a flat, furious arc that chopped into the reptile’s thick neck with a meaty
thunk
. But even as he died, the raider swung his axe. Raniero deflected it with his shield, but the massive blade still struck his thigh a glancing blow. Blood flew, bright scarlet mixing with Varil green as Raniero went down.

“
I
’ll wager that hurts,” Tannaz purred as Amaris panted in anguish down on one knee. “Now, don’t you wish you’d been a loyal daughter instead of a treacherous little bitch?” He levered up on the sword he’d driven between her ribs and hip.

The pain was a blinding scarlet screech that forced Amaris to her feet again. She dropped her sword to grip her father’s wrist, trying to keep him from hurting her further.

He grinned down into her face. “Nothing to say, daughter? No viperous accusations, no vicious insults?”

“Why bother?” she managed as pain rippled through her side in nauseating waves. Her left hand groped for her belt, found the hilt of the slender knife she wore there. Her right hand spread against his armored side, found the chink just beneath his ribs. “You know what you are.”

Rage lit his eyes, and he twisted the sword, ripping a scream from her lips. “And I know what
you
are—a whore, just like your mother.”

Not close enough. She forced herself another inch up the blade, stepping full against him as she drew the knife from its belt sheath. “But did you know how I’ve met the sun every morning I’ve been your captive?” With a quick twist of the wrist, she drove her little knife right into the chink in his armor into the flesh beneath. It wasn’t a deep wound given the length of the blade, certainly nothing that would kill him. Not by itself. Her lip curled in satisfaction. “Burn, Father!”

Before he could jerk away, she cast the spell that released all the morning sunlight she’d stored in her dagger for just this moment, sending it pouring into the knife wound on a river of magic.

Amaris jerked back, forcing herself back the length of the sword, reeling backward as Tannaz went up like a torch. The vampire howled in agony, the light pouring from the dagger to devour his magical flesh. He blazed bonfire bright until the fire finally went out, leaving his armor to collapse to the battlement stones, empty of all but ash.

Dizzy, weak with blood loss and the effort of casting the spell, Amaris reeled like a drunken woman. But before she could hit the ground, strong male hands caught her shoulders.

“I will have to remember not to make you angry,” Raniero said, even as he sent a pulse of magic into her body. She added his strength to her own and healed the lethal sword wound, sighing in relief as the pain faded.

NINE

“W
e’ve got to get to Marin before he kills her,” Amaris said grimly.

Raniero longed to tell her to stay behind, but her magic was greater than his, and he knew he’d need her if he was to have any hope at all of stopping the wizard. So he nodded silently and turned to lead the way as they went in search of Korban.

They found him bathed in the pulsing crimson glow of the Blood Orb. His eyes were wide and glittering with exhilaration in his pale face as he held Marin pinned against his chest. The child hung limp in his arms, the side of her face marked with a purpling handprint where he’d obviously struck her.

“You bastard!” Amaris snarled.

Korban smirked at them and kept right on chanting, the words coming in a fast singsong now.

Amaris exchanged a grim glance with Raniero, realizing he was coming to the end of the spell. Once that happened, all he had to do was break Marin’s neck, and the Great Barrier would fall.

“We’ve got to get her away from him,” Amaris whispered.

“Aye, but how?” Raniero hefted his sword and eyed Korban, who promptly lifted the child higher to shield himself. “Fucking coward.”

Amaris’s eyes widened with desperate inspiration. “Marin!” Her voice rang clear over Korban’s chanting. “Remember our game!”

The child’s despairing gaze met hers, but there was no understanding in them.

She tried again. “Remember that game you love to play? The one where I look for you?”

Marin’s big brown eyes went huge. Then, thank the Red God, her little face screwed up with effort.

And she vanished.

Korban’s chanting broke off in a startled yelp, and his hands jerked as if losing their hold. He flailed as if trying to recapture the child who’d just magicked herself invisible and squirmed from his grip.

“Hit the ground, Marin!” Amaris screamed.

The child instantly appeared, her body drawn into a ball as she lay on the stone floor. The wizard started to swoop down and grab her up again.

Raniero ran forward, swinging his sword in a furious upward blow. It cleaved through Korban’s neck in one clean stroke, and the wizard’s head went flying.

But even as his body fell, the Blood Orb flashed a horrifying crimson. A trail of red light started draining from the wizard’s headless body into the globe, which began to pulse brighter.

Raniero froze in horror. “Red God’s Balls! Korban’s death has completed the spell!”

Her heart turning into a solid block of ice, Amaris realized he was right. Though the death of an innocent would have provided more power, any death at all would fuel the spell. In moments, it would activate and rip the barrier apart. And once it fell, the Varil would invade.

Unless . . .

“We’ve got to redirect the spell.”

“It’s too complicated—there’s no time!”

“I can do it!” She stared hard at the pattern of swirling energies, reading them, finding the spot where the spell could be warped, turned to a new purpose. Throwing out both hands, she began to chant, sending her magic swirling toward the chink in the spell.

It was like trying to redirect floodwaters with her bare hands. The spell roared along the channel Korban had constructed, ignoring her efforts to turn it in a new direction. Amaris gritted her teeth and kept trying. She was damned if they’d fall to the Varil after suffering so much, fighting so hard.

But even as she strained to turn the magic, she knew she simply didn’t have enough power.

Until strong fingers wrapped around her shoulders, and a new stream of magic joined that rolling down her arms.

Raniero’s.

The vampire joined his will to hers, reinforcing her magic, working to warp the spell into the new shape she willed for it. And slowly, reluctantly, the spell twisted, took on the form she demanded.

The mystical energies pouring through the Great Barrier began adding to its strength instead of weakening it.

Somewhere in the distance, Amaris thought she heard reptilian voices howl in rage. Perhaps it was her imagination.

But it made her grin anyway.

Even as she smiled, the Blood Orb hit the stones of the battlements and shattered.

Silence fell.

It was so quiet, Amaris could hear her own panting along with Raniero’s deeper breaths. She felt dizzy, exhausted with blood loss and effort.

“Ama’is!” Her sister flung her small warm body against Amaris’s thighs, almost bowling her over. “Ama’is, you saved me!”

She dropped to her wobbling knees and wrapped shaking arms around the little girl. “I had help.” Amaris met Raniero’s eyes, and let her own gratitude show. “I had a lot of help.”

He leaned down and kissed her over the child’s head, quick and hard. She smiled at him as he drew away, knowing a promise when she tasted one.

T
hey limped into the great hall, where the guards and castle folk slept together on thin pallets. At the ring of Raniero’s boots on the stone, Korban’s warriors jolted awake and rose with a mass growl—only to fall silent in staring astonishment at the sight of their lord’s head, swinging by its bloody hair from Raniero’s right hand.

The left held Blue Stripe’s decapitated skull by one long ear. Amaris carried Cari’f’s head as her own gory trophy, a chilling grin of triumph pasted on her face.

Together, the lovers strolled to the dais through the stunned crowd, Marin walking solemnly behind them. Amaris’s heart was knotted in her throat, but she knew that the castle had to be reclaimed for the king.

Besides, she was frankly too tired to run from these bastards anyway.

Raniero dumped his burden on the dais, then flung himself into the lord’s chair. Amaris dropped the head she carried next to the other two, then moved to stand behind his chair, secretly bracing herself against it as the room spun around her. Despite the healing spell, she’d lost far too much blood. Marin leaned against his knee and gave the crowd a little smirk that warmed Amaris’s heart. Despite everything she’d been through, the child’s spirit was intact.

Raniero’s deep voice rang across the stillness of the great hall. “I have a message from your king.”

He gestured a spell, and a huge image appeared in the air over the hall. Ferran’s face stared out from it, rage in his golden eyes, a muscle flexing in his handsome cheek. He wore full armor, and he spoke from horseback. “I ride to Tzira Castle with my forces. When I arrive, I shall investigate your lord’s crimes. I expect you to give Lord Investigator Raniero your full obedience in the meantime.” He paused and swept his gaze over the crowd, which visibly cowered. “Lord Raniero pointed out that many of you were simply following the orders of your lord. He urges me to mercy. We shall see if he is of the same opinion when I arrive.”

The image winked out. Raniero contemplated the pale faces staring at him. “I trust,” he said at last, “you will give me your full obedience?”

Heads nodded rapidly all the length of the room.

Leaning against the back of his throne, Amaris smiled in tired satisfaction.

TEN

Three Weeks Later

“A
Rose and a fief,” Raniero said, settling against the pile of silken pillows in the lord’s bed. “I never thought to receive such a boon.”

“Well, you did save the kingdom,” Amaris pointed out, settling in next to him. “Naturally the king was grateful.”

He gave her a look. “
We
saved the kingdom.”

“So we did.” She leaned into his warm, muscled side, and he wrapped an arm around her.

King Ferran had decided Tzira Castle was too important to be entrusted to anyone except a man he was utterly sure of. Which meant Raniero, though the king sighed that he was loathe to lose his best investigator.

It was not a gift Raniero was inclined to turn down.