I sighed and caught Wolfe’s eyes in the reflection. “Is it almost time?”

He nodded, frowning, and then he broke our gaze. A strange tension sprung up between us. If I were honest with myself it had been there since we’d been taken by the Iavii. For someone who had spent the last eight years arguing with and bitching at Wolfe I had never once felt this horrible, ill-at-ease way around him. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. I was so afraid of what it meant, so afraid of disappointing my family’s memory.

“I-”

I don’t know what I was going to say but it didn’t matter because the key turned in the lock in the door and suddenly Kir was there, smiling at me and befuddling me even more.

“You ready?” He asked, shutting the door and striding in, every inch the confident rookery gang leader.

I didn’t look at Wolfe. “Yes.”

“Great-” Kir cursed under his breath as he reached me, his hand cupping my chin. “That looks sore this morning.”

Feeling Wolfe’s burning gaze, I gently tugged out of his hold. “I’ve had worse.”

Kir grew serious. “I remember.”

Not really strong enough to take a trip down nightmare lane with him, I put my hands on my hips, trying to exude the strength I wasn’t feeling. “Alright, so now what?”

“Now you make your escape. Remember,” his gaze switched between Wolfe and I, “To get out, you take a left, a right, and the back door is at the top of the hall. I left it unlocked.” Now he just stared at Wolfe. “When you attack me you have to make it look real.”

Wolfe’s face tightened.

Kir sighed heavily, his lip curling up almost condescendingly. “I mean it, Wolfe.”

I wasn’t surprised when Wolfe made no response. Clearly, he didn’t want Kir to get hurt.

Coming to the same conclusion I had drawn, Kir pulled back his shoulders, his own expression determined. There was a dark, mischievousness in his eyes, I didn’t trust. “Fine.” He shook his head, throwing Wolfe a warning look. “Then I guess I’ll just have to make you want to.”

When his long arm came out and caught me around the waist I squawked in undignified surprise and instinctively pushed against his hard chest as he crushed me to him, his other hand winding into my hair to bring my lips against his in a hard, punishing kiss. The hand on my waist slid down my back and squeezed my bottom. I yelled into his mouth, trying to get away. Quite abruptly that muffled exclamation was given free reign as his body was wrenched from mine, soaring across the room and straight through the door. That’s right. Straight through the door. Not the doorway. The door. I gaped in befuddlement at Kir collapsed around the wooden splinters of the door in the hall, groaning as he drew himself up into a sitting position.

“Come on.” I blinked down at the large familiar hand wrapped around my wrist and then up at its owner. Wolfe. A really angry Wolfe.

I was dragged out through the fragments of the doorway and into the hall, only to be pushed behind Wolfe at the sound of yelling to the right of us. Jesper came hurrying down the hallway with Nalia at his back. Wolfe stared them down in concentration. I felt the heat of his energy as the two thugs were thrown back up the corridor from whence they came, their bodies crashing sickeningly against the back wall before crumpling in an unconscious heap.

Another groan caught my attention and I gasped as Kir wiped at a large gash on his arm. “Are you alright?” I made to rush towards him but Wolfe had turned back, grabbing my arm again to wrench me in the opposite direction. “Hey!” I growled at him, whipping back around to check on Kir.

“I’m fine, Rogan,” he assured me, wincing as he pushed a large chunk of door off of him. “Go. Just go.”

We shared a long look as Wolfe continued to haul me up the narrow corridor, and just as we turned left, I mouthed ‘thank you’, unexpected tears threatening to brim over. He gave me a knowing nod just as I disappeared.

“You have telekinesis too?” I hissed at Wolfe as we hurried along this next hall.

“Shut up, Rogan.”

I raised my eyebrow at his tone. I could either argue with him or get out of here. Mind made up, I yanked my arm free from him and picked up my skirts. As I ran, Wolfe ran with me, and we burst out through the back door…

…Only to be confronted with two of Kir’s thugs, smoking tobacco and staring in confusion at the two horses tethered to a drain pipe on the next building.

Their roll ups dropped to the sodden wet ground as their mouths fell open at the shock of seeing us. Wolfe didn’t even say anything, he just flicked his hand and the two of them went soaring past us. At the sounds of flesh hitting brick (I thought I might have heard some bones cracking too) I decided now was not the time to question Wolfe about his abilities. Instead we moved in tandem, hurrying to untie the two horses Kir had managed to procure for us. With me at Wolfe’s back we hurried off into the streets of the rookery, the horse’s hooves echoing against the buildings in frightening volume. Amazingly, the horses worked against the slickness of the cobbles with more proficiency than I could have expected, and we were heading out of the rookery, past the glass works, and into the green of the Vasterya I remembered, at harried speed.

As we galloped down the muddy trade road, past farm country, Wolfe slowed a little until my horse was abreast his.

“Rogan.” He sighed, licking rain from his upper lip, seeming afraid to meet my eye. “We need to get somewhere safe. I know you don’t want me to ever use your magic, but…”

Understanding that he wanted permission to use my magic to find a safe place to stop, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to get some answers. “If I let you… will you tell me everything?”

He was scowling at me now, his eyes so blue against the stark dullness of the day. “What do you mean?”

“You!” I gestured to him, anger flaring out from my chest to batter against him in the rain. “Tell me why you hid whatever magic you have? I want to know about you and Kir. I want to know about the horseshoe.”

“That’s none of your business, Rogan!” Wolfe shouted back to be heard over the weather and the horses. I could have sworn he looked frightened.

He was right. It was none of my business. But not knowing was driving me crazy and I needed to stay focused on Haydyn. This distraction had to be dealt with. “I’m making it my business.”