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My stomach plummets when not one, not two, but nearly a dozen more men drop down into the clearing. Ember whimpers, clutching my arm.
One. Word.
“We’re going to have some fun, Your Majesty. You like fun?”
“Quiet, Pani,” Joaquin scolds. “She belongs to the king.”
“Does that mean we can’t have fun? I doubt she’s untouched. Out here with him, the king will never know.”
“I will cut your tongue out myself,” Joaquin scolds. Then, he turns back to me. “Rafferty, you are under arrest for treason and the kidnapping of the future Queen of Faerie.”
“He did not kidnap me,” Ember says, her voice wavering even as she attempts to appear unafraid. “I ran the moment I had the chance.”
“You killed Lloren,” Joaquin accuses.
“And I’d do it again in the beat of a heart.”
His grin turns to a sneer. “Take them.”
“Duck!” I order Ember as the fae charge us. She hits the ground with a thud, and I swing out with the short blade I managed to steal before leaving. Tonight, I will leave with a sword off the backs of my enemy.
Metal clashes and the heavy crunch of armor fills my ears as the hilt of my blade hits the chest plate. Knowing the blade is not sharp enough to penetrate, I immediately lunge forward and grip the chest plate of the nearest fae, yank him toward me, and drive my blade down into his throat.
He sputters and falls to the ground.
I retrieve his sword and swing out, blocking another hit.
Ember screams.
I whirl. If one of them gets his hands on her, they can be gone in an instant. She’s running, sprinting through the trees while Joaquin chases, right on her heels.
Panic burns my veins.
His hand closes around her arm. “Stop!” I roar, invoking magic I swore I’d never use.
Every man in the clearing, Joaquin included, stops.
I feel it, the seductive power. I could stop now, but it feels so fucking good. Carrying the blade in my hand, I move through the clearing, passing the men who still have their blades raised. It’s not until I am standing before Joaquin that I stop.
“Rafferty?” Ember whispers my name, and I turn to her. The way her eyes widen—I know she can see the change.
“It was either this or your life.”
“I always knew you were a coward,” Joaquin spits out, frozen in place.
“Release her.”
He does as ordered.
“You will take your blade and kill every single one of the men behind you.”
Joaquin’s jaw tightens.
“Then, you will deliver yourself back to Taranus and tell him I am coming for him, right before you drive your blade into your own heart.”
He begins to move back toward his men. “You won’t get away with this!” he bellows as I grab Ember by the arm and rip her away from the carnage.
“What did you do?” she calls out as I drag her into the tree line.
Behind us, men groan, they plead, they beg for mercy, but I know that Joaquin will give them none. Because I own the fucker.
A smile toys at the corners of my lips. Given that I just traded a piece of myself, I should be concerned.
But I’m not.
Because I feel more powerful than I have since the day Taranus stole my wings.
