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No longer ready to die with my sister, I raised my sword and charged, needing to live so I could protect my mate.
Wrath fled as my fear swelled. But I couldn’t watch Nicolette die today.
Not her too.
I went back to slashing and hacking and jabbing and chopping. I didn’t hear the report of her Colt again, which scared me more than anything. Had someone captured her? Was she hurt? Alive?
I did hear the sound of steel clanging up ahead, though, which let me know someone on my side still fought.
Still lived.
That better include Nicolette.
I worked my way in her direction, steadily fending off attacks by the droves.
Adrenaline spiked and oxygen thundered through my lungs. I just needed to reach her. I had to get her out of here. I had to save her.
Just when I thought I had enough of a break in the fighting to race her way, I dodged forward, only to pull up short when Kalendria appeared behind Nicolette, grabbing her around the neck and setting the sharp side of a dagger against her throat.
“Drop the sword, Farrow,” Kalendria commanded.
Not far away, her child wailed and flailed on the floor next to the corpse of a dead, bloodied knight.
I lifted my hands but kept the blade firm in my grip.
“I said drop it,” the queen screamed, making Nicolette flinch and a droplet of her blood trail from the knife’s blade at her throat.
With a snarl of promised revenge, I loosened my grip, and my sword clattered to the ground as my gaze sought Nicolette’s pale face. She panted heavily and her expression was mottled with anger, but other than getting nicked by the queen’s dagger, she seemed otherwise unharmed.
“You too, High Clifter,” Kalendria told Nicolette’s companion.
I glanced at the other man, finally recognizing him as the bodyguard who’d been with Nicolette outside her castle the night I’d taken her.
He reluctantly dropped his sword as well, searing a concerned wince to his princess before narrowing his eyes on the queen.
“Now,” Kalendria said, drinking in a deep, relieved breath. “You must be the missing Princess Nicolette.” Her voice was conversational, but her expression was not, as she gritted her teeth and glared, keeping her blade held snug against Nicolette’s flesh.
Nicolette elevated her chin regally high. “It seems I’m famous everywhere I go. But I must confess, I’ve no idea who you are, my lady.”
I didn’t think that was entirely true. She would’ve seen the queen in my dreams, since we’d been sharing them for days now, and I knew Kalendria had been in and out of them, usually threatening me and trying to have me killed.
But Nicolette’s lie seemed to irk Kalendria’s vanity quite successfully.
“I am the queen of Far Shore,” she snarled, tugging on Nicolette’s hair and making her head snap back at an unnatural angle. “And you will refer to me as Your Majesty. And you…” Her gaze shifted to me. “Farrow, whore’s son of House Scott, you’re charged with high treason for the assassination of your king. So it is my great pleasure to condemn you to death. You are to be hanged in the castle courtyard tomorrow at noon so everyone in the kingdom can come and see the capture of the Bastard Betrayer and the execution of the monster who killed their ruler.”
“Over my dead body,” Nicolette snarled, as two men grabbed me from behind and roughly manacled my wrists together with metal cuffs.
“I would say that could be arranged.” Kalendria nudged her blade deeper into Nicolette’s throat, making her whimper. “But I have other plans for you, princess. Since your brother already knows you’re here, I might as well keep you around long enough to discover just how much he’s willing to pay to get you back.”
She shoved Nicolette toward a guard. “Take these two down to the dungeon. Kill the High Clifter.”
“No,” Nicolette gasped, immediately struggling against the guard holding her. “Indy!”
Unable to let her watch her friend die, I blurted, “Or you could ransom him too.”
Kalendria motioned a hand toward the executioner who’d already lifted a sword toward Nicolette’s bodyguard, bidding him to pause.
Eyes curious, she asked, “Why? Who is he?”
