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The father shoved at me again, forcing me to the side. That wasn't where I wanted to be, and every instinct in my body was screaming for me to keep them away from my woman. I ducked under his next attempt to shove at me as I passed the dagger into my left hand, and then I drew my sword.
The pale steel glinted in warm tones under the gas lamps. The leather-wrapped hilt felt so natural in my hand. The reflection from the blade tracked against the banister that led down to the stage used on the darkest night. My mind noted all of it, but my body was already in motion.
"Back!" I roared, holding out the dagger in the general direction of the son. My sword, however, aimed right for the older man's face. "She is the Chosen of Zeal, do you hear me?" Spittle flew at my rage, and I couldn't stop myself. "If you touch her, I will leave your intestines on the - "
"Talin," Nari begged as her hand closed on my right bicep - the arm holding the sword.
But just as she pressed it down, encouraging me to lower the blade, the father swung. I moved. Nari moved, but none of it was enough. The flat of the man's palm cracked against Nari's temple in a hard slap.
"By the laws," I growled, shoving my body into his hard enough to force him out of her reach again. "Of the Temple of Temptation." The man slipped, but I heaved a little more. "I have the right - "
His fancy shoes had slick soles. The polished marble floors weren't made for traction. Before I could even finish the official warning about harming a guardian's desire, the spoiled prick's ass was on the ground, the air rushing from his throat in a loud huff. Down. Vulnerable. Two steps carried me over him, but that put me further from Nari.
I tried to track everything. My brain was moving so fast, and time crept along very slowly. My eyes darted to the son, then back to the father just as the tip of my sword found his neck. The problem was that I wanted to push. I knew that it wouldn't be easy. I'd been told over and over about how hard it was to impale a man, and yet, at this moment, I wanted nothing more.
He'd touched Nari. He'dhurt her. The sight of his blood pouring down the opening in the center of the temple, all the way to the black stage below might make that better. This woman was mine.Mine!I might let them touch her, but that was because it was what she wanted, not them. They had no right to her body, her time, or anything else.
And the rage just kept growing. I had no idea how long I debated shoving the sword through the older man's neck. It could've been seconds or hours, because it all felt the same to me. All I knew was that I didn't say a single thing. I didn't need to. Let others yell and scream out their anger. Mine would be found at the edge of sharpened steel.
The whole time, the man's terrified eyes hung on mine. They were brown. Common, boring, and pathetic brown in a very small ring around a pupil that was much too wide. I wondered how they'd glaze over as he died, but I needed to check the son, to make sure he hadn't moved. I also couldn't make my head turn as fast as my rage was running.
Then a sword darted under mine, blocking it. Movement at the side finally made me look. Between one heartbeat and the next, time caught back up, and everything started moving quickly. A woman in black grabbed the son, pushing him against the wall to restrain him. The man at the other end of the other sword clasped my arm, guiding the point of my blade away from the patron's neck.
"Talin." The voice belonged to Grath, of all people. "I'll take it from here. Check your desire."
"I'm fine," Nari said before I could even turn.
"Get your hands off me, you stupid bitch!" the son snapped.
My head whipped that way to recognize the guardian holding him as none other than Irila. She also didn't seem to care that he was insulting her. Standing a head shorter than the teenager, she was fit and athletic in a way that he had no chance against.
"Assaulting a Priestess of Zeal is grounds for immediate removal from the Temple of Temptation," Irila said. "Doesn't matter if you like it, gentlemen."
"I never fucking touched her," the boy insisted.
"The father did," Nari said. "It was a session for one. Talin refused to let both into the room."
"You're not a Priestess of the Body!" the father roared as Grath heaved him to his feet. "You're a mistake. You aren't an icon of the gods! You're just a silly little girl who doesn't fucking know her place. My son deserves better than some pathetic whore who doesn't know how to shut the fuck up."
"Move," Grath ordered, pushing him towards the exit.
"You too," Irila said.
I wanted to help. No, I wanted to kill both men, but I knew I should be helping. Instead, I sheathed my blades and moved to Nari's side, looking around at the many faces turned our way, staring in complete confusion. There were priests in the mix, but also patrons. With the sessions still starting, there were a lot of people still in the halls. But it only took me three steps to reach her side.
"Nari?" I begged, lifting my hand to her face to see if she'd been hurt when the man hit her.
She turned her cheek and let me check, but also reached a hand up to cradle my wrist. "I'm fine, Talin. You're not, but I really am ok."
"I don't matter," I reminded her.
So she pulled my hand away and stepped into my face. "You do. Don'teversay that again, because you do matter, Talin. You matter to me, so remember that." Then she turned my wrist and kissed the underside. "What… what started all of that?"
"And I'm going to need that information as well," Saval said as she hurried towards us in the fastest walk she could manage without breaking into a run. "Nari, are you hurt?"
"Slapped," Nari said.
I was starting to realize just how much I'd overreacted, but the strangest thing was that I didn't feel bad about it. Not at all. I felt like this was right, because I was fucking tired of failing her. Zeal might say that she'd only grow stronger, but I was worried that she'd simply end up hurting, and I loved this woman too much to let that happen again.
