Cruxim by Cox Karin

Author:Cox, Karin [Cox, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sphinx, love, vampires, fallen angels, paranormal romance, betrayal, immortals, coven, erotic, guilt, eternal love, mythological
ISBN: 9780987360236
Publisher: Indelible Ink Press
Published: 2013-02-26T04:00:00+00:00

“A beauty, is she not?” The voice was low and came from my left. Trudie and the twins were already in the tent, and Gandler was making more good coin tonight, if the applause from the audience was anything to go by.

I sprang back from the bars, into the corner.

“The stigmata woman. I never saw such purity.” The last word came out sardonically. Then a whisper, “Some say she is the Vampire Queen.”

“She is not.” I stepped forward again, recognizing the voice and relieved it was only Kettle. Yet still, he could not be seen. “Kettle?”

“Aye. Down here, Feathers.”

I looked again. “Blast, Kettle. Where are you hiding?”

“Do not yell, Feathers, or you’ll be the death of me.”

“The death of you…?”

“Psssssssst!”

The hiss came somewhere beneath me. I squashed my face up against the bars and squinted down toward the ground. Something crawled there, squirming like a puppy on its belly, something small and toothless and disfigured.

“Kettle?” I asked again.

“Yes, it’s me. Are you blind, man? Be thankful you’ve still got two eyes to see a man who lacks two legs. Now, I suppose instead of Kettle the midget, men’ll call me Kettle the cripple and be done with it.”

It was then that I saw what had happened to him.

“Just when you think a man can’t get any shorter, Feathers.” He grunted. Blisters of sweat beaded his lip. “I suppose I should be lucky that he took only my legs for letting your feline friend escape, and not my head.”

“Kettle…” I stared at the blood-soaked bandages, the stumps that terminated above the knee. “I’m … I’m sorry.”

“What do you have to be sorry about?”

“Your legs. For your loss.”

“Shhh.” Kettle put a finger to his lips and rolled onto his back. A grunt of pain came from the ground near the wagon wheel as the exertion sent a further dark stain seeping through the bandage on his thigh.

“Listen up. Before Karl gets back,” he whispered, propping himself awkwardly against the wagon. “There’s a lad here, Lee, who’s watching you night and day, aye and listening too.”

“She is not a vamp—”

“Shhh! God’s whiskers, Feathers! Don’t interrupt me. Lee’s my boy. A bastard. Gandler doesn’t know it. The other was mine too. The scarred lad. Kellane his name is. Used to be a handsome lad, did Kel. Gandler’d never risk letting him watch you alone now. He’s taken him somewhere. Won’t tell me where. He’s insurance. But Lee—”

“I know Gandler keeps Kellane so you’ll do his bidding,” I said. “I know he scarred him.”

“Aye.”

“And your daughter…”

“What about her? If you’d shut up for a minute and let me finish, you might find out.” Kettle leaned back against the spokes. His breathing was labored. “Look at me, not even half a man, though I’m grateful I’ve still got the parts that count for that title at all, I suppose. Look at Trudie, more woman than any man can handle. Those fecking twins—pair of idiots. The boss’d take one head off, if it didn’t deprive him of an income.

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