Page 153 of Revealing Fate

This time, Santhe didn’t hesitate or argue. She plucked the key from the cage and jammed it into the shackles, twisting counterclockwise. They fell away.

Santhe smacked Kal in the face. “Shift, damn you!”

Nothing happened.

Santhe smacked him again.

No. Godsdamn it, no!

“Kalevar Barringer Kaine, don’t you dare die on me!” Felíne jerked at her binds. “Don’t you dare!”

On the left side of the square, Beaumont and Rask were tiring. Beaumont’s side was bloodied, his chocolate hide dampened with sweat. Rask’s fair pelt was dark with his own exertion, and he favored his left leg.

Felíne hollered again. Rask roared.

Kal’s body went still.

And then it ripped apart.

Kal’s second form, black as death, yet determinedly refusing to die, spilled forth. Santhe scrambled back. Claws longer than Felíne’s fingers raked deep grooves in the platform’s planks. A merciless growl gurgled in his barrel chest. Felíne watched with equal parts fascination and horror as the wounds in Kal’s neck began to heal.

He crouched, chin tucked into his sternum, body vibrating with adrenaline and fury. Felíne held her breath, waiting desperately to hear the sound of his.

A minute passed. Then another.

Two luminous golden eyes locked on her with unrelenting focus. At last, Kal’s chest swelled with an inhale, and Felíne nearly sagged at the sweetness of the sound. He turned his head to the side and spat blood.

“Santhe,” he said, forcing words through a raw throat. “Free her.”

Santhe, clearly still rattled, worked the key into Felíne’s skullcage, then her shackles, before moving to release Adder.

Kal helped Felíne remove the cage and tossed it unceremoniously aside. When he turned to face her once more, he lowered his massive forehead to hers. He breathed deeply, a soft rumble rolling between them. Felíne’s relief was palpable, thick enough to clog her chest with emotion.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Felíne released a half-sob, half-cry of incredulity. “You stupid man. I watched you almost choke to death on your own blood.” She probed her hands gently over the surface of his throat, fingertips slipping through his thick fur to search for injury before moving to inspect the wound Lucien had inflicted on his chest. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” he replied. Then, “I need to start compensating you for your services. Wasn’t that our agreement?”

The day they’d spent walking through Cindamar’s trade center and the bargain they’d struck surfaced in her mind like a distant mirage. Felíne hadn’t wanted to be indebted to him, so they’d agreed she would serve as a mender until she could repay him for buying that ridiculously expensive wedding attire from Policarpa’s shop.

Kal had given her so much more since then. His attention. Protection. Loyalty. Perhaps even love. Things she could never hope to repay. Ones she didn’t want to. Instead, Felíne wanted to continue accepting all that Kal had to offer her and give every bit of herself back to him in return. He would never ask for recompense, but Felíne would willingly pay with her heart and soul. Somehow, she already had.

Another yowl from the square drew their attention. Beaumont had managed to subdue Rask with the help of Beulah, Vorak, and another civilian, all of whom had also shifted to assist. Rask writhed beneath them, spitting and snarling like a feral cat caught in a trap. In the end, though, he was overpowered. Stef peered down at him with contempt.

Beulah clapped a pair of shackles on Rask’s thick wrists and instructed a trio of Meressian warriors to take him to The Hollows. He’d spend the foreseeable future in one of the pits until they figured out what to do with him.

“What if he shifts back to first form and slips his manacles?” Felíne wondered aloud.

Kal glared at his once-friend across the square, his expression part disappointment, part regret. “He won’t. They’re engineered to tighten if he shifts.”

Santhe stepped forward with Adder, who absently rubbed his wrists. She offered the key to Felíne.

“A skeleton key, Kitty?” Kal asked. He tilted his head, gilded eyes aglow.

“I suppose I have some surprises left.”

The edge of his lip twitched, and he leaned forward. “I look forward to uncovering all the rest.”