Chapter 7 Chapter seven
ASHER
The woman had passed out before I even got near her.
And I just stood there for a moment, ten feet away, watching her slumped body against the twisted willow tree from the shadows. Her chest heaved with exhausted breaths that came too fast, then too shallow, then stopped altogether for a second before starting again.
I frowned behind my mask, not sure what to do exactly, or why I'd followed her to begin with.
This wasn't part of the plan.
And yet here I was, staring at a half-dead woman in the middle of the woods while my real target escaped into the night.
Still, seeing this woman in such a pitiable state made something in my chest tighten in a way I hadn't felt in years. Not since my mother died.
And with the last bit of strength she had left, she'd tried to keep me away, but like this, in this sorry state she was in, I was afraid even the wind could have blown her off her feet if she'd tried to run any further than this.
But she'd tried anyway.
I moved closer, each step careful not to startle her even though she was beyond noticing at this point. Up close, the damage was worse than I'd thought. Her knees were torn open, blood crusted black in the moonlight. Her palms were shredded. Scratches crisscrossed her arms and legs where branches had caught her during her flight. Her feet---god, her feet were a mess.
Shrugging off the coat I wore, I draped it around her body, covering those rags that barely counted as clothing. The fabric swallowed her small frame entirely. Then I caught her just as her body began to tilt sideways, my arms sliding under her slight frame as her head lolled against my chest.
She barely weighed anything at all like holding a bird with hollow bones.
A strange sense of curiosity filled me as I studied her delicate features under the moonlight. Because even when covered in dirt, and pale from blood loss, even half-dead in my arms, she was still striking in a way that made me want to protect her with everything I had.
But why?
I’d been at the auction tonight on official business when I met her gaze out there. They were a deep shade of violet that stood out against her pale skin, which now looked almost translucent under the moonlight. The only other woman I knew who looked this beautiful, even near death, was my mother, Estella Grimwood.
“Asher?” The familiar voice of my companion broke the trance I’d been in and I reluctantly tore my gaze away from her. Just in time to see a demonic bat-like feline emerge from the bushes and stand on its hind legs then took on the form of a man.
Aquila.
His eyes were black as tar, horns curling on his forehead, and a long tail swept behind him as he sauntered my way, his usual playful smirk replaced with something else when he noticed the woman in my arms. “Is she--”
“She’s alive,” I confirmed, adjusting my hold on her. “What happened to Frustenberg?” I steered the conversation away from her.
Aquila let out a sigh as he moved closer, peering at the girl in my arms. Equal parts curiosity, equal parts worry. “Sorry Asher, but he got away.”
My expression turned harder under my mask as I took in a deep breath. “How?”
“He must have slipped through when I was…dealing with the others.” he cracked his neck. “But don’t worry, we’ll get him next time.”
“Next time? Tonight was the one window we had to take him in.” My grip on her tightened.
“Maybe if you hadn’t run off…”
I shot him a sharp glare and he cleared his throat. “Anyway, isn’t this the girl from the auction?” he asked instead.
“Yeah. Crystal Noir.” Her name felt strange on my tongue…yet so familiar.
“Hm, well,” Aquila started, tilting his head to the side. “She certainly looks like your type. Stubborn, and way more trouble than she’s worth.”
“Aquila.”
“I’m just saying,” he pulled his hands up in mock surrender before holstering the gun he was holding. “Who runs into an active shooting like that? She could have gotten herself killed.”
“It’s not like she had a choice. You know what Barron does to girls like her.” My eyes inspected the frayed fabric of her dress that clung to her body.
“So what’s the plan? We're taking her back with us?”
A part of me wanted to say no. To just drop her off at the nearest sanctuary and just let someone else deal with it, because she wasn’t my target. But from the moment I’d laid eyes on her out there, wearing that obscene excuse for a dress.
Those violet eyes that looked like she wanted everyone in that room to burn in hell…
“We’re taking her home,”