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But alas, her shoulders sagged. "Fine. But if they die, their blood is on your hands." While she did not want to sit here and do nothing, she also knew she could not waste her gift. So instead Kallie did the only thing she could. She spat on his shoe.
He rolled his eyes, but let go of her wrist. "I swear you haven't changed since you were little."
Avoiding his stare, Kallie righted herself on Calamity's back. Then Dani's voice forced their attention back to the fight, "Gray! Don't you think you've played with them enough?"
A maleficent grin slid across Graeson's face as he chuckled. "I suppose." And the intensity of his voice, the power swirling around him sent a chill through Kallie's body.
She had been right. He had been holding back.
Up until now.
As he looked over his opponent, Graeson’s tongue ran across his teeth. The hunger for blood was clear upon his face as he transformed further from the man and closer to the beast, as though he had broken free from whatever cage he had been trapped inside.
Graeson kneed the soldier, forcing him to fold in half, then slammed the man into the dirt. Standing directly above his opponent with his scimitars on each side of the man's face, Graeson turned back to the other soldier who stood paralyzed.
Kallie could neither hear nor see what Graeson said to the soldier, but she saw the fear in the man's eyes, saw the darkened spot growing larger on his pant leg.
After a moment, the man sprinted away from Graeson on wobbly legs and toward the trees where Kallie and Terin hid. When the soldier spotted them, he dug his heels into the ground and raised his shaking hands.
Then recognition befell his face. "Princess?"
Kallie’s frustration and disappointment were palpable.Thesewere the men the king had sent to rescue her? It was pitiful. An insult, really. They were young, recently trained with little to no experience. Their naivety a five o'clock shadow on their face. Kallie wanted to laugh, but she restrained herself.
The man had suffered enough humility for one day.
And Kallie had one command left inside of her. She had made her choice, and hopefully, it was the right one.
Kallie spoke so only Terin could hear, "Trust me."
When Terin did not move, she took his silence as answer enough and nodded to the man.
"Are you . . . are you hurt?" The soldier asked as his gaze bounced between Kallie and Terin.
After Kallie shook her head, the soldier took a step forward but halted when Calamity shifted on her hooves.
"It's okay," Kallie said, urging him forward. When Kallie reached for his hand, he gave it and she whispered, "Forget this fight. Your fellow soldiers died by the jaws of a creature from the legends of old. Go back to King Domitius and tell him to end the search. His daughter is gone."
When the familiar fog clouded the whites of the soldier's eyes, she released his hand. Without hesitating, he took off into the woods. At least he was faster than the last one.
Kallie returned her attention to Graeson. The soldier on the ground stared at the sky, expressionless. Blood surrounded him. Graeson wiped his blades off on the grass, then sheathed them. He pulled out a small dagger she didn't know he carried and threw it at one of the remaining soldiers. The dagger struck the soldier's chest, and the man slumped to the ground.
And as Dani's other opponent watched the soldier fall, Dani slid her sword between the man’s ribs. Blood spewed from his mouth, and he fell beside his comrade. Dani then spun and slit the last soldier's throat.
As the last enemy dropped to the ground, Dani faced Fynn at last. He put his arm around her shoulders and she helped guide him as they walked toward the trees. Fynn's limp was prominent as he leaned against his comrade. Their breaths came fast as sweat dripped from their foreheads and seeped through their clothes. But by the graces of the gods, neither of them was injured—well, injured from this fight anyway. And while Kallie still thought of them as strangers, she was thankful Fynn had survived. If he had died today, she knew it would have been her fault and she did not know how she would feel if that had been the case. She was not ready to take on that burden.
When Terin and Kallie met the others in the bloodied field, Calamity stopped beside Graeson without Kallie's signal. The horse shook her head at its owner, and Graeson patted the horse's neck, practically hugging the horse as he laid his head against it. Calamity neighed and Graeson's shoulders sagged.
After a moment, Graeson lifted his gaze to meet Kallie’s and she shifted on the saddle. "I'm surprised you didn't run off," Graeson said.
"I'm surprised you're not dead," Kallie retorted, but it was a lie. She had seen him fight and was both amazed and frightened by the display.
Having seen through the lie, Graeson chuckled. And Kallie turned away but her lips still twitched.
"Our horses?" Dani asked Terin, the exhaustion in her voice clear.
"Tied up in the woods over here. Come on."
While the others headed into the words, Graeson walked toward the fallen soldiers. Bending down next to one, he pulled his dagger from the body. After he wiped it clean, he returned it to the sheath he kept hidden and then walked back to where Kallie and Calamity waited.
