The Spellcaster's Trap by C.L. Bright

Author:C.L. Bright [Bright, C.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: C.L. Bright
Published: 2021-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

I spun to face Nicolas with a hand over my heart.

He’d startled me, but that reaction quickly gave way to irritation when I saw his amused smirk.

“Maybe I’m not as young as I look,” I replied without taking my eyes off him. “I’m well-trained.”

“She could never have saved your brother had she not been well-trained,” Laranissa added.

Going by Nicolas’s shocked expression, he hadn’t heard the story yet. “What do you mean? How did she save Dante?”

“She distracted a nāga who’d bitten him and then lured it away,” Laranissa explained. “There ended up being two. If she hadn’t been there, Dante would be dead. He couldn’t have driven himself back.”

Nicolas uncrossed his arms and moved closer, looking intrigued.

I wanted to take a step back, but it was best to avoid showing fear in front of any predator.

“You took on two nāgas?”

I shrugged as if it was no big deal. “The first was a female.”

“How do you know that?” he asked.

“She didn’t spit at me or Dante.” I resisted the urge to point out that he must not be that well-trained if he didn’t know that already. “Only male nāga spit. I’m surprised so few Azureans seem to know that about them.”

“I knew that,” he snapped, but I didn’t believe him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out today?” Laranissa asked him.

“We decided to call it a day early,” Nicolas explained. “We’d already caught five familiars, and we needed to come back to file paperwork. It was a productive day.”

I caught myself before I could correct his use of the offensive term. “So, you aren’t going out again today?” I asked instead.

He shook his head. “I’ve already sent someone else to deal with the corpses we left behind.”

It was a good thing I’d looked away when he made that announcement since I’m not sure I could have hidden my horror at his nonchalant mention of dead shapeshifters.

“You killed all five of them?” I asked. “Were they dangerous rebels?”

Nicolas let out a bark of laughter. “You’re joking, right?”

“Of course, she’s joking,” Laranissa answered for me. “Juliet knows you brought five back and killed the weaker ones. Why would anyone kill powerful familiars? The hunters on the peninsula aren’t that different from us.”

“Right,” I agreed. “I know how it works.”

“Are you all right, Juliet?” Laranissa asked.

“You look pale,” Nicolas remarked with narrowed eyes.

“I’m not comfortable leaving Dante alone,” I replied honestly. The thought of Dante being alone didn’t sit right with me, especially considering how vulnerable he’d seemed when he’d asked me to join him in bed. “Can I get something to bring up for both of us?”

“But we’ve hardly gotten a chance to talk,” Nicolas said as he sidled even closer.

His hand snaked out to catch my arm, and I sucked in a sharp breath as what felt like electricity shot through my nerves and down to my hands. I couldn’t stop the twitching of my fingers.

“Let her go!” Serena shouted, her voice shaking slightly.

Releasing my arm, Nicolas stalked toward Serena, his magic vibrating with every step.

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