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Gods, he was brutal yet unsure. He killed without thought of skill or finesse, but he killed with passion.
Rave surrounded us. Olaf joined, leaning over his knees, gasping. “What is the move?”
“We must place barriers between us.” Valen approached, eyes wild with his fury.
“Wise,” said Olaf, “if I recall, the sea fae have a fear of too much heat. We ought to set a row of torches.”
It seemed too simple a plan, but I didn’t know the sea fae. I was too young to remember much about the days when my father and our realms of old traded with the sea. I did recall tensions were always hovering around the two lands even then. For all I knew, the sea fae might grow sickly near fire.
But my unknowns shifted when a sharp, bitter voice broke over the crowd.
“Liar.” Junius Tjuv stepped forward. Niklas followed close behind, his eyes narrowed at Olaf. Gold rings lined his fingers and dug into his skin as he cracked his knuckles.
Niklas was swift and shoved Olaf fiercely. Knocking him back at least five paces.
“Hey, stop it,” I began, but paused when Olaf laughed.
“I’ve always found a bit of fascination with the body magic. A lie taster.” Olaf clicked his tongue and began to stagger back to his feet. “It would be a useful gift.”
Before I had time to move, Olaf’s head tilted back, mouth spread open. A burst of billowing blackness shot toward the sky. Screams followed. Silas yanked on my arm, pulling me back even further as the shadows gathered into a solid form, as they misted over broad shoulders and long legs.
Shouts—most, I was certain, were curses and roars from Ari—turned to chaos at my back when Olaf’s body fell into a heap. He moaned, but it was swiftly cut off when Davorin lifted one leg and stomped viciously on the man’s head once. Twice.
“No!” I screamed. Stupid of me to try, but it was horrid watching Olaf’s skull shatter under the force.
“No?” Davorin’s eyes flashed. “You would have a traitor to his lord live? The Rave aremine, little princess. Now, where is my raven? Her first.”
Never again. Ari was not the only one who promised Saga this bastard would not touch her. With Silas’s hand in mine, anger, swift and potent, flooded my veins. Deep in Silas’s chest a sound rumbled, and when I screamed the simple word—shield—much like that day on the shores of the isles, my skin burned.
A blast of power burst between us. Bright and fierce.
Davorin covered his face, a wall of darkness surrounding him like black stone. This time, he was ready. He knew us. Knew what to expect. As promised, this scourge of a man had returned more powerful.
Davorin laughed and began to lower his arms, but hissed his anger when Valen shoved in front of me and Silas and slammed his palms on the cobbled stones.
In a great roll of the earth, Raven Row began to crack. Davorin struggled to keep his footing. The split in the earth widened into a deep scar between the shore and us.
Without a command, Tor sprinted down one edge, Sol on the other.
“The earth bender!” A sea fae man still ten paces off in the shore roared his rage. They knew who’d slaughtered their king. But I took a bit of pleasure in the look of fear in their eyes as the snap of stone and soil roared over the violence of the waves their ships created.
A divide, deep and jagged, built a new kind of barrier. The gap was large enough it would take a running start to leap across. No doubt they’d build planks, but it would keep them at bay for a time.
It was made even better when thick fury spilled off Sol’s palms and blue flames ignited on Tor’s. My Lump and his consort directed each other as they spilled their bonding furies into Valen’s gap. Brilliant bursts of blue flames shot into the air with a dizzying pyre that would dissolve anyone who’d try to cross it.
With slow steps, I approached the edge. Through the flames, I held Davorin’s hateful gaze. His nose wrinkled with disdain.
“Again,” I shouted. “Bested. We all look forward to sending you to the hells.”
One corner of his mouth curved. “What a mouth you’ve gained, little one. When I have my hands on you, I’ll be sure to silence you the same way I silenced my raven. You share blood; I’m sure you’d love it just as much.”
He gripped his damn length over his trousers. A disgusting hint at what he meant. Silas curled his arm around my shoulders, holding me against him with a delicious sort of possessiveness. Davorin laughed, as though we’d behaved exactly as he’d hoped, then backed away from the flames. He was blocked from us. For now.
Sol wiped his brow with the back of his palm when the flames burned fiercest. Tor draped an arm around his waist, and they waited a few breaths, as if ensuring their magic would hold, then turned into us.
No waiting and with no real warning, and I flung my arms around his neck. The Sun Prince squeezed me against his body, his face against my neck.
“Gods, it is never a dull moment with you, girl.” He held me tighter. “I’ve been sick with worry over you.”
