Refuge(87)

I stopped when I heard a scratching above me, and I looked up to see Minuet sidling along the rafter. I held my breath when she ruffled her wings as if she was going to take flight, but she stopped moving as soon as she caught me looking at her. I quickly lowered my gaze until I was looking straight ahead.

“Most people would never want to leave Seelie once they saw it. But Mary thought about her family and how they must be worried about her and – ” I froze as a gust of air lifted my hair and four paws landed on the floor less than five feet from me. Slowly, my eyes travelled up the feathered body until they met Minuet’s golden eyes. A sound near the door drew her attention away from me, and I knew Nikolas had drawn his sword.

I looked away from her and continued my story. “Mary knew that, even though the human world can be dangerous and scary, she could never leave her family and friends behind. So she asked the sylph to bring her home. The sylph was very sad because she had been so happy to find Mary and thought of her as a sister. But she did as Mary asked and brought her right to her front door. Mary was overjoyed to be home, and soon she was reunited with her family and friends, who could not believe she was alive and well. And they were grateful to the Faeries for taking care of Mary until she could come home again.”

Minuet made a small squawk, and I met her sharp, intelligent eyes. “I know it’s scary being away from home. I don’t know if you can understand me, but I promise you’re safe here with us until we find your family.”

She stared at me for another long moment. Then she walked forward until she stood over me and all I could see was a wide feathered chest. I held my breath as her head lowered until it was beside mine, and then she began to slowly rub her beak and face against my hair. After a minute, she pulled away and walked into her cage where she began to tear at the whole raw salmon in her food dish.

No one said anything as I got up from the floor and shut her cage door. I turned to face the others and saw that their shocked expressions mirrored my own.

Chris was the first to speak. “I thought I’d seen it all when I met the troll, but this . . . ”

“Sara, do you realize what just happened?” Sahir asked with some difficulty, and I shook my head. “She marked you with her scent. To her you are one of her flock now. I-I have never seen anything like it.”

“So, I’m like an honorary griffin? Cool.” I smiled as I walked toward them, still dazed from the experience. My eyes met Nikolas’s. “See, piece of cake.”

The words had barely left my mouth when I heard a rustling to my left. I realized too late that I had been so distracted by my success with Minuet I hadn’t noticed how close I was to Alex’s cage. I turned my head to see the wyvern rushing toward me, flames already shooting from his mouth.

The flames seared my arm a split second before I was snatched away from the cage and out of the wyvern’s range. Nikolas brought us to a stop and put out the fire on my sleeve, but already I could feel the agonizing pain from my wrist to my elbow. Tears welled in my eyes, and I cried out when my charred sleeve touched the skin that was already blistering.

“Sara, are you okay?” Sahir cried, running toward us.

Nikolas turned on him, eyes blazing. “Goddamnit, Sahir, I told you it wasn’t safe in here for her. That thing could have killed her.”

“It’s not his fault,” I said between clenched teeth. “I was careless. I got too close.”

“The hell it’s not,” Nikolas raged, still holding me. “He should never have allowed you in here.”

“Nikolas,” Chris said sharply. A look I could not decipher passed between them, and Nikolas’s hold on me loosened a little.

I tried to pull away from him, but his arm was still like a steel band around my waist. “D-don’t blame Sahir for this. I’m old enough to make my own decisions.” I tried again to move away from him to no avail. “Let me go.”

Nikolas glared down at me, totally ignoring my request. “You can’t keep taking risks like this.”

His condescending tone drove all thoughts of pain from my mind. “Would you just get the hell over yourself?” I shouted, pulling until he finally released me. I rounded on him. “You don’t get to say where I can go or how I spend my time. And I’m not some weakling you need to jump in and save all the time.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me, and it only made me madder. “Okay, you just did and I’m grateful, but that doesn’t give you the right to yell at everyone or treat me like I’m useless. If that’s all you think of me, I wish you’d just stayed away.”