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“I ran into one when I fled from Raventower,” Larisa said. “I wasn’t very far away.”
The first moment we met. I’d felt no attraction or affection—but then I fell madly in love with her.
“When will Viper arrive?” Larisa regarded me next.
“Any moment,” I said. “He may arrive at the same time.”
“Without the Kingsnake Vampires, we have no chance,” King Elias said, looking into the darkness with emptiness in his eyes. “Between the sickness and the werewolves, we’re all exhausted. Perhaps we should just surrender or flee.”
“We’re doing neither of those things.” Coward.
“You shouldn’t risk your lives for us—”
“But we are,” I snapped. “Because my wife has a stronger spine than you’ll ever have.”
Larisa flashed me her angry stare.
I didn’t feel bad for what I said. I didn’t say it as a jealous husband, but as a fellow ruler who gave everything I had to my people.
King Elias stared at me. “You have no idea what we’ve suffered. You have no idea the loss and the anguish we’ve endured. And when we barely had anything, you marched here and took what few people we had left…and then the werewolves… It never ends. To be perpetually weak and exploited, it’s hopeless.”
For just a moment, I actually pitied him.
“With the Kingsnake Vampire army, we’ll defeat them,” Larisa said. “And without them, we’ll be able to hold them until the army arrives. Let’s prepare for battle.” She spoke like a queen, gave orders effortlessly, acted like she’d done this before.
King Elias nodded. “We’ll do our best.”
* * *
A couple hours later, the werewolf army approached.
Viper hadn’t arrived yet.
He should have been here by now, so I worried for his well-being as well as my own.
The scout rode his horse through the gate before the doors shut behind him. “A hundred strong.”
“That’s it?” Cobra asked before he looked at me. “They really did call your bluff, Kingsnake.”
“They probably assumed I would call for aid now, and it would take too long for the army to join us.” Stupid on their part.
“A hundred is nothing,” Cobra said. “We had to deal with ten thousand orcs last time.”
“The odds were five-to-one,” I said. “But this is a hundred-to-three.”
“Four.” Larisa appeared, wearing that don’t-tell-me-what-to-do expression.
“I don’t like those odds,” I said to my brother. “We’ll need to hold them off until Viper arrives. That trench with fire will only work until the oil is consumed. After that, they’ll be climbing up the walls like the dogs that they are.”
Cobra gave a nod. “You’re right. The two of us will have to take out the ones who do make it over the wall.”
“Three,” Larisa snapped.
Cobra shifted his gaze back and forth between us before he spoke. “I know you guys are having problems right now, so I’m going to give Kingsnake a break and state the obvious. Larisa, you’re decent with the sword, but these are werewolves. They’re orcs with claws, okay?”
“And you forget I’m an Original,” she said. “I’m stronger than both of you.”
“But not experienced,” I said. “Don’t take that as an insult.”
