Bullets scratched into metal in a deafening fury. Hiko hit the gas and Sinister shut the door just as a lamppost almost took the thing off its hinges.
“You’ve got a bit of a control problem, Isay,” I rasped shakily, turning my attention back to her. “Just take deep breaths, and please don’t kill me.”
She stammered, “I can’t—”
“It’s okay, Isay. It’s okay.”
“No, Karmuth, I—”
I wrapped my arms around her, because if I was going to die then I’d rather die with her against me. She squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her head in the crook of my neck.
Her breath brought shivers down my spine. I loved it.
“Why me?” Isay whispered, her voice fragile and thin.
The rapid thumping of her heart slowed as the car sped up, soon reaching the highway. With it the darkness retreated, leaving behind a trembling and confused girl.
I squeezed her harder against me, not caring that she was pressing against the gunshot wound.
My breathing was raspy, coming out in harsh puffs. If I hadn’t been overfeeding these past few days, Isay would’ve killed me like she’d killed the fae on the balcony. Her muffled sobs broke me more than the thought of dying for her.
“Everything okay back there?” Regar’s head peeked out between the two front seats, brow scrunched in concern.
I gave him a curt nod. “Peachy.”
“You’re basically transparent, man. More white currant than peachy.” Regar’s eyes travelled over Isay nested in my arms, then to Sinister who I only then noticed was pressed tight against the side of the door as far away from us as physically possible.
I barked a laugh at his utterly focussed dedication. Tapping my knee against his to get him to look at me instead of Isay made him jump in his seat, and I laughed harder.
“It’s fine, man, she stopped,” I said, but he did not relax one bit. His choice.
“Just in a nick of time, too. Did I tell you that you look white as hell?” Regar lost his balance as the car sped over a pothole and he, bumped his head against the roof of the car. Rubbing his head absentmindedly, his eyes suddenly widened, stuck on the back windshield. “Oh shit, this is not good. Floor it, Hiko!”
“The fuck you think I’m doing, then? Sit back down and put your seatbelt on,” Hiko growled back, pulling at Regar’s shirt while I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of what he’d seen.
Behind us, three black sedans skidded through the traffic. Isay’s sharp breath alerted me to the fact that she’d seen them too.
I soothed, “You keep taking deep breaths, beautiful. In and out, don’t worry about the rest, yeah?”
“He said he always gets what he wants.” She shuddered against me.
“This is no longer about you. This is about pride.”
“But he said... he said that…” Isay’s lips trembled.
I hated that she had to go through this. All of it. She didn’t deserve any of it. “He’s not going to get you. We’re almost to the portal.”
Another look through the back window and I knew we wouldn’t make it without taking some serious damage. Six guns pointed out of the windows.
As soon as they were steadily on our tail, they started firing at us.
“Isay, get down!” I released my grip from around her so she could adjust her position. Instead of hanging from my neck, she hid her face in my lap. Any other time, I would’ve expected a dirty joke out of one of our companions, but the car stayed dead serious.
I felt her hands find my wound as she gripped at my shirt.
“Karmuth, you’re bleeding?” she exclaimed, pressing her hand firmer on my wound.
“I’m fine,” I gritted through my teeth. “It went straight through.”
The back window shattered after several well-placed shots broke through the glass, and I covered Isay with my body.
“Are we fucking there yet?” Sinister finally shouted.
“Hang on!” Hiko yelled back right after, and the car slid off the highway and onto the verge, but not before a bullet whizzed past my cheek, through the headrest and right into Hiko’s neck.
The car skidded through the portal in a bumpy ride that did more damage to the prince, who’d stopped steering. Regar leaned over the centre console to grab the wheel and stop us from rolling into a ditch. We were slowing down. Hiko’s head dropped to his shoulder, and he was clearly not conscious enough to press on the gas. We stopped completely a few metres farther, just as the first sedan drove through the portal.
“Stay here!” I ordered Isay and pushed Sinister out the door he’d clung to to get out after him. We had business to take care of. And they were out of guns.
Chapter 22
ISAY
KARMUTH WAS WOUNDED AND WEAKENED FROM WHAT I’D DONE to him. It was clear by the way he staggered out of the car after Sinister, unsteady on his feet.
Once out, he gripped the roof of the car for balance before pushing himself towards the nine emotion-feeders exiting their own cars.
Nine against two, since Hiko was unconscious in the front seat, and Regar clutched him for dear life, as if that would stop the bleeding. I’d seen him fight against four without breaking a sweat, but he’d been in top form then, not bleeding and drained. If the fae they were facing were half as good as Hiko and his warriors, then we were in big trouble.
