Lioran’s grip on my waist softened. “Run,” he whispered in my ear as he pushed me back away from him.
I sprinted as metal clanged behind me. Brush ripped my pants, scraping my flesh. It didn’t stop me. I couldn’t look back. I wouldn’t stop running.
A cloaked rider growled in my ear as he tackled me to the ground. Dirt pelted up into my eyes. I scratched at him. I kicked. I screamed, but I couldn’t get free.
The stench of the rider’s foul breath overtook me. White-hot pain ripped through my arm as my attacker pinned my arm down with his knee. Blood slid into the soil from my arm.
“Aelira!” Fyn yelled. Lioran lifted his sword and darted toward me, but the four attackers closed in on them.
Boots crunched beside me. A cloaked rider knelt beside us. His hood fell back revealing long, straight, black hair, deep brown eyes, and pointed ears. “I wouldn’t defy him. Do you know what he will do to you when he sees blood on her?” The sun illuminated a metal fastener on his cloak with an insignia etched into it.
My attacker didn’t flinch. He didn’t let me go free. Instead, he pulled me onto my knees and pinned my wrists together with one hand. His other gripped rope that hung at his belt. He wrapped it around my wrists and laughed. The rope gnawed at my flesh. “He could have at least warned us how difficult she would be,” he told the other rider.
“Who sent you?” I demanded. King Ardyn wouldn’t work with the fae.
The dark-haired fae held my dagger. Blood dripped from the blade. “What a pretty little dagger. It’s fit for royalty,” he scoffed. The other fae shoved me forward. I screamed again.
Lioran slashed his sword down another attacker’s leg, and then the hilt of his sword came down on the crown of the otherfae’s head. He didn’t move again. My eyes scanned the ground beside him. Another attacker laid in a pool of blood.
Fyn nodded to Lioran as his sword clashed between the other two. Lioran darted toward me. His sword raised toward the attackers, but he looked only at me. Tears ran down my face.
“Was she worth it?” the dark-haired fae asked as he slid my dagger across Lioran’s abdomen. He dropped it and unsheathed his sword.
“No!” I cried as I tried to pull myself free.
Lioran roared, but still he crashed his blade down into the dark-haired fae. The land glowed beneath his feet. A brilliant golden glittering light pooled.
Hands clenched around my bound wrists. The other rider pulled me back.
A fierce growl reverberated through the ground, and then another, and through the trees a dozen sets of jade eyes peered through the dark crevices of the forest.
The largest sylkren raced ahead of the others. It slid in the dirt, stopping inches from me. I braced myself, but it only crouched before me.
With its jaw clenched shut, it roared.
My captor dragged me back again, his body cowering behind mine.
As the beast lunged, I braced myself for impact that never came.
My captor wailed.
The sylkren clenched his jaw around his leg, dragging him back over stony ground. The dagger tumbled from his grasp. I collapsed as screams flooded the forest. I closed my eyes, unable to watch as the sylkren attacked them all.
Lioran placed his hand on my shoulder.
“You…you called them?” I shuddered.
He gritted his teeth. “Yes. Are you hurt?”
A gasp escaped my lips, but no words formed. My whole body trembled. “I’ll be fine.” Nothing about me felt fine. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be again.
He staggered as he stepped forward and pulled my blood-soaked dagger from the grass. He wiped it clean and then slid it through the rope that bound my wrists. Then he handed it back to me. The dagger shook in my unsteady grip. I slid it back in its sheath.
Scarlet droplets dripped from Fyn’s brow. “We need to leave. Now,” he commanded.
All traces of radiant silver drained from Lioran’s eyes. His chest heaved with ragged breathing as Veylar darted to his side.
He tried to lift me up on the horse, but stumbled back, crumpling into Veylar’s side. Pain rippled through me as I clutched the saddle with my remaining strength and swung my leg over. He struggled to mount behind me.
