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Swaying, he dropped heavy down onto his knees. The ground rushing at him.
His body flat on the road, dirt seeped into his mouth. Arms and legs not working.
Enough to knock him down, not enough to knock him into oblivion.
The man that had just smashed a rock into his temple stepped over him, walking toward Juliet and the other brute.
Hell—he’d been too damned worried about Juliet to bother to look around him. Imbecile move.
A chuckle came from the man that had hit him. “Too easy.” He didn’t even look back over his shoulder at Evan. He pointed at Juliet. “His lordship will want her brought to him.”
The knife dropped from Juliet’s neck and the first man dragged her into the woods. She didn’t scream. She didn’t fight.
The second man went to the edge of the woods, digging through a pile of stones, searching. Searching for a bigger rock. A twisted smile crossed his face as he worked a head-sized rock out of the earth with both hands.
Evan’s left fingers twitched. His hand was working.
With a grunt, the brute yanked the rock up and over his head.
Evan willed his arm to move. Good. Now down to the dagger tucked along his boot.
His fingers wrapped around the handle and he pulled the blade free, keeping his arm down low by his side. Now he just had to get the rest of his body to follow orders.
The brute advanced on him, his stare on Evan’s head. The exact spot he was going to smash the rock down.
Evan’s knee bent. Then the other. His vision only swaying a bit.
Two steps closer and the brute lifted the rock even higher. His toes stopped in front of Evan’s face.
No time to test his muscles.
Evan rolled toward the man, landing on the front of his boots as his arm swung up, plunging his dagger into the man’s belly.
The rock dropped, skimming the side of Evan’s ear, and he yanked the blade free from flesh, gained solid footing for his right foot and lifted himself, slicing his dagger across the brute’s neck.
A gargled scream squeaked from the man’s mouth and the other brute whipped around, shoving Juliet away. He ran, lunging toward Evan with his blade swinging.
His blade caught Evan’s left arm before Evan could untangle himself from the first man and jump away. Pain from the slice seared into his body, but it didn’t matter. The other ruffian was away from Juliet and that was most important.
Another wild swing of the brute’s blade and Evan ducked. Just as Evan switched his grip on his dagger to attack, the brute screamed, dropping his blade and grasping at his shoulder.
He spun in a circle, his wild eyes darting from Evan to Juliet. His feet slipping in the dirt of the forest’s edge, he ran. Dodging trees and brush, he sprinted away as fast as the forest allowed.
Evan glanced at Juliet. She stood perfectly still, staring at her right hand raised and holding a small dagger in the air. Blood dripping from the silver blade.
Hell. She’d stabbed him in the back.
Evan took a step toward her. “Well done.”
Her look jerked to him, then to the trees where the man that had grabbed her had disappeared. “Should—should we follow him?”
He wedged the blade out of her outstretched hand and bent to the ground, plunging both her blade and his into the dirt to clean them. “He’d still be here if he thought he stood a chance against us.”
Evan took a moment to inspect her blade—the steel had a scrolling gold overlay centered along the length of it and it had a dark jade handle, smaller, to fit her delicate hand.A weapon of beauty, not just function. If she was going to slice someone, she was going to do it in style. He sheathed his own dagger and looked up at her.
Bloody hell, she was shaking, her arms wrapped around her belly. Her face pale even in the shade of the trees.
He tucked her dagger into his boot and stood, blocking her view of the man that was splayed on the ground three feet from her, and ushered her to the road. He lifted her onto the horse, then mounted behind her and set the mare hard along the last stretch toBicester.
