Page 16 of Queen of War and Ruin

He grabs my arm.

I don’t think. My body responds, doing exactly what I did over and over again in the field with Petrys. I bend at my waist, drive my elbow into Toth’s gut, and then pull him down as the air escapes his lungs.

Toth collapses on the ground with a grunt and a sound like a wet sack hitting stone. I jump backward, putting the saddles between me and the man sputtering on the grass.

“You fucking whore,” Toth spits.

He scowls up at me, his face contorted with rage.

“Don’t touch me again,” I say. By some miracle, my voice is level and calm. “My father is dead. And I’m not leaving my husband.”

I glance toward the fire, and thank the gods, there he is. His face is in shadow, but I know the figure running toward us is Zarek. The gelding even raises his head and nickers a hello as the snake of Vsenrog comes up to me.

“Is everything okay?” Zarek asks.

Toth grunts again as he drags himself up to standing. He’s hunched over, with an arm wrapped around his gut.

“You and your fucking bitch of a wife,” Toth growls. “We get past the toll, and I never want to see either of you bastards again.”

Zarek’s hand drops to the dagger in his belt. His face changes, turning as cool as a marble statue.

“You call my wife a bitch one more time,” Zarek says in an icy voice, “and that will be the last thing you ever say.”

Toth growls, spits, and then turns his back on us. Zarek moves toward me as Toth limps back to the ragged wagons circled around the dying fire.

“What happened?” Zarek whispers. “Are you hurt?”

I open my mouth to tell him everything. But instead, I start to cry. Zarek pulls his cloak around me, and all I can think as he holds me against his chest is that Toth was right.

I am soft.

Chapter 9

Zarek

THE TOLL STATION

Toth hasn’t spoken to either one of us since Lilias elbowed him in the gut last night, so I don’t know for sure how close we are to the Vsenrog toll. But everyone in his ragged little party looks significantly more nervous than they did yesterday, which makes me think we’re drawing close.

And Lilias was right. The stallion is a problem.

In the poor, dumb brute’s defense, though, I think Lilias’s mare is actually flirting with him. Or torturing him. She’ll prance in front of him, making him flap his lips like a man drooling after a beautiful woman. This afternoon she actually started to raise her tail at him.

It’s driving the bastard crazy. He’s snorting, yanking at his lead, and making the entire cart he’s tied to rock and creak.

“Get that godsdamned slut of a mare out of here!” Toth screams as the stallion snorts and paws at the dirt.

Lilias guides her mare to the side of the road, although the horse doesn’t seem to want to obey her. I follow them.

“Oh good,” I mutter under my breath. “Toth is speaking to us again.”

Lilias rolls her eyes. Her attention seems to be focused on the mare she’s attempting to ride away from the snorting, bucking stallion behind us, an attempt that’s complicated by her mare raising her tail and stopping every two steps to pee.

The stallion makes a sound like he’s being strangled, and I turn around to see the cart he’s tied to rock precipitously. Toth smacks the stallion on the flank. The stallion doesn’t even seem to notice.

“What do we do here?” I ask Lilias.

She shakes her head. Her braid has come undone, and she looks like she’s mad at everything and everyone.