Reign Shadowfell's Arc

Chapter 9 of 29

Reign knelt beside the woman in the reeds. Her breath was thin. Her skin had gone the color of milk. Vixen still had her hand on the amulet at his chest, ready to pull him back if he lost himself again. The imp watched from the woman's shoulder. Reign did not have a plan. He had a body at his feet and a road he could not walk with it lying there. He leaned down before he could think it through and pressed his mouth to hers. He bit the inside of his own lip until he tasted iron, then let a few drops fall past her teeth. Her body jerked. Her back arched off the flattened reeds. A sound came out of her that was half cough, half cry. Vixen's hand tightened on the amulet. The imp scrambled clear. Reign held the woman's shoulders and waited. Her pupils blew wide, then shrank to pinpoints. The color came back into her face in a hard rush. She sat up on her own. She looked at Reign the way a dog looks at the person holding its leash. "What is your name," Reign said. "Lyla," she said. "Lyla Thorne." Her hand went to her neck. The wound was closing under her fingers. She did not seem surprised by it. She seemed to be waiting for the next word he would give her. Reign let go of her shoulders and stood. He told her his name. He pointed to Vixen and said her name, and then to the imp and said Lux. Lyla nodded at each one as if he were handing her tools. Vixen took her hand off the amulet at last. She looked at Lyla, then at Reign. She did not say what she was thinking. He could guess. He had made a witness into a thing that belonged to him, and that was a different problem than a body in the reeds, but it was a smaller one. No corpse to bury. No blood trail to hide. The hunger in him had gone quiet for the first time since he left the cave. Reign picked up the woman's basket and handed it to her. She took it without asking why. He turned to the imp and told it to lead. The imp bared its teeth in something like a grin and set off through the reeds. Vixen fell in at Reign's left. Lyla walked at his right, half a step behind, matching his pace without being told. Four sets of feet now, moving toward the manor his father had left him. Reign kept his hand on the amulet under his shirt. He did not know what waited at the gate. He knew he would not arrive alone.