Me and My Shadow Read Online Free PDF

still swollen, although the spot where his cheek had been torn open was now closed, and healing. His voice was hoarse and cracked, his lips red and rough, but his eyes held a sort of wary amusement that told me Savian must be feeling a whole lot better.
    â€œI haven’t been there, but I would imagine it looks something like Abaddon, and not at all like the best guest room in a large house in the middle of London,” I answered.
    He tried to smile, grimaced at the pain, and settled for just one side of his mouth quirking up. “I gather you healed me?”
    I shook my head, nodding toward the man on the other side of the bed. “Gabriel did, thanks to his magic silver dragon healing saliva.”
    Savian groaned and closed his eyes for a moment. “Please tell me he didn’t lick me.”
    Gabriel laughed.
    â€œDon’t get me wrong—I’m very grateful you didn’t let me die—but the thought of being licked by anyone but a naked, supple woman sitting astride me . . .”
    â€œYou needn’t get yourself into a dither,” I said lightly. “If it makes you feel better, Gabriel used a salve as opposed to going to the source. What happened to you? You look like you were hit by a Mack truck.”
    â€œI feel like it,” he answered, struggling to pull himself to an upright position.
    Gabriel moved quickly to help him while I adjusted pillows behind him. He sighed with pleasure as he leaned back.
    â€œIt’s not a what that hit me, but a who. Now I know why they told us at the thief taker’s academy not to tangle with goetists.”
    â€œWho?” Gabriel asked.
    I sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle the thief taker too much.
    Savian didn’t answer immediately, giving Gabriel an odd look.
    â€œGo ahead,” the latter told him, to my surprise. “She would have found out soon anyway.”
    â€œShe being me, I suppose. What would I have found out? And just why are you keeping secrets from me?” I asked, wondering if I should be outraged.
    â€œI don’t know the woman’s name, although I suspect she’s the one they call Thala.”
    â€œThala?” I searched my memory but came up blank, turning to Gabriel to see if he knew it.
    He shook his head. “I do not recognize the name, either.”
    â€œShe’s pretty. Very pretty. Deceptively so,” Savian said, frowning and wincing at the same time. “No woman ought to look as pretty and frail as she did and be able to take me down without even breathing hard.”
    â€œWhat did she look like?” I asked.
    â€œLittle taller than you, not so petite, stacked. Brown eyes, and the most glorious red hair I’ve ever seen.”
    â€œRed hair?” I glanced at Gabriel. “The woman with Baltic who Cyrene and Maata and I saw at Fiat’s house had red hair, and the rest of the description fits her. I thought she was a dragon, but Maata said she was of mixed blood.”
    Gabriel looked thoughtful for a moment. “How was she connected with the one you sought?” he asked Savian.
    â€œCompanion. Bodyguard. Lover, wife, girlfriend—I have no idea. She was there where you said I’d find him, so I gather she has some sort of a close relationship with him. All I know for sure is she doesn’t like being surprised, she knows more ways to disable a man than a mortal could, and she had more than a passing familiarity with arcane power,” he answered, gently touching his face. “I think she tried to blow my head off with some sort of a spell, and when that didn’t work, she settled for taking a two-by-four to me.”
    â€œI’m surprised you didn’t subdue her,” I said, thinking of the time he hauled me to Paris to stand trial.
    He made another half grimace, half smile. “It’s all I could do to keep her from killing me. Where she had her training is beyond my conception, but I sure as hell