Page 104 of Reaper’s Curse

Two thumps sounded from inside.

Winter opened his eyes and peeked through the window. The guards lay on the floor, asleep.

Choosing to remain silent, despite the guards being out of commission, Winter glided around the corner and through the front door on a phantom wind. He stepped over the slumbering men, snatched what he needed from the back wall, and made his way to Chace’s cage.

Chace stood at the front of the cell, inches from the bars, studying the scene. “What did you do to them?”

“When someone can’t get enough oxygen, the body tends to shut down,” Winter explained. “They’re taking a short nap and will likely wake up with colossal headaches. Not to mention, a whole lot of explaining to do.” He glanced from the guards to Chace. “Don’t worry. I’ve already returned the oxygen levels to normal.”

Chace’s gaze dipped to Winter’s wrist, no doubt noting the absence of the iron cuff. While Winter’s was gone, Chace now bore one eerily similar.

Chace lifted his cuffed arm to eye level. “Nothing but decoration. This has no effect on me.”

And yet he remained in the cell. Winter frowned. Iron might have no effect on whatever Chace was…and by extension Raven, or so he presumed…but the confinement of bars seemed to do the trick well enough.

“Why are you here?” Chace pressed. “Not enough time has passed. You should be tending to Raven.”

Ah, there is his touching concern.

“I have someone I trust looking after her. She’ll be fine,” Winter said. “But you won’t be if we don’t get you out of here.”

Chace stared at him for a moment, then stepped back from the bars and lifted his hands at his sides. “Assistance accepted.”

Winter held up the key to the cell and smiled.

Chace huffed. “What? Can’t use your magic? Need a key?”

He could use magic, but then it wouldn’t take General Beckett long to figure out who had helped his prisoner escape. Winter was already pushing the issue, having used his magic to incapacitate the guards. Although identifying the actual cause would not be so easily done.

He slid the key into the lock. “If I were you”―he swung open the door and ushered Chace out of the cage―“I wouldn’t complain.”

Now to get the guy off the palace grounds and back to the pub without anyone being the wiser.

They slipped out the door and crept along the high palace wall surrounding the compound, Winter leading the way.

“Where are we going?” Chace asked at a whisper.

Winter spared him a brief glance. “I’m getting you out, off the grounds, and to the pub where you will presumably be safe.”

“Why not sneak me into the castle and find me a place to hunker down?” Chace countered. “That way I can be close enough to help and protect Raven.”

Winter stopped. Spun around. “Raven doesn’t need someone to protect her.”

Except when she did. Like an hour ago. Or when Winter was draining every ounce of magic from her.

“She is a strong and capable force of nature.”

“That she is,” Chace replied. “A strong and capable force with a target on her back. Even the strongest and most capable can use a little help every now and again.”

“That thing at the warehouse,” Winter said, referencing the being that had gone after Raven when she was being buried by the afflicted. “What was it? Why does it want her?”

“To the latter, I no longer know exactly.” Chace shrugged one shoulder. “As for what it is, death to our kind. That’s all you really need to know.”

Winter narrowed his gaze. “I disagree, but what exactly is your kind?”

“Need to know basis.” Chace smirked.

The desire to punch Chace overcame Winter, yet he stilled his hand. Ground his teeth. “And I take it I don’t need to know.”