Amber Eyes

by S. D. Grimm

  It wrapped its talons into Stormcloud’s flank. The pegasus shrieked.

  “Leave her alone.” Jayden charged the animal, dagger aimed at the gryphon’s face. It turned away, eyes closed. The look made Ethan grab Jayden to stop her.

  “What’s wrong with you, Ethan?” she shouted.

  “I knew you’d come.”

  They froze, but heat flared in Ethan’s chest at the sound of that voice. Scarface. He turned. The man stepped into view and smiled, puckering the scar on his cheek. “You just couldn’t resist setting her free.” He held the other end of the chain that controlled the gryphon. Must be a magical chain if the beast didn’t just drag him away.

  That had to be it. He’d trapped the gryphon. Leashed him.

  Ethan’s talent warned him. Urged him. Whispered to his heart for him to free the gryphon and leave with Jayden.

  That didn’t make sense. Why would he free the enemy? Why would he leave Quinn? He had one chance right now to make Scarface feel the pain of a broken heart—even if only for a moment.

  Ethan gripped his sword tighter. The familiar fire of revenge fueled him, filled the void his talents wouldn’t touch. “You’ll die for what you did.”

  He could kill the man, then save Quinn and Jayden.

  Scarface grabbed Quinn by her tangled mass of hair. She shrieked, trying to claw at him with fettered hands.

  “Let her go.”

  “Or what?” Scarface smirked.

  Ten men with swords came out from behind the volcano, cutting them off from Stormcloud. From their escape.

  Scarface pressed the knife to Quinn’s neck, and she whimpered. “This looks familiar, doesn’t it? You hand over the Deliverer or your little friend dies. I think you know by now that I mean what I say.”

  Chapter 66

  Easily

  Underestimated

  Jayden watched the tip of Ethan’s sword tremor. This was exactly what she’d feared. He’d have to make a choice to protect her or someone else. Just like with Kinsey. Her heart clutched with double the strength. Ethan’s fear was running through her, too. He didn’t know what to do, whom to protect. She had to do something. Save him before he sacrificed himself again.

  The man with the scar jammed the blade against Quinn’s throat, and she choked on a scream. Jayden’s blood heated. Quinn was just a child.

  Jayden dropped her daggers. “I’ll go with you.”

  “No.” Ethan looked at her with wide, wild eyes.

  He reached for her. That look in his eye and tug in his heart meant one thing—he was going to protect her by any means necessary. But who would die in her stead? Last time Kinsey died. This time Scarface would claim no one.

  She shook her head and backed away from him. Closer to the scarred man. “He won’t kill me, Ethan. Franco needs me.”

  His eyes flicked between her and Quinn. The panic on his face matched that in her own heart. It ached. “Jayden, if you go, everything we’ve been fighting for—”

  “You’ll still be fighting for it. Only this time you won’t lose anyone.”

  “How could you say that?”

  “Give it up, dog.” The scarred man’s deep voice boomed behind her as if it vibrated through her being. Shook her to the core.

  “What are you doing?” Stormcloud’s voice was strained. Maybe the gryphon would let the poor pegasus go.

  “I’m saving everyone. Just like I’m supposed to.”

  “Are you sure you’re not just giving up?”

  “I never give up.” She looked right into Ethan’s eyes, willing him to hear those words she’d thought. Hoping they rang true through her eyes. She wasn’t giving up. She was saving him.

  The ache in his chest sprang into her like a geyser rushing forward from the earth. “You said you’d let me protect you.”

  “Apparently, she lied.” The scarred man threw Quinn toward Ethan and grabbed Jayden’s arm. “Revenge taints your soul. You can’t control it, can you? The way it eats at your flesh? When the time comes for the Deliverers to die, I’ll slit Jayden’s throat myself. How does it feel to know you willingly endangered her?”

  “You die today, Scarface.” Ethan lunged forward.

  The grip on Jayden’s arm tightened and cut off circulation. She couldn’t slip out of his fingers. He was too strong. Was everyone from the palace this strong? Franco had been this strong.

  Ethan’s sword headed her way, straight at the scarred man. She tried to anchor her heels into the rocky ground. The scarred man pulled her closer to himself despite her furious fight against his grip. As if it didn’t matter that every muscle in her body strained to get away from him. He still yanked her closer until she was in front of him.

  A shield.

  Sunlight glinted off Ethan’s blade as he raced forward. He seemed to move slowly as she fought the scarred man’s grip. Ethan raised his sword above his head, and it came crashing down.

  Down.

  At her.

  The sword’s shadow covered her vision as the blade descended.

  “Ethan!” Her voice got lost in the slow motion of the moment. She willed time to speed so Ethan could hear her. Everything in her shrieked for her to close her eyes, but she looked into Ethan’s instead.

  They weren’t soft. They were hard and full of fire. And they looked right through her.

  Her blood boiled from his hatred. A tear dripped down her cheek. Please, see me.

  Ethan jolted as if he’d run into a wall. The clouds seemed to clear from his vision, and he shook his head. He stood there, chest heaving, and the scarred man’s chuckle vibrated against Jayden’s back.

  She squirmed, trying to break his hold, and he pulled her closer still. His peppermint breath hit her face, and she craned her neck to look at him. Pain shot through her arm and a sick feeling spouted in her stomach. She wanted to vomit. It couldn’t be.

  “You aren’t Scarface.” Ethan’s voice was a whisper.

  A shudder rushed through Jayden’s body.

  “Ah. You won’t fall for the same trick twice?” The man chuckled. “Just think, even if you had killed me, it wouldn’t have quelled your hunger.” A strange haze overtook the scarred man’s face as if he weren’t really himself. More of a reflection in a pond. The scar faded, his eyes changed color, and then the man’s face sharpened into focus, but it wasn’t the scarred face she’d been looking at. It was a face she knew well. It haunted her dreams enough.

  Franco.

  He pulled out a vial of dark, purple liquid. “Thanks, dog.”

  “No!” Jayden pushed against his grip with everything she had left, but it wasn’t enough.

  “What’s happening?” Stormcloud’s panicked cry echoed through her.

  Franco tossed a vial on the ground and purple smoke exploded. Snaked up around Jayden. It misted against her skin. Made her feel light. Everything swirled and Stormcloud’s voice winked out.

  Hard, dirt-packed ground became solid beneath her feet, but she lost her balance and rolled.

  She was free.

  She stood, ready to make a dash for her daggers as soon as the haze cleared.

  It did.

  But there were no daggers.

  No Ethan.

  No Stormcloud.

  She stood on black, scorched earth. A circle of dead, leafless trees surrounded her, black lines shooting up the dead bark. White fog misted in, blinding her to everything outside the circle. What was this place?

  “You’re mine now.” Franco’s voice made her turn. He was right behind her.

  She kicked at his thigh, her shin making hard contact. He fell to the earth, and she raced for the white mist.

  Two black eyes the size of dinner plates met her, pushed her back into the circle. The creature’s head followed. It resembled a goat with massive, curled horns, but its fur looked like flames. Danced like fire. It tipped its head and thrust it upward. A long neck grew up toward the sky, and Jayden fell to the ground as it encroached her space and opened huge, leathery wings.


  Franco chuckled. He straddled her and pressed against her biceps, pinning her arms in place. “All I need is to release the Mistress, then use her power to get you to kneel willingly to me.”

  She spit in his face. “It’ll never happen.”

  “Oh.” His thick finger trailed against her cheek. “I think it will.”

  That was a mistake. She pushed against his chest. He bobbled and her other arm was free. She pulled the knife from its sheath beneath her sleeve and slit his throat. Blood gushed out onto the blade. Dripped onto her face. Her hands. She’d done it. And it was so easy.

  Franco put his hand on her wrist and pushed her arm back. He wiped the blood off his neck. No cut. No scar. How?

  He smirked. “Did you think I’d come to this fight unprepared? I know what you’re capable of, my love.”

  She shivered at his use of that word. “You know nothing of love.”

  He squeezed tighter, grinding her wrist bones together. “We’ll see.” He yanked her to standing and finally let go. She rubbed her sore wrist, then pulled out her dagger and clutched the hilt tight.

  A deep chuckle struck up behind her. Smoke poured across the ground. She backed away from the sound. The earth shook. A huge, scaled nose, with nostrils big enough to swallow her whole, crept through the trees, cracked and snapped them in half. A black, horned head followed, and the two amber eyes—eyes of the biggest creature she’d ever seen—focused on her.

  A dragon.

  Chapter 67

  The Dog Bites

  Ethan shook his head. Gone. Jayden was gone. He’d seen that

   before. Always the vial. He focused and felt the pulse of her pull. She wasn’t too far from here. Good. Also bad. That meant Franco wasn’t far, either.

  He stared at the ten men and their arrows. “He left you here.”

  One of them laughed. “He has a very special plan for you. We’re supposed to make sure you don’t leave.”

  “Free me, and I’ll help you.”

  Ethan ignored the gryphon. But his talent burned in his chest. Throbbed. Pushed against the fire of revenge. He shook his head. Why had he let revenge take a hold of him again?

  He glanced at Quinn. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you safe.”

  She rubbed her raw wrists and looked up at him. “How?”

  “She’s not what you think she is. Free me. Please?” The gryphon’s eyes pleaded. His claws receded. Slowly he released Stormcloud. She reared, hooves flailing, but the gryphon shrank away.

  “Stupid beast.”

  Ethan turned at the sound of the voice. It was the girl? She was controlling the gryphon? The dark chuckle in her throat didn’t seem to be anything a little girl could make. It was a chuckle he’d heard before.

  “Fool, dog. I told Franco his plan would work better if he looked like me. I knew you’d come for me. You should have seen your face as he held the knife to my throat. It was just like I remembered.” Quinn’s face morphed, melted into Scarface. He shucked the cuffs on his wrists and pulled a sword from behind a boulder. “Surprised to see me?”

  “Surprised you’re alive.”

  Scarface laughed, dark and evil. “I know a Healer.” He twirled his sword. “That revenge you wanted? Come and get it.”

  Ethan backed up a step. “You killed my sister.”

  “You let me.”

  His chest throbbed.

  Heat spread across it. He’d recognize that pull anywhere. Jayden. Franco was going to hurt Jayden, and he’d brought her into this whole mess.

  All because he’d chosen revenge. He didn’t deserve to be a Protector. Not anymore.

  “This is all because you wanted to kill me, isn’t that right, dog?”

  Those words he’d heard over and over. Dog. As if a creature who loved so fully was something to be ashamed of. He’d never forced Scout to stay with him, never once forced him to endure pain because of a leash, and his dog had stayed. Would have sacrificed himself. That word would no longer get to him. If this was how Scarface treated dogs, he was about to be bitten.

  Something whispered in the back of his mind, a feeling more than words, but he knew exactly what it prompted him to do: Use the sword. Free the gryphon.

  His talent had clearly told him what to do. Had been trying to tell him all along, and he’d failed. Ethan’s sword came down hard on the gryphon’s chains.

  The animal screeched like an eagle and dove at the men with arrows. His body and massive wingspan shielded Ethan from the enemy. Freed him to face Scarface.

  He clutched his sword hilt. “It’s you and me now.”

  Scarface lifted his hand and tossed something. A vial. He’d get away. Ethan charged forward. Purple smoke burst up from the ground. Not this time.

  He thrust his sword into the violet haze and hit something. He twisted. Laughter punctured the air. Then died.

  Purple dissipated.

  Nothing but blood on his blade.

  Ethan sank to his knees, his talent urging him to stand. To fight. But he had nothing left. He’d failed Jayden. He’d failed Kinsey. And he’d let revenge flood into him with such vengeance that he hadn’t listened when his talent had warned him to free the gryphon and go.

  It was all his fault after all.

  “Look out!”

  The gryphon’s voice warned him with the same intensity as the flare in his chest, but Ethan didn’t want to listen.

  Let it kill him. He wasn’t worthy to protect Jayden anymore—Logan was right about that. He couldn’t even trust himself. It wasn’t his talent that had wronged him. It was his own weakness.

  A growl joined the sounds of men screaming and the gryphon screeching. Ethan stood, sword in hand, and turned, puzzled. The gryphon was faltering in flight, arrows sticking from its body in all directions. But the growl he’d heard was from Scout.

  Scout! Black water dripped off his fur. He’d swum over? Why?

  The answer thudded into Ethan. To protect him. To make sure he wasn’t alone.

  Ethan picked up his sword and joined his dog and the gryphon. He breathed deep. Called on his talents, which rushed into him like a dam had broken. He had people to protect, and it started with getting off this island alive.

  Man after man fell to his sword. To Scout’s teeth. To the gryphon’s claws. When at last the rocky ground was covered with bodies and blood, Ethan wiped his blade on the dead men’s cloaks.

  The gryphon slumped to the ground, and Ethan raced over to the creature. “Hang in there, buddy.”

  A burn flashed across his chest.

  He turned.

  One man reached up and pointed three arrows at Ethan’s chest. There was no way he’d catch three arrows. Perhaps his fight was over.

  The gryphon tried to get up, but its wing hung limp and it stumbled.

  Scout jumped up. His lithe body sailed toward the archer. He grabbed the man’s arm in his teeth. Pushed the enemy to the ground and bit the man’s neck.

  A burn spread across Ethan’s chest. For Scout?

  No!

  He raced toward his dog, but the man shoved an arrow into Scout’s stomach.

  Scout’s yelp silenced everything.

  Ethan’s heartbeat stalled, then he ran forward and stabbed the man through. He pulled Scout’s body off the ground and into his lap. “Scout?”

  His voice cracked. Scout’s pink tongue flicked across Ethan’s hand, then stilled. His head went limp.

  “No!” He clutched his dog to his chest. His dog. His friend. His family when he’d had no one.

  He held his dog amidst the bodies of scattered men. Scout had saved him when he wasn’t willing to save himself.

  The gryphon crawled next to him. Ethan was going to push the animal away, but it nudged Scout’s head with its beak, then closed its eyes. Ethan patted the gryphon’s head. “Thank you.”

  Blood seemed to pulse in his oath hand and he looked at the scar. Three distinct lines merging into one. His promise. Tears dripped down his cheeks, and he dug his f
ingers through Scout’s fur. He kissed the top of his dog’s head. “You’re a good boy, Scout. I almost forgot how important this promise was to me, but you reminded me. I’m not alone. I love you, buddy. Thank you.”

  Chapter 68

  Turn It Off

  They’re Feravolk! Take down the animals, too!” The man called Balton yelled, and Serena’s heart clutched.

  Dash’s nostrils flared. He whirled, kicked a man, and stabbed his horn through another. When he pulled the horn out, he’d left a hole in the man’s chest. A hole. Serena gaped as pain flooded her. The pain of others. Pain that lead to death. Five men fell to Dash before she unsheathed her daggers. Logan’s sword was already bloody and Westwind lunged at a man, knocking him to the ground. She looked away as his teeth clamped down.

  Serena breathed deep. Focused. Clutched her new daggers tighter. A man advanced toward her. She spun. Her heel met his stomach, then she slashed his arm. Blood.

  A wound she wouldn’t have to heal, but she still felt the stab of pain.

  She was a Healer, not a killer.

  “Serena, this is a fight. Your desire to heal cannot be your immediate response. You have to fight.” Dash’s words resounded in her mind.

  She breathed deep again. And something in the daggers seemed to flood her.

  “Dash, can you turn it off? The need to heal?” Her thoughts made her voice sound small.

  “I can, young one. When I use my horn to harm, I turn it off.”

  She slashed a man’s thigh and jumped back. She stared at him. At the blood on her blade. The daggers seemed to knock on her soul. She opened the door to them and something hollow seemed to fill her. Like an expanse of nothing. Her desire to heal turning off. That’s what it felt like? This was what true fighting did to Healers? This was not what she wanted.

  The man lunged toward her again. He held his sword high over his head. She should toss her dagger into his heart, but she didn’t want to. Now he was so close.

  Logan’s sword stabbed the man in the chest. Then he spun toward her. His sword clashed against a man behind her. A man who’d almost struck her down.

  “Serena, don’t stop fighting.” Dash’s thoughts spurred her forward. Blood stained his white fur, but his wounds kept healing.