“Isn’t there someone else you can bother with this?” I ask, as I try to decide what to do about the sword an inch from my face.
“You changed something about him. He comes back covered in spells, and puts an imperial fiend in the guest room. What did you do?”
“Me? I’m not the one who Enchanted him.”
“Maybe I should kill you and see if that frees him, to be sure,” she says. “After all, I have a few deaths to repay you for.”
I’m not sure she’s joking. She looks like she knows how to use the sword. I step back and to the side, using the doorway as a barrier. Her sword jabs immediately forward into the air, thrusting toward where my throat had been.
Not a joke, then. My heart slams as every nerve in my body wakes.
Roiven may have taken my sword, but my right arm is made of armor. I grab her blade with my metal hand and shove it sideways, running my palm down towards the hilt to keep control of the blade. The woman jerks the sword, trying to free it, as I step back out of the room.
For two years, I’ve been a servant instead of a warrior. And in truth, I’ve missed this.
She yanks the sword against my fingers. I thought I had a good hold, but the blade bursts free as the shadows rip my metal fingers wide open.
The witch twists and slashes diagonally at me. I barely block her blade with my armored wrist, then snap my leg up. My foot punches out towards her kneecap. She narrowly dances back. We circle, my metal arm raised and ready to block whatever strike she throws.
There's no breeze inside the courtyard, with walls blocking each side. In the distance I hear the faint crash of the ocean.
She advances, the sword thrusting straight forward again. I bend left as my metal arm smacks the sword right, so close I can feel the air the sword displaces. My fist closes over the blade again.
Her shadows wrap around my eyes, blinding me.
“What are youdoing?” Roiven snaps at us. The shadows immediately dissolve.
The Witch King appears in the courtyard’s open arch across from my room. The woman who attacked me jumps back, putting more distance between us. Her sword stays raised in front of her face. The shadows are nowhere to be seen.
“She can’t be trusted,” the woman says.
“You attacked me the second I stepped outside,” I snap back. “Nice to know witchesdon’thave honor.”
Nevermind that I attacked Roiven when the enchantment left him even fewer means to defend himself. The circumstances were different.
Roiven’s orange-gold eyes narrow. His black hair is shiny, clean, and half loose in waves, the other half pulled back and knotted behind his head. He isn’t wearing the rags I dressed him in anymore, either. The Witch King is in all black. His shirt gapes open at the front, revealing cut muscle and the lines of enchantment. The enchantment marks lining the side of his temple and jaw only accentuate the sharpness of his cheekbones.
For a moment his orange eyes meet mine and I’m locked in place, cheeks flushing. His gaze drops down, to the pink dress, and darkens. I probably look ridiculous.
“I thought I told you to keep an eye on her, not to behead her, Avreen,” he says flatly, turning away like he’s relieved to look elsewhere.
“She’s got you Enchanted,” the warrior snaps.
“I’m under my own free will,” Roiven says calmly. As if even 12hours ago the opposite weren’t true. He strides toward us, putting his body physically in between me and my attacker. “And I’m choosing to trust her.”
“Then why…” Avreen starts. Roiven holds up a hand to cut her off. I’m surprised Avreen isn’t on her knees begging his forgiveness. He’s a king. Don’t his people fear him? Nobody would talk to the War-Father like this. They’d be lucky to live, if they did.
“Cai is my guest… fornow.” The firm way he says those words makes very clear the situation could change.
“I don’t see…” Avreen starts again.
Roiven turns his face entirely toward her. I can’t see his features, but Avreen sighs at whatever expression he’s making.
“Would you please tell Nor we’re ready to eat,” Roiven says politely.
“As if they don’t already know,” Avreen says. But she sheathes her sword and stalks through the open arch to the area beyond. Roiven turns to face me.
“She tried to kill me. All I did was step outside.”
