Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

“I have a new favorite sword,” her eyes zeroed in on my crotch, and I coughed uncomfortably. “But more importantly, I want you to be safe. Your little knife is good, but it doesn’t have the reach to save your ass in a real fight. Plus,” she waved me forward with a conspiratorial grin, “the very tip of this is silverbane. Not only can you fuck up any Fae that comes after you, but if a shifter gets uppity, you can teach them a lesson as well.”

“I . . . I can’t possibly accept this,” I tried to hand it back, but she resisted, and ended up shoving me onto my ass.

“You can, and you will,” she ordered. “You’re not half bad to have around, and I’d like to see you not die a horrible death.”

“Okay, fine,” I accepted the blade and placed it reverently on my bed. I’d need to hide it somewhere so Miller didn’t find it during his weekly room searches.

I smiled as I washed the last of the shampoo from my hair and shut the water off. I stepped out and started to towel off when the door swung open and Dani walked in.

“I know you want to go for round two, but I’m so late,” I made a point to tie my towel around my waist. “I just can’t right now,” I apologized. I didn’t even have time for a quickie.

“That’s fine,” she replied with a grin.

The grin was . . . wrong, and something behind her caught my attention. The door was slowly swinging closed, but not fast enough that I missed the shifter lying in a slowly spreading pool of his own blood. His eyes found mine, and they were full of fear and pain. My eyes darted to not-Dani, who was only an arm’s length away and still wearing that foreign grin.

“You’re . . .” was as far as I got.

I didn’t even see her move. A dagger appeared in her hand and it flashed toward my stomach. The pendent I’d been wearing nonstop since Sunday finally flared to life; hot against my flesh. The dagger shattered on the invisible barrier, but the kinetic force of the blow still knocked me into the wall. I saw stars as the back of my head cracked against the tile; then I slipped in the puddle of water and ended up on my ass.

“You lucky son-of-a-bitch,” non-Dani snarled, and lashed out with a kick. It caught me right in the ribs as I tried the get up.

The pendent flared again; this time like lava, and I smelled burned flesh. I was pretty sure the trinket was spent as the kick launched me into the ceiling, and gravity smacked me back into the floor. The hit knocked the wind from my lungs, and several tiles rained down on my head to add insult to injury. I struggled to get oxygen in my lungs and my feet under me, but to no avail. Non-Dani was standing over me again, and another dagger materialized in her hand. Now that it hovered over me, ready to strike, I noticed the design.

“Chloe,” I coughed.

“Bingo,” she dropped the glamour, but not the sadistic smile. “It took me four days, but now your ass is mine.”

She hadn’t even started her downward swing when the bathroom door exploded inward, and a brown blur hit her in the back of the head. It barely registered, but it caused her to turn and face the threat. Dani stood in the doorway, a cold iron sword in her hand and pointed directly at Chloe.

The two women didn’t say anything, they just stood there radiating impending violence. Then they moved. I couldn’t keep up, but my body felt the shockwaves of their blows. As a completely useless mortal, I did the only thing I could think of. I ripped the spent pendent off my chest, got to my feet, and grabbed my cold iron dagger. I tried to make it to the door. If I could escape, I could get help.

I’d be surprised if Lilith didn’t feel my terror through the mark, and was summoning reinforcements. “She better bring a tank battalion,” I gulped.

I caught glimpses of the fight. Dani’s sword cut clean through the wall separating the shitters from the showers. A half second later, her body went flying through it head first. She landed in a combat roll and came up with her blade ready. Chloe tore through the destroyed wall, flung a detached urinal at her, and followed it up with glamour blades.

Dani sliced the urinal in two, and was quick enough to bat away the first blade. The second took her in the shoulder and knocked her back into another shower stall. I dove out of the way before Chloe turned. I knew she’d take advantage of the moment to try and end me. Even with a head start, her blade missed me by inches, and imbedded itself hilt-deep in the wall. With a gesture, the nymph gathered the puddle of water left over from my shower, and flung it at my head. The blast hit me in the face, and the water forced its way up my nose and through my clenched lips. My hands clawed at my nose and mouth to prevent her from drowning me . . . again.

She might have succeeded, but she was out of time. Dani came flying out of the wreckage, her sword aimed at the Fae’s head. Chloe ducked, and avoided decapitation, but missed the follow up haymaker. Getting punched into the hallway broke her concentration, and the water went lifeless in my throat.

I threw up all over the bathroom floor, but my instincts screamed at me to keep moving. My sluggish limbs struggled to obey my brain’s commands, but I got to my feet and tried to escape. The two