Priceless

him the other sword. “Here, you’d better take this.”
    He took a few practice swings; his form was pretty good. In fact, his last swipe was a move only some who trained with blades would know. I frowned at him, and he shrugged.
    “I started to take lessons once I realized you only carried knives and swords. Figured I might have to fight you one day.”
    Damn, his foresight was going to serve me well. Even if he’d only learned so he could kick
my
ass. For some reason, the thought made me smile.
    There were three options as to which direction to take, but only one tunnel was lit with Witchlight. I pointed with my sword. “Follow the freaky purple light.”
    O’Shea followed me, letting me lead without an argument. Which was good, all things considered. We needed to be quiet, subtle, and ideally break in and out with India without being noticed. If I could have crossed my fingers I would have, but as it was, I kept my hopes high and my eyes wide open.
    From a distance, I picked up the sounds of voices—arguing voices carrying through the cavern as though they were much closer than they actually were.
    “You said we could be together this way,” a woman said, her voice cracking. “I left my family’s Coven for you!”
    “It’s temporary. We have to see how this Coven operates. Stop being so fucking whiny. It’s your goddamned fault we got kicked out of the circle and stuck on guard duty. Stupid bitch.” Her male companion snapped at her.
    “Nice guy.” I muttered.
    There was nowhere to hide, so we stepped back behind the slight curve we’d just come around. Again, I didn’t need to say anything, O’Shea just followed my lead. Maybe he wasn’t Milly, but he did seem to have some redeeming points.
    We crouched against the rough cut wall. The cool water dripping down the sides slipped along my arm to drop off the edge of my hand, which gripped my sword. I motioned slightly to O’Shea. He was to go high, I’d go low. The barest flicker of his eyelids told me he understood.
    Flowing green robes spun into view and I struck hard and fast, the borrowed blade slicing through the flesh of the female Coven member’s stomach and pinning her to the ground. I heard a grunt above me to see O’Shea dispatch the other Coven member, a man dressed in a red silk shirt and black pants that had been stuffed into tall boots.
    The woman whimpered and lifted her hands—I knew a spell prep when I saw it. Dropping to my knees, I straddled her chest and pinned her hands above her head. “Hold these for me, would you?” I turned to look over my shoulder. O’Shea’s face was grim, but he nodded and stepped around us to put his hands over the woman’s wrists.
    I ignored O’Shea’s frown. “Where is the entrance?” ’’
    She shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”
    I let out a sigh. “Your man is dead and you’re going to follow in his nasty-ass footsteps if you don’t tell us how to get across the veil. Now where’s the entrance?”
    She blinked large blue eyes up at me, as if she could con me into letting her go with a few bats of her eyelashes—no doubt, it had worked for her in the past. Reaching down, I pulled the sword out of her stomach and she let out a gasp. Before she could say anything, O’Shea’s hand clamped over her mouth. I didn’t know whether to be happy or freaked out that he knew what was going to happen. Steeling myself, I pulled a short knife from my boot and jammed it into the wound, pushing until I could feel the resistance of one of her internal organs, a kidney by the location of it. “Tell me now where the entrance is.” I banked on the notion she wasn’t accustomed to torture.
    She struggled, her eyes full of fear and pain. I had a hard time feeling bad for her when I thought of how many kids this Coven had stolen. No, I wouldn’t feel bad. I forced myself to push harder, popping through the organ’s walls, until her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out.
    “Now what?” O’Shea’s eyes bored into mine.
    I refused to look away. “We wait for her to come around, and then ask again. We need the exact entrance or we’ll walk right past it.” I wasn’t yet ready to explain what crossing the veil entailed. Nor did I want to try and explain that he probably couldn’t cross with me and would be left behind.
    It took longer than I wanted, and each passing minute brought us closer to facing down another member of the Coven, one that wouldn’t necessarily be so