Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“Shall we show her that I’m her match?” Alic says, earning every ounce of my attention. Blood trickles down Garrick’s throat from the same small cut as before.
Sgaeyl glances to the north before returning her gaze to us, and hope flickers to life again. Someone is coming.
“Show her how you greet royalty, Tavis.” Alic scrapes the dagger down the side of Garrick’s neck. “On your knees and clean the mud off my boots so I don’t get it on her scales when I mount.”
“Fuck you,” Garrick replies.
A corner of my mouth rises as I watch the bushes to the north start to move. “Do it,” I sign.
“Fuck you, too,” Garrick says in my direction.
“On your knees!” Alic shrieks.
The Blue Clubtail bares its teeth, and my eyebrows rise. There are too many ill tempers in this field for this to end well for any of us besides the blue ones.
“I would rather die—” Garrick starts.
“Get on your damned knees or Riorson dies,” Alic threatens, and the shadows on the ground move as something sharp presses into my cloak. I’m going to be fucking furious if I have to mend this thing when we’re done. “I am second in line for the crown of Navarre, and you are no one!”
Someone clearly has a birth-order complex.
“You’re the son of a dead traitor and you will obey!” Alic shouts. “Get. On. Your. Knees!”
The Blue Clubtail lets out another breath of steam, then retreats into the tall trees at the edge of the field, leaving only its head exposed.
That’s…unexpected.
“Do it,” I sign again.
The knife remains at the side of Garrick’s neck, and his sword scrapes the ground as he lowers himself slowly to his knees. The muscles in his jaw flex. He’s going to kill me for this, but at least he’ll be alive to do it.
Masen pops through the thicket and stumbles into the field. Finally. There are now three marked ones here and all bets are off.
“Let’s be clear about something,” I say slowly. “You don’t own anything of mine.”
“I’m sorry?” Alic sputters my way.
“Your father owns my father’s land. Your father owns my father’s title. Your father owns you.” I turn my head slowly to look Alic in the eye.
“I am a prince!” he shouts, blood flushing his cheeks as his eyes bulge.
It all happens pretty quickly from there.
I throw my left hand down, palm splayed open. Garrick shoves the pommel of his sword into my hand, then whips his away. The second steel touches my skin, I grip and spin to the left. I jerk the sword up in a backhand motion, cutting into Alic’s forearm and knocking the dagger out of his hand.
Alic shouts in pain, but I don’t bother checking the damage I’ve caused.
Lorne and Eian both lunge, spearing their swords for my chest, so I hit the snow-covered ground, and the two swords clash somewhere above me. Once Garrick moves, so do I.
Eian groans as I jump to my feet, and I find a blade lodged in the vicinity of his heart, with Garrick’s hand covering the jewel-encrusted hilt of Alic’s dagger.
I toss Garrick’s sword to him so he can deal with Lorne and turn my attention to Alic.
The prince staggers backward, and blood oozes through the fingers with which he holds his forearm.
Steel clashes behind me, but I don’t need to look. Garrick can handle his own. Dukes Lindell and Lewellen saw to it that we both could.
“You can’t get away with this,” Alic shouts, but his lower lip trembles.
“Draw your sword.” I unclip the button at my throat, and my cloak falls to the ground as I stalk forward. Anticipation sings in my veins.
“No.” His feet start to shuffle as he backs away from me. “You won’t kill an unarmed cadet.”
“I will,” I assure him as Lorne grunts, then screams in pain behind me. “You deserve to die for what you’ve put Garrick through since Parapet, and I won’t let him carry another single mark from you, and that includes the weight of responsibility for your death. It stops now. Pick. Up. Your. Sword.”
“You don’t want to do this!” His eyes are wider than fists as his backward pace picks up.
“I do.” My arms swing freely at my sides as I hunt him like the prey he’s treated us as. I’m more than aware of a set of golden eyes watching every move I make, and I do it anyway. If she’s here for me, then she already knows what I’m capable of, and if she’s here to kill me, then at least I’ll rid the world of Alic before I die. “Draw your weapon. You won’t get another warning from me.”
“I’m a prince of this kingdom!” He jerks his sword from its scabbard and stops retreating.
“Don’t conflate a title with power.” I shake my head and close the distance between us.