“You’re not using magic, so there shouldn’t be any pain. Right?”

“Possibly, but probably not. I’ve got the Saghred partially powered up to find Nukpana, and I’m going to have to touch these shackles to pick the locks. I’ll work fast, but you might get the same jolt you did when you tried to get out of them.”

That tossed a bucket of cold water on his lust.

“And by the way,” I continued, “the Saghred’s hungry and your wrists are raw. Touch me and you could be lunch.”

Talon raised his hands defensively, chains clanking. “Keeping my hands to myself.”

Maybe being the Saghred with feet wasn’t all bad.

“Sarad Nukpana told me some of the things that he was going to do with me.” Talon’s aqua eyes were angry and terrified at the same time, mostly terrified. “Do whatever you have to. I can take it.”

I hoped he could, because there was no other way around this. And nothing disturbed the peace—and would bring more Khrynsani guards running—like a screaming goblin teenager.

“I’ll work fast.”

“I won’t scream.” Talon took a deep breath and then nodded.

I went to work.

And the shackles didn’t like me.

They expressed their displeasure straight to Talon. He was made of tough stuff; Tam would be proud. There was a lot of hissing, and when the last manacle dropped to the stone floor, all the kid had to show for it was a trickle of blood where the he’d bitten his lip.

“Dammit, you’re bleeding. Do not touch me.”

“No touching.” Talon was panting and his voice quavered a little, but that was it.

I was impressed. That had to have hurt like hell, but the kid hadn’t so much as whimpered.

“We’re going out the same way I came in. There are wards out there that cover the door on a ten-second interval. You have to be out in ten seconds.”

“I can do that.”

I certainly hoped so. I knelt next to the door. “Ready?” I asked Dad.

“Ready.” There was a whole world of relief in that one word.

“Let me know when and Talon will stretch his arms out.

His wrists are burned, so grab his forearms if you can. Pull hard. I don’t want to touch him, not even his boots. Talon, get down on your belly and get ready.”

Dad counted from the other side. “Five, four, three, two, one.”

Talon pushed his arms through the opening and Dad pulled. Fortunately, Talon’s shoulders weren’t too wide to fit.

“Got him,” came Dad’s voice from the other side.

I stretched out on the floor. “You’re not bleeding, are you?”

“No.”

I exhaled sharply. “Then grab my arms, too. But make sure you grab cloth and not skin.”

“Got it.”

“Tell me when.”

“Three, two, one.”

Dad pulled and I swear I left skin on the stone floor. It hurt, but I was out and so was Talon.

The kid made a break for the open door. Dad jerked him back.

“Not so fast,” Dad snapped.

Talon yanked his arm back—at least he tried.

“There is only one way out of here.” Dad’s voice was clipped and hard. “So we have to take you with us. Chances are we’re going to run into Sarad Nukpana or at the very least more Khrynsani. You will do exactly as told, precisely when told.”

Talon turned and went toe-to-toe with my dad. I kept any and all expression off my face. Oh, this was going to be good.

“And what junior knight wannabe is going to give me orders?”

Dad didn’t say a word; he just let Talon see him, truly see him. The real him with his old soul, not the twenty-year-old, baby-faced Guardian whose body he inhabited. I knew why he did it. Talon was the type that you had to scare the shit out of to get his attention. And for once we had to have Talon’s complete attention and unquestioned cooperation. All of our lives depended on it.

Talon knew what he was seeing and his eyes went as wide as saucers. I thought he was going to faint. The last time he’d done that was after seeing Phaelan slice the ear off of an undead minion of the demon queen. I had to admit that ear plop-ping on the floor followed by oozing black blood was kind of gruesome.

The kid’s mouth opened and words finally made it out. “Who . . . What are you?”

“Talon, meet my dad.”

“How can you be—”

Dad didn’t bat an eye. “I’m 934 years old.”

“Damn, you’re old,” Talon blurted.

And who said teenagers aren’t tactful?

Dad released Talon’s arm, but his hard eyes kept the kid anchored to the spot. “If you do anything to endanger my daughter, Sarad Nukpana will no longer be your worst problem. Do I make myself clear?”

“Completely.”

“That’s what I want to hear.”

“Can you find your way back to Sarad Nukpana’s bunker?” I asked Talon.

“I was blindfolded.”

Crap.

“Any noises, lights, anything you can tell us?”

“No noise and a really tight blindfold.”

Double crap.

“We’re going to have to get past Nukpana to get out of here,” I told him. “I have some business with him; you don’t. Your job is to survive. So be ready to run.”

“Born that way.”

Dad was by the door, listening. Then in one fluid and silent move, both of his swords were out of their scabbards and clenched in his hands.

Oh no.

Piaras.

I armed myself and quickly took up position beside Dad.

His lips were next to my ear. “Piaras was there. Now he’s not.”

Damn.

Chapter 21

I was relieved to see that not only were the dead goblins right where we’d left them, but they were also still dead. Lately “dead” had become an entirely too relative term.

Talon’s breath came in a startled hiss when he tripped over one of the bodies. Oh yeah, he was only half-goblin. Elven blue eyes, not goblin black—no preternatural night vision for Talon.

Talon quickly stepped back into the shadows with me on one side of the bunker door. Dad slipped silently into the dark on the other side. Talon didn’t need anyone to tell him to stay quiet.

The bunker’s dim light spilled out into the tunnel, just enough for us to see that we were out here all alone. From the tunnel in either direction there were no sounds, no light, no life. At least not any that I could sense.

And definitely no Piaras.

The Saghred’s presence inside of me was perfectly still, waiting. Waiting for something that it didn’t see fit to share with me—at least not yet.

Life with a soul-sucking rock. Never a dull moment.

If Piaras had been veiling next to the wall, he would have stepped out by now. I didn’t need intuition, seeker magic, or the Saghred to tell me that he wasn’t here. Perhaps he thought he could guard us better from farther down the tunnel, where he could intercept any goblins before they knew we were in Talon’s cell and trap us there. If he’d scouted ahead, we’d find him.

Unless he’d been captured. In which case, we’d be joining him shortly. By activating that iron door and its ward, Sarad Nukpana had given us no choice but to go forward. That was the direction Talon’s guards had come from, so I thought it safe to assume that a certain regenerating goblin psychopath would be happily awaiting our arrival at the other end.

I had a feeling there wouldn’t be any ambush or attack—nothing to prevent us from reaching Sarad Nukpana’s bunker. The goblin would do everything short of putting out a welcome mat. He needed to kill me. He wanted to kill Dad. And he would enjoy killing Piaras and Talon.

Every goblin down here would be able to see us coming. It didn’t matter if we were stumbling around in the dark or had a hundred lightglobes lighting our way. Light or dark—either one would give us away.

But most of all, Sarad Nukpana knew I was here. The Saghred knew he was here. So anything I did would just postpone the inevitable showdown. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t sneak up on his guards and even the odds a little in our favor. I didn’t want Sarad Nukpana in front of me and who knew how many of his minions creeping up behind me.