Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) (47 page)

ater, a long time later, I was stretched out on the couch with Thaelique’s head resting on my chest. The candles had burnt themselves out and the glowbes had faded to darkness. As we had been forbidden to use the fire it was pretty chilly in the hut, and we had reluctantly pulled our robes back on. The Queen was asleep, her breathing deep and regular as I cuddled her, one hand absently stroking her hair.

I thought about Charlie, my friends, how this day had suddenly gone so hideously wrong. But I could only feel Thaelique’s optimism that everything was going to be okay as I held the wondrous woman in my arms. It must have been getting close to dawn, because I could hear the birds outside in the forest, beginning to sing in the new day. It was still completely dark outside though – Anna’s shield only kept the light from escaping.

I heard a twig crack outside the cottage and stiffened. Charlie and Anna were here, but my relief was tinged with a kind of regret – their arrival meant I would have to wake the Queen and leave this place that had seen the consummation of months’
worth of growing feelings. I realised that I never, ever wanted her to be anywhere else but right beside me.

Another twig snapped and I thought about getting up to let them in when I heard some muttering in Nea’thi. The voice was male, rough and terse and certainly not Anna or Charlie. I froze, my hand still on Thaelique’s hair as I heard four sets of footsteps work their way round to the back of the house.

Shit.

“Hey beautiful, shh, wake up,” I whispered at Thaelique, shaking her shoulder slightly. She grumbled and buried her face in my chest, unwilling to wake. “Come on, Thael!” My shaking grew increasingly frantic as I heard attempts to open the back door.

“Hmm, what?” She lifted her head and blinked at me sleepily.

“There’s someone here,” I whispered. Her eyes grew round as she heard the muttered swearing from out the back, and she sat up quickly.

“Can we go out the front?”

I shook my head. If there were four men out the back, they would have left at least one to keep lookout at the front of the cottage.

“You said this was it?” the rough voice asked in Human.

“Yes sir, I mean, they ran back the way they came, but when I first saw them they were heading this way. There’s naught but forest further in, so unless they’re camping out somewhere, this is the place. They used magic on me you know!” The other voice, slightly petulant now I recognised as belonging to the forester. Effing bastard. But who were the others with him, and why were they looking for us? And why the
hell
were they speaking Nea’thi?

“Quick,” I whispered to Thaelique and grabbed her hand, tugging her off the couch. There was a little gap in the corner where the two couches met, and we stuffed ourselves in there, and I covered us with a visibility shield just as the back door flew open with a mighty crash as one of the men kicked it hard.

“There’s no one here.” The first voice, which I guessed belonged to the leader, sounded testy.

“But, but, they must be!” the forester stammered. The leader barked an order to one of the other men. “Hey, wait! You said—” The forester’s words ended abruptly with a sickening crunch of something hard breaking his skull. I heard him being dragged out the back door, then his assailant walked back inside, brushing his hands.

I could see the three men now, having rounded the corner from the kitchen. All of them were dressed in black robes, their hoods up. The tallest one carried a pocket glowbe in front of him and swept the light around the room, I held my breath as it passed over our corner and I felt Thaelique do the same.

“Hmm.” The leader stepped across the creaky floor until I could see the bottom of his robe, so close I could have reached out and touched it. He bent down and picked up the bottle of brandy, muttering something in Nea’thi to the others, who laughed quietly before he silenced them with a gesture. He examined the bottle and set it down on a table. One of the others pointed out the candelabra and the leader sniffed the air and nodded. Shit. It was pretty obvious that someone had been in here recently. The tall one made another slow tour of the room, then looked at the others and shrugged. He walked past them and out the back door. The others followed more slowly, the last one scanning the room with his eyes again before heading to the door.

I let out a huge sigh of relief, which turned out to be a mistake, because as I breathed in gratefully I felt the years of accumulated dust in the corner being sucked into my mouth. I couldn’t help it, I cleared my throat as quietly as I could.

But that was enough.

The last man almost to the door swung around.

“Jờßeфжa!” he called to the leader, and he walked unerringly towards our corner. “So you
are
hiding in here somewhere, little sl—” He was interrupted by a surprised scream from outside that was quickly cut off, and I heard a body thumping to the ground. The leader barked some quick commands, then disappeared out the back door, as the other two raced to the front and easily pulled open the door from the inside.

One of them froze for a second, then shook it off, launching himself outside with a furious yell. The other ducked to the side of the door, and quickly poked his head out before pulling it back inside. I heard a familiar voice yelp in pain. Charlie! The bastard was attacking Charlie! The other man outside let out a shriek of surprise that finished with a disturbing gurgle, then he was silent.

“I’ve got your Queen!” the man still inside yelled. “Don’t try anything or I will kill her!”

Thaelique shook behind me. No way. There was no effing way. I squished her further back, putting up a new visibility shield around the corner. Then, maintaining my own invisibility, I stood up slowly.

“If you give her to me I will not harm you,” Anna called through the door. I heard a groan from outside that sounded like Charlie in pain. What had the bastard
done
to him?

The attacker sneered. “Bullshit! I know who you are, Lilbitch!” He stuck his head round the door for a second and I heard Anna grunt with anger.

Shit, I had to
do
something.

Invisible, I stepped over the arm of the couch silently and crept towards the man. I chanced a look out the open front door and saw two men, lying motionless, and Charlie, fallen to his knees, Anna standing behind him.

I reached deep inside and gathered all the Hầұeӣ I could, then thrust it at the air surrounding the man, freezing it and him in place. His eyes bulged with surprise and for a couple of seconds it held.

“Jaseth, no!” screamed Charlie from outside and I realised with horror I had let my visibility shield slip, just as the man shook and laughed.

“Stupid prick!” he yelled, and suddenly I was the one who couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He laughed as I tried to fix the air with my Hầұeӣ, but it wouldn’t move, wouldn’t change. The man unsheathed a knife and swept behind me, holding it to my throat.

“I’ve got your Queen and now this precious boy as well!” he shouted outside.

I was almost out of oxygen and my lungs began to ache. I could feel the knife at my throat, pressing down with the sharp blade.

Outside, Anna gave the slightest twitch of her head, I could feel the intensity of her stare from inside.

The man laughed again, loud and mirthless in my ear. “What are you gonna do now, Lilbi—”

“Jaseth, get
down
!” Anna screamed and flung out her hands towards us, the physical action concentrating the force of her Hầұeӣ. I felt the shield dissolve and the last thing I heard was a strange whine of disbelief from the man holding me. Then everything went black and I was unconscious before I hit the floor.

he Beltane riots, as they came to be known, were over almost before they had begun.

I was unconscious for three days after Anna used her Hầұeӣ on me. When I finally woke up in the hospital, Hayoum was checking my vital signs.

“Oh, Jaseth, you’re awake! How do you feel?”

Pretty much like my head had been run over by a steam-carriage, but I managed to clear my throat and croak out a “Fine, thanks.”

“Good, good, everything seems fine here. I’ll send in Charlie if you want, he’s been hovering outside your room the entire time.”

I tried to raise myself up on my elbows but failed miserably and fell back. What did Hayoum mean, “the entire time”?

“How long have I been out?” I groaned.

“Three days, boyo. You’d had some pretty serious Psychosolastry thrown at you, but everything seems to be in working order.”

“What about Thael— What about the Queen? Is she okay?”

“Oh yes, she’s fine. Brought her in for a quick check up, and now she’s back at the castle, trying to sort this mess out. Oh, here he is, hullo Charlie.”

“Jaseth?” Charlie whispered, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. My Mentor looked bloody awful. His faced was bruised and scratched and there were deep black circles underneath his bleary red eyes.

“Um, hey Charlie.”

Charlie made a noise that sounded dangerously close to a sob, and scrubbed at his face.

“You’re awake! Thank Lilbecz you’re alright!” His eyes were bright with tears and he held his hands up to his mouth, seemingly overwhelmed.

“Hmph, yeah, I didn’t think they let gay Mentors have male Bloodkin,” I muttered. Charlie looked confused beside the bed.

“Oh, no, it’s the other way round. The sexual orientation of the Mentor doesn’t matter, we’re all trained professionals…” he trailed off. “Oh! I see what you did there. Ha ha, very funny Jas.”

“Yeah yeah, where’s everyone else?”

“They just popped out to get some lunch, they should be back— Oh look, here they are now.”

I tried to turn my head to look at the door.

“Oh Charlie, is he awake yet?” I heard Lolitha ask from outside.

“Yes! Come in and see! He’s been asking about you!”

I thought that was a bit of a stretch, but the others slowly filed into the room. Lolitha stuck close to Jimmy and they were followed by Aliakh, Anna, Jeetz, and even Lux was there.

“Is this everyone for now? Good, I’ll leave you to it then, Jaseth. Try not to tire him out too much, okay you lot?” Hayoum left my hospital room and closed the door behind him.

“Oh Jas, I can’t believe you’re okay!” Lolitha couldn’t contain herself any longer and threw herself at me, hugging my aching shoulder.

“Ow, yeah, thanks ‘Litha, I’m fine.”

She stood back with a rueful smile. “Sorry, I’m just… pleased to see you.”

The group pulled up seats around the bed while Lolitha and Charlie perched down the end, and everyone filled me in on what had happened back in the city during the riots.

Anna had been following the royal procession, invisible, the entire way, and after the Queen and I had escaped, she had gathered up my Bloodkin friends and sent them through the Thistle’s tunnel to hide at her apartment. When the angry crowd had reached the Quarter, many of the Nea’thi had tried to block their way through the gates. Anna had realised what was happening and took Charlie with her, racing through the city unseen to try and shut down the Psychosolasts who had been using their Hầұeӣ to whip the Humans of the city into an anti-Nea’thi killing frenzy. There had been six of them, dotted around the Human areas of Lille and Anna had dispatched them one by one as the Temple’s Psychosolasts had moved in to the Quarter and quelled the rioters’ rage.