Scorched Heart (The Firebrand Series Book 4), Helen Harper [free ereaders .txt] 📗

been generous. All the same, I launched myself towards it and cupped the cold water in my hands so I could gulp it down. I drank another and another handful. Only when I’d had my fill did I pull back and prop myself up against a tree. I’d rest for five minutes, I decided, and then I’d keep going.

Something fluttered in front of my eyes. I waved my hands to clear my vision and hoped I wasn’t about to pass out again. I waved again – and then I heard a squawk. I blinked as the dark shape that I’d mistaken for my blurry, weak eyes, became the unmistakable form of a bird.

‘Vel?’ I croaked.

The bird cawed and flapped its wings. It tilted its head curiously, eyes watching me, then hopped up and pecked me gently.

‘Go and get help, Vel. Go and tell them I’m here. Find Lukas and…’ I couldn’t continue. I was out of both breath and energy.

Vel squawked. She dipped her head and preened a feather, then she took off, flying over my head and soaring up beyond the trees and away. I closed my eyes. Five minutes. I’d wait five minutes.

The next thing I knew, I was being scooped up and held against a broad chest. Warm arms tightened around me and a voice murmured in my ear, ‘We found you. You’re alright, D’Artagnan. I’ve got you.’

I opened my eyes and saw Lukas gazing down at me, pain and relief etched across his handsome face. ‘Hi,’ I said weakly.

He smiled, his fingers brushing away the hair from my face. ‘Hi.’

I glanced round. The sun had gone but the moon was shining down brilliantly and stars were twinkling everywhere I looked.

‘It’s dark,’ I said stupidly.

Lukas kissed me. ‘Actually,’ he said, ‘now that I’ve got you again, it couldn’t be brighter.’

‘We should keep you in for several days for observation.’

I swung my legs off the narrow hospital bed. ‘I’m fine, doc. Thanks for all your help and care.’

The bespectacled doctor gave me a stern look, but he wasn’t used to dealing with supernatural beings who recovered from near death in record time and he knew it. He backed off, leaving me with Lukas so I could get dressed.

‘You don’t have to keep hovering over me, you know,’ I said. ‘The danger has passed. I feel great.’

Lukas folded his arms. ‘You don’t know what it was like when I came out of that crematorium and found your crossbow on the ground and no sign of you,’ he said quietly

‘I do know what it’s like. I watched you die on Westminster Bridge not all that long ago.’

‘You’ve died far more often than I have.’

‘I come back to life, so you have nothing to worry where I’m concerned. I have everything to worry about when it comes to you.’

‘I wasn’t the one who was abducted in broad daylight by a crazed serial killer and his pet parasitic supe.’

I opened my mouth to argue then I smiled. ‘Are we actually fighting about who has the right to be more worried?’

Amusement flitted across his face. ‘I suppose we are. You know what the answer to that is?’

‘What?’

‘We never lose sight of each other again.’ He smiled as if deeply satisfied with his solution.

I snorted. ‘We’d probably end up killing each other.’

Lukas gave me a long, lingering kiss. ‘Probably.’ He hesitated. ‘Joking aside, I don’t think I could bear it if anything happened to you. Don’t get kidnapped again. And definitely don’t die again.’

I saluted. ‘I’ll do my best.’

I pulled on my jeans and a clean T-shirt and knelt down to tie my shoelaces. There was a knock at the door. Lukas growled in irritation but I waved at him and he opened it. Miranda was standing there, her expression anxious and pale despite her hopeful smile. ‘You’re alright?’

I stood up. ‘I’m alright. How about you? And Albion?’

She touched the bandage around her head. ‘We’ll be fine. No lasting damage.’ She pulled a face and glanced behind her to check that nobody was in earshot. ‘Although I really wish my druid powers extended to better self-defence.’

I grimaced. ‘I’m truly sorry that you were involved. As far as I can work out, Robert Rothsay and his grandfather used you as bait because you lived out of the village and had enough secluded land for them to set up a trap. I don’t think either of them had any inkling about your role in making me the phoenix.’

‘Sheer bad luck, then,’ she said with a half-hearted shrug that spoke of more pain and heartache than she was willing to admit to.

‘I’m sorry that I have to ask this now,’ I said, ‘but I don’t suppose you and Patrick Lacey…’

Miranda stared at me. ‘Me and Patrick?’ she laughed suddenly. ‘No.’

‘He had a lot of condoms stashed away at his house.’

‘From what I knew of Patrick,’ Miranda said, ‘he bought condoms because he was eternally optimistic rather than because he had an actual active sex life.’

Or maybe Rothsay had planted them deliberately as part of his plan to draw me to Miranda James’s property. I’d never know. What it did tell me was that I should not put too much faith in a single piece of evidence. Details were vital but, at the end of the day, it was the big picture that was important.

‘You know,’ I said softly, ‘we might be able to help you with your illness. The Carlyle Library has all sorts of obscure texts that might include references to druids and help for how to offset problems that arise from using your powers. We could reach out and see if there are any other druids as well, and—’

Miranda shook her head firmly. ‘No. I’m perfectly happy living my quiet little life here in Kent. And I can’t risk other people learning more about druids. It’s not just my life and freedom at stake, it’s all the others like me too.’ She glanced at Lukas. ‘Forgive me, Lord Horvath,’ she said, ‘but I