Shards: Book One of the Anderian Series

Chapter 19: Conflicted

We circled one another warily. I knew why I was being cautious—I had no desire to end up charred to a crisp, and while my opinion of my fighting abilities were quite high, the last few days had left me worn down and uncertain of everything—including myself. All it would take was one misstep or being a hair too slow, and I would be down for the count. Tiffany only had to toss fireballs at me until one of those two things happened, so why wasn't she?

"Things would've gone so much easier on you if you'd not run off with the Andarian," she said, letting the flames dance over her fingers.

"Did I miss the part where I was given a choice on that? Pretty sure your impenetrable—" I made air quotes with my fingers. "Safehouse exploded, and he swooped in and took me. Also, your druid friend betrayed you. Sounds like you have some housekeeping issues."

The fire grew as her anger swelled, but she didn't launch an assault. "Gods, I thought Molly was a pain in the ass, but it must be a family trait."

"Is that why you were planning on transferring the Shard?" It was risky, playing my hand with information I'd only just learned, but at least I would know if Cian was being honest with me.

"Your Andarien friend tell you that?"

I shrugged. "And if he did? Is he wrong?"

"He's not."

"Then why didn't you lead with that?" She lowered her hand, the flames nearly extinguishing as confusion warped her masculine features. "I never wanted this. I'd gladly give this over to you."

"What else did he tell you?"

We had stopped moving. Overhead, branches clacked together and the few leaves clinging to their stems snapped loose, fluttering in the air until another gust buffeted them away. Strange how something so naturally quiet sounded so loud against the silence. Kind of how strange Tiffany's calm demeanor was compared to her normally explosive temper. I didn't like it or trust it.

"No..." I drew out the single syllable. "Why didn't you tell Jac the plan?"

"How do you know Jac didn't know?"

Because he would have told me. He would've quickly assured me if there was such a simple solution. Unless he didn't know it existed or it wasn't so simple after all. I was betting it was a bit of both.

"You can remove the Shard without killing me?"

"Sure." The flames reappeared. Alone, they would've tipped me off, but her nonchalant answer was a dead giveaway.

We stared at one another. I counted to three in my head, and then, with a prayer to whoever was listening, I broke into a sprint, screeching as a tree to my right exploded.

"Bitch," I huffed, jumping over a log and nearly face planting when my feet tangled in the underbrush upon landing. This time, she struck my arm. Burned flesh scented the air and made me gag, but I didn't slow. A limb I could live without.

"Just give up," the witch shouted. She marched behind me, her combat boots crushing anything in her way with ease. The least she could do was put a little pep in her step. Make me feel like she was mildly worried I might escape. Then I could perish with some dignity intact. "Jac already thinks you're dead. Let's just make this easier on everyone."

"Who is this everyone?" I muttered, scrabbling up a hill and biting back a shout of triumph when I spied a road. A car whizzed by, screeching to a halt when I jumped behind it, waving my arms.

Window rolling down, a boy not much older than twenty poked his shaggy head out and looked me up and down. I didn't even care when he wolf whistled. "Where are you going, pretty lady?"