Page 14 of Apprentice to the Villain

Clearing her throat, she held the dagger out. “Before you attempt an arrest, gentlemen, I’d like to make a proposal.” The silver-clad men looked at one another in stark confusion at thecasualness in her voice; thankfully, it hid the shakiness. “Release The Villain and Arthur Maverine, and I’ll allow everyone in this room to leave with their lives.”

The king, his guards, and even a few nobles had the gall to laugh, finding humiliating amusement in her ultimatum. The king swiped an imaginary tear of laughter away from his emerald-green eyes. “A magicless young woman with a dagger is as threatening as a rabbit with a letter opener,” he said, speaking to her as if she were a child—not an unfamiliar feeling for her. “You are weak and surrounded by enemies, you thoughtless girl.”

Shewasafraid, but she knew now: fear usually meant you were standing on the edge of something new, something self-altering, something potentiallygood. Fear was not something she would shy away from ever again.

Nodding demurely, she responded, “Too true, Your Majesty. I am nothing compared to the men you have in your service, nor the noblemen at your command.” She made a show of scanning the crowd and tapping her chin twice. “I find it impressive that you should know so very many people, that you should facilitate such devotion. It makes me wonder, however, if you might know my favorite distinction between your Valiant Guards and The Villain’s Malevolent.”

The king noticed her slowly inching backward with a satisfied gleam in his eye. “You’re stalling, Ms. Sage. But I’ll humor you before I send you to the gallows.Myguards fight for the good of the kingdom. The Villain’s guards fight for its destruction.”

“An important distinction, to be sure!” She leaned in and whispered her next words for only the king to hear. “But I was referring to the fact that a majority of those who make up the Malevolent Guard arewomen.” She watched the king slowly piece together her words but didn’t allow him to finish before lighting her final match.

“Are you certain you knoweveryonein this room?”

Satisfaction sang through her blood as the king’s wide eyes darted around in dawning horror.

Evie rocked back, another flower slipping from her hair as she spun toward the onlookers. Tatianna appeared from the throngs like a vision, the pink sash around her green gown marking her as real in a sea of falsity. Winking at Evie, Tati pulled a pocket light from within the folds of her dress, shaking the cannister before releasing the bursting firework into the open air.

The signal was received like ripples in the Lilac Sea. One by one across the vast room, women stepped forward out of the crowd, discarding shirts, hats, or dresses to reveal their Malevolent Guard uniform beneath. They’d been there all along, hidden behind the misplaced idea that women did not need to be watched so closely, that they couldn’t be any sort of true risk. The words The Villain had spoken to her in his brother’s dilapidated tavern became a melody in her mind.

“I would never make the mistake of underestimating a woman like you. It would be a fatal one.”

The king wouldn’t make that mistake again, she predicted. His gaze on her had changed—to one of fear.

Finally.

“I hope you remember that whatever happens next—”

She tilted her head, grinning through her final damning words.

“I did so try to warn you.”

Chapter 8

The Villain

The Malevolent Guard attacked without reservation, without restraint, and entirely without honor—exactly as Trystan had trained them.

Women all over the room were felling knights one by one, leveraging their surprise attack against the king’s meager numbers. Keeley, the head of his guard, was seamlessly handling three knights at once, while another guard, Min, had backed two into a corner and was pelting them with…cream puffs?

She’s getting a raise.

As was whoever had organized this: a feat of genius.Surely Becky was involved, he thought with some satisfaction.And Sage…The ballroom had descended almost instantly into beautiful chaos. Screaming nobles scattered as bodies and weapons littered the floor, food trays and wine spilled or abandoned in the servants’ efforts to get away.

He had to break free of his binds, had to get to her.Alive. Sage was alive.

She appeared then, stumbling through a litter of bodies, tripping on the hem of her dress. A wave of tenderness came over him through the fierceness igniting his bloodstream, his battling emotions of rage and relief making him feel wild as his starving eyes took her in. Rosy cheeks, bloodred lips, wild black curls.

Mine.

He’d do battle with that unruly thought later, but for now his brain would not be trifled with—he wouldn’t even try.

“What a remarkable young woman,” he heard Arthur say breathlessly.

He didn’t look away from her, just stared ahead before coolly replying, “An understatement, I assure you.”

Arthur must have heard the hitch in his voice. “Trystan, could it be that Evie is—”

A waiflike woman with a hood obscuring her face pushed onto the platform. “I don’t mean to interrupt—pixies know, you two should really have it out—but perhaps later?”