lady love and find her, together.”
“The… the fuck did you do to me?” It felt like his wrist was broken and worse. He couldn’t even remember when he broke his leg it hurting this bad. It was almost as if she placed a spell on him to add more pain. He didn’t doubt they, the pythia, could do such a thing, not that he really knew the full extent of their abilities.
She straightened, crossing her arms over her chest. “When I said that you’d have full use of your wrist I meant it, but not with my magic alone. Across the way, just on Crete is a man far more powerful than I. He will fix your wrist and tell you how we can find the man I seek. But you are part of this. You must go with us.”
Tristan doubled into himself for a moment, hiding his face, to think. He was ready to kill these two and leave if that’s what it took to find Ash. “Why should I trust you now?”
“Oh dear, you shouldn’t. But you have my word that I will see to it you’re fixed and well… if you help us. Equivalent exchange.”
God, the pain. He’d really rather just be on his own, fix his own wrist and find Ash, alone, but somehow he knew it wouldn’t be so simple. Not now.
“Make it quick or I’ll kill you both.”
Chrysanthe’s frown turned into a big grin. “Of course you will. Come.”
Before Tristan knew what was happening, Silas had bent down and lifted him to his feet, his arm securely flung over Silas’ neck. The man was warm—no, hot. Burning up. It was uncomfortable just being next to him, none less touching. But Tristan couldn’t even argue, the pain was so bad, shooting out of his wrist, up his arm and into his chest to pool into his belly. He could hardly breathe past the agony, forget walking on his own.
Silent, the group shuffled off down the street and onto a boat that was decorated very obviously for tourists. Silas found them a quiet place where not too many people would notice them and stare. When Tristan’d gotten as comfortable as he could being in such incredible pain, he asked, “What’d you do to me?”
Chrysanthe bit into her lip before answering. “Revoked a spell I’d cast on you while you were passed out.”
“A pain relief spell.”
She looked at him, wondering how he knew that. “Of the sort, yes.”
He gave a pained little laugh. “Thought so.” While the pain in his wrist, arm and upper chest was even worse than the pain of having that Russian vampire who tried to dig right through his middle, it waned at times. It waned and ebbed just like that nasty, gritty spell Ash had him swallow down before assaulting Malik. And without Ash having later explaining it to him, he knew that the way the pain worsened before it lessened in a constant flow was not how the spell should have worked. Again, there was that word to describe him: Special.
“What else?” he grunted.
Chrysanthe actually had conscious enough to blush and look away. “An added safeguard.”
“That you can’t fix yourself.” She nodded quickly though it wasn’t a question. “You must reallllly need me to find this guy for you.”
“Very much.”
“And you have no idea why.”
She slumped, looking out on the water as the boat started their journey. “A small idea…”
“Well?”
She shook her head.
“Hey,” he spit out as a spike in the pain wracked him. “If you’re going to torture me like this then I deserve to know why. I’ve got nothing to do with you or that Asian dude you’re looking for. I’m no one to you and I’ve got more important things to do.”
She snapped around to look at him, dark brown eyes held open a little wide. “Oh dear, but you do have plenty to do with us.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Chrysanthe sighed and looked out onto the water again. “I just… know.”
Tristan snorted, slumping down in his seat, clutching his forearm to his chest and praying for relief. “ Pythia .”
Silas made a little noise and narrowed his eyes at the American though they