Harley Merlin 16: Finch Merlin and the Blood Tie by Bella Forrest

Author:Bella Forrest [Forrest, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nightlight Press
Published: 2020-02-24T18:30:00+00:00

Nineteen

Nash

“You think… we can… drop this… now?” Any longer in the oven, and this goose would be cooked. Enough time had passed since the guards had left. If they hadn’t poked their heads back in by now, they weren’t going to.

Hector dropped his hands from my arms. The crushing, burning shield disappeared a moment later.

“That was a close one.” Hector heaved in deep breaths. Sweat dripped down his face, and he wiped as much of it away as he could with the back of his sleeve.

“You can say that again.” I took a second to mop my own brow. “I don’t much care for close shaves.”

“I didn’t think they would find me here so quickly. I thought I’d have a couple of days, at least.” Hector glanced at the busted door hanging half off its hinges. It’d swung back into its splintered frame, so no one could see us from the street.

I checked over my exposed skin to make sure that it hadn’t actually singed off. It hadn’t but, Chaos help me, it’d felt like it. “They’ve probably got the queen breathing down their necks, wanting results ASAP. If they knew your old address, it makes sense they’d try here first. And you can’t be the only one. They’re probably doing the rounds at every address that any dissenter has been known to live in.”

Hector paled. “They will go to my sister.”

“And your sister and daughter will give their blood, and no harm will come to them. The guards might ask if they know where you are, but if you didn’t have time to swing by, I’m guessing they don’t know. Their ignorance will keep them safe.” I couldn’t leave the guy panicking, even if I didn’t totally believe what I’d said. Kaya sending her guards here smelled of desperation. She’d use anyone as leverage for the “greater good.”

“I don’t want them to have to give their blood,” Hector replied grimly.

I pulled the front of my now sticky shirt away from my chest. “No, I don’t suppose you do, but it’s better than them getting carted off and being ‘persuaded’ six ways from Sunday.”

Hector stared vacantly at the floor, but he rallied quickly. “We should probably get that Cuff off your neck. Neither of us can stay here forever, and you won’t stand much chance of evading the guards with it on you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You know how to remove these?”

“Another trick of my grandfather’s.” He tried to smile, but it came off as more of a wince.

He took a flat leather pouch out of his pocket. I’d seen plenty of lockpicking kits in my time, and this didn’t look too far off the usual setup. He chose two thin tools and lifted them to the back of my neck Cuff. I heard them slide in with a metallic scrape. Then came the precision work—the artistry of someone who’d done this more than a few times before.

After a few more scrapes and clicks—and a bit of accidental strangling—the Cuff fell away and hit the floor with a thud.

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