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Her sharp eyes narrowed, baffled, I had remembered. “Yes.”
“My name is Sahlyn.”
She smiled, a witty smirk in contrast with her wasted appearance. Her brows lifted as she took in my appearance. “There's something in a name that'smeaningful, isn't there?”
“You got that right, my lady. I never understood it before, but I do now.”
“Something is afoot tonight.” It wasn’t a question. She was astute.
“Yes. Make yourself scarce. Try to ensure the other maids keep out of the halls. Stay together. Remain unseen if you can.”
Brienne lifted a brow. “I’m grateful for that advice, Sahlyn.”
I swallowed and prayed this wasn’t overstepping and wouldn’t bite me in the ass. “If all goes well, we will get you out of here and back to your family, Brienne.”
She threw me a smile over her shoulder as she turned to the door. “You went straight for the heart. I like that. Don't forget.”
“I have a lady that would never let me hear the end of it if I did.”
She grinned at that, and we parted ways.
If nothing else, she would open the window for my friends. At least blowing my cover wouldn’t be for nothing. Brienne didn’t believe I’d protect her, but she agreed to help me. For that, I was grateful. My part here was done. If I died, if the queen deemed to kill me straightaway, then so be it.
As I made it to the main hall, guards intercepted me. These new, darkly clad guards seemed familiar, but I’d never seen them. They cornered me, nearly working me back like a predator toying with prey. I’d been prey too much in the past few months and damn sick of it. I let the whistle of steel shiver against the bare halls, echoing that song that heated my blood. A blue light glimmered like a beacon in the dark. I often forget that my mighty blade glowed. Before this, it had only been the demon wolves that made it shine.
Then it hit me. The way these men circled me like those wolves in the wood and the depthless black eyes were too strange to be a coincidence.
I don’t know how she’d done it, but Queen Amira had somehow turned the demon wolves that haunted the Winter Wood into her guard. It seemed impossible, but nothing was impossible with Amira’s dark magic.
One of the larger males bared his teeth. “Your little bitch killed my brother, you fucker. She ran a sword through him.”
I grinned. Just the thought of Autumn’s accomplishments made me smile and lighten my heart. I imagined he was talking about the epic takedown of impaling the wolf on her short sword. My grin lit my face, and I could see the anger it placed across these men.
“We’ll kill you and string you up for her to see.”
“You don’t have me dead yet, pups.”
And we danced. The wolves fought with zeal, but I swear my blade lent me strength as I met each of their thrusts. Five against one was impossible odds—not even adding that these were not human men; they were fucking wolves from the Underworld. They were faintly clumsy with a sword, and I unarmed two of them in minutes. But that was my mistake. Without weapons, they were animalistic. The punches they got on me were far more powerful than they ever were with the swords. I'd been dead already if they were as good with weapons as with sheer strength and brawn.
I was bruised and beaten when one of them punched me in the head. Three of them had black blood running from various wounds. One I’d chopped an entire arm off of, but the largest one I had seen in the hall with the girl had been hanging back, waiting. I would never last long enough to kill him. The others, maybe, but in the end, they would kill me or take me to Amira. I would never get out of this whole.
Another punch knocked me down, and even though I swung madly with my mighty sword, the wolf head on the pommel covered in black blood, I knew another hit like that, and I was finished. Before I even got up from my knees, one of them punched me in the back of the head. I got in a decent slice to their thigh, causing a pained howl that made me smile. Fuckers. These dogs needed to die.
Another slice. My sword was growing heavy in my hands. I didn’t know how much I had left.
Shivering laughter swept over the darkened hall as the leader watched with restrained anger. I thrust my sword as one of them lunged for me, and their momentum carried their gut onto my sword—what luck.
Fucking morons let this happen to them again? What irony.
When I flung the beast-man off my sword, I picked myself up, standing shakily. I sent the leader a toothy grin and tasted the metallic tang of blood. I was getting my ass kicked, but I was doing a lot of ass-kickings too, so there was that.
“That was for my girl. She’d be proud.”
That was all the leader needed to hear for him to lunge at me. His punch made my world black, and I had barely enough time to swing my sword desperately. I doubt it did me any good.
The Queen
That fucking kiss was all I thought about as we rushed across the stone chamber. Sahlyn branded me thoroughly with his mouth and hands. Emotion draped heavily across me. That kiss had felt way too much like a goodbye for me to enjoy the aftereffects.
