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So I rushed him, and he lifted his sword, but not to swing. Only using it as a shield, he blocked my every advance, merely defending himself, not once attacking, and he didn’t even sound out of breath as he began a conversation with me.
“If you want to get technical, I’m a Far Shore knight at the moment, you know—not a High Cliff one. I’m commanding the queen’s army for her. And before that, I was a Donnelley bodyguard. But I guess that’s neither here nor there, as you’re right, I did originate from High Cliff. What gave me away?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, maybe the fact that you’re trying to kill me,” I seethed.
“Kill you?” He laughed. “What in God’s name gave you that idea?”
Damn him. His blasé attitude only enraged me further. Men who hunted you down in order to wipe you out of existence should not smile so charmingly and look so damned happy about their bloody, murderous quest! This was no laughing matter. It was my life on the line.
And yet when I growled out my livid feelings and swung with all my strength, the bastard chuckled again and lifted his blade to keep me from beheading him. I gritted my teeth and kept pressing my sword forward, its steel only inches from his throat, but his sword successfully thwarted my victory.
He lifted his eyebrows. “Riddle me this, my lady, but if I were attempting to kill you, then why am I the one on the defense right now? In all reality, I believe you’re the one trying to kill me.”
“Don’t play stupid,” I snarled, finally relenting and backing off so I could consider him from a fresh perspective and hopefully discover his weak points. “You’re not going to convince me that you’re not here to end me.”
“I’m so very confused,” he confessed, truly shocked by my admission as he glanced around the forest as if trying to make sense of my words. “Why do you think I want to end you?”
There, I realized. Distracting him with conversation was his softness.
He turned back to me, his blue eyes glittering with promise. “I would die before hurting you.”
“Lies!” I sneered. “Why else would you—a High Cliff warrior trained enough to rise to the commander of the Far Shore army—be tracking me down?”
His cheeks flushed as if the question embarrassed him. But then he said, “Well, if you’d lower your weapon for five seconds and just let me talk, I’d gladly?
??”
“Never,” I snarled and attacked again. “High Clifters don’t just talk to Graykeys; they only murder them!”
He blinked stupidly before repeating, “Graykey?”
I swung, and he distractedly deflected the blow as if it were instinct for him to block me. Growling my frustrations, I blew the hair out of my face and cried, “Just stop acting already. I know what you are and why you’re after me. There’s no other reason—”
“But I’m not—” He squinted at me, then shook his head. “Are you saying you’re a—” Suddenly, his face went stark white. “Oh, holy shit,” he whispered as absolute dread clouded his features. “You can’t be.”
His sword suddenly flashed forward and clanged against mine. When mine went sailing off, leaving me weaponless, I blinked, not prepared for him to unarm me so easily.
Dammit. That wasn’t fair at all.
Then he dropped his own blade and snagged my wrist.
I gasped at the contact. He was so fast, though; I didn’t even have time to struggle before he drew me forward and turned my hand over, palm facing up, so he could reveal the underside of my forearm.
My tattoo stood out stark and distinct against the paleness of my flesh. There was no denying its existence.
I bore the mark.
I was a Graykey.
“No,” he rasped, his mouth falling open and eyes widening with horror.
He dropped my arm as if I were diseased—or cursed—and then he tripped backward away from me, his gaze lifting to my face as if I’d betrayed him in the most forbidden and sacrilegious way possible.
“But you can’t be,” he repeated, shaking his head insistently. “How is this possible?”
Something wasn’t right here. If he hadn’t known I was a Graykey—and he clearly hadn’t—then why had he been pursuing me so persistently?
Now wasn’t the time to question it, though. I’d caught him off guard completely by my revelation; this was the best chance I had to defeat him.
