Wind ripped at my clothes as I hurtled down the street. Boots thudded against the stones behind me as five constables gave chase.
“Stop!” one of them called. “Burglar!”
Lightning crackled through the air as someone shot a bolt at me. I dodged left and kept on running. More lightning magic sizzled behind me.
If I had used my own powers, I could have killed them before they’d even gotten up from that bench they had sat down on. But there were two problems with that. One was that we were in the middle of a respectable neighborhood, which meant that there was a significant risk of someone spotting me, and if they did, the whole city would know that there was a dark mage here. And that would make our plan to kidnap Lance so much harder. Which brought us to the second problem. Even if no one saw me, killing five constables would draw far too much unwanted attention that we couldn’t afford. So I was forced to run away instead. As if I was some kind of weak coward.
Using the power of my anger, I pushed myself to go faster as I sprinted towards the park up ahead. Magical attacks made of water, wind, and lightning followed in my wake. But I was still moving too fast for them to get a clear shot.
The low fence that boxed in the park appeared before me. Bracing one hand on the cool metal, I leaped over it and landed in a flowerbed. Bright yellow flowers glared up at me in annoyance as I trampled half of them on my way out.
“He ran into the park!” one of the constables yelled.
Changing direction, I sprinted to the left instead of continuing towards the entrance on the other side. Fire bloomed in the sky above, lighting up the dark rows of bushes and trees. I dove behind the massive rhododendron next to me. Crouched down behind it, I listened for the sound of footsteps.
What were the fucking odds? I had moved over to the back door like Audrey had asked me to, waiting right in front of it to catch the forger if she tried to run. But not a minute later, a group of constables had strolled in and sat down on the bench right across the small courtyard. Since I’d just been standing there very suspiciously, facing the door, they’d thought I was a burglar. I’d had to run right away so that they wouldn’t have time to see my face. Hopefully, Audrey had managed to get the forger to do the job anyway. But it bothered me that I hadn’t been able to do my part of the plan. Just because fortune had seen fit to send five constables to that spot at that exact time.
“Which way?” someone asked.
The ball of flame moved through the air, casting my surroundings in orange and red light. I kept still.
“I’m not sure.”
“Damn. Then spread out. He has to be here somewhere.”
Shit. I had banked on them moving past me as a group, so that I could slip back the way I had come.
Boots thudded against grass.
I slid my knife out of its sheath. Maybe I needed to kill one of them after all. If it was just one person dead, and it was clear that it was from a knife wound, maybe it wouldn’t draw that much attention. Indecision flitted through me.
The footsteps drew closer.
My gaze drifted to a branch lying on the grass, half buried by the rhododendron’s thick leaves. That could work. Sheathing my knife again, I picked up the branch and tested its weight. It was solid enough to do real damage, but not lethal enough to kill. I shifted it to my right hand and then picked up a small stone with my left.
The constable was almost upon me now. Straining my ears, I focused on the sound of his feet and counted down the seconds in my head.
Now.
I threw the stone.
It sailed over the bush and clattered down on the other side. The blond constable who had been about to stumble onto me, turned around right at the same time as he stepped into view. I shot to my feet and smacked the branch into his head.
A thwack echoed into the park.
Then the man crumpled to the ground.
As I leaped over his unmoving body and sprinted back towards the fence, I looked down at the branch in my hand. There was blood on one side of it. Maybe I had put too much force behind that strike. As I thought back to the sound it had made on impact, I had a sneaking suspicion that I might have killed him after all. I shrugged. Oh well. After dropping the bloody branch in a bush, I vaulted over the metal fence and darted towards the closest street.
I ran in twisting patterns for a while to make sure that I had really lost them. When I had come to the conclusion that the constables were long gone, I turned and got ready to jog back towards the forger’s house. But a figure visible between two buildings stopped me.
It was Audrey.
She was moving in the direction of the smuggler’s tunnel, where we had hidden our packs. Most likely, she had found me missing and decided to head back there to see if I had returned there too. Brushing a few stray leaves off my clothes, I jogged down another street to cut her off.
She blinked at me as I stepped out of the shadows in front of her.
“How did it go?” I asked before she could speak.
Taking a few steps to the side, she moved into a dark and narrow alley that was well hidden from prying eyes. I followed.
“It went well,” she replied as she came to a halt. “We’ll have the papers in the morning.”
“Good. Then we’ll head to that house John mentioned and get some sleep while we wait.” I dragged a hand through my hair. “I couldn’t guard the back door, but it sounds like it worked out anyway.”
“Yeah.” She looked up at me curiously. “What happened?”
“Five constables decided to take a break right across the courtyard. They thought I was a burglar, so I had to give them the slip.”
“Huh.”
“What are the fucking odds of…” I trailed off.
Wicked satisfaction shone in her eyes and a smirk curled her lips. Almost as if she…
Realization dawned.
She knew.
I slammed her up against the wall. Surprise flashed in her eyes and she moved to evade me, but it was already too late. With one hand keeping her wrist trapped and the other wrapped tightly around her throat, I held her pinned to the stone wall.
“Did you know that there would be constables there?” I growled in her face.
My fingers kept her throat in a death grip. A smile dripping with threats and smug mockery spread across my lips as I held her gaze.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I began in a tone laced with venom while I kept my hand firmly wrapped around her delicate neck, “I’m having a little trouble hearing you. Answer.”
I’d had a lot of practice choking people with one hand, so I knew that I had cut off her air supply completely. She couldn’t answer even if she wanted to. But she didn’t. She didn’t even try to speak. Or try to draw breath. There was no fear or panic in her eyes. No pleading look. She just stood there with a fucking smirk on her face, glaring up at me defiantly. As if I didn’t hold her life in the palm of my hand. And damn it all to hell, but that actually made me respect her a bit.
When her eyes started to slide in and out of focus, I finally relaxed my grip and allowed her to breathe again.
Her knees buckled and she crashed down on the street before me as I released her throat and wrist. Pressing her palms against the cool stones, she sucked in deep breaths. My cock swelled slightly as I looked down at her. Oh she really did look good on her knees before my feet.
Fiery hatred burned in her eyes as she raised her head and looked up at me. “If we weren’t in such a public place, you would be the one on your knees gasping for air right now.”
I smirked down at her. “Too bad you’re nothing without your magic.”
She pushed to her feet, making a very valiant effort to appear unaffected. After brushing her hands down her clothes, she ran her fingers through her long black hair and jerked her chin at me.
“Let’s go finish this mission so that we can go back to killing each other as soon as possible.”
A huff of amusement escaped my throat. “Fine by me.”
Wicked anticipation pulsed inside me. I did look forward to the day when I could devote my full attention to making her surrender to me, but there was still quite some time left before that.
And I was going to spend every day until then finding other ways to torment her.
