Zach.
The half-royal, half-heretic prince dodged and slashed through dwarf, goblin, and troll as if they were nothing. He moved like something out of the gates of the afterlife. And what was more?
He was free of blue flames. No one had Kissed him.
Perhaps there hadn’t been time to administer him one, or he wanted to prove that he didn’t need it…but there he was, slaying monsters in one blow.
After seeing him fight this morning, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but deep down, I didn’t truly believe it. Because I’d guessed that, like I had, he’d at least take a simple battle Kiss against an entire horde of monsters.
Yet, clearly, he was doing fine without.
His footwork was fast and light, his sword strokes sharp and ruthless, and the way he rolled and dodged—it was if he’d been trained by barbarians. His style was undisciplined and wild, yet completely effective.
As eager to see more of his fighting as I was to kill another monster, I rushed past a burning stable and clashed swords with a dwarf.
He’d taste the blue flames of my blade, just as the goblin had.
The dwarf’s beard was oily and black, his skin was gray, and his eyes were liquid amber. He growled and slashed his sword down. I was slow with my shield, and the sword nicked my shoulder, dousing the blade with crimson blood. He brought the sword to his mouth and licked it.
Breathing through the fiery pain in my shoulder, I took a step back as the dwarf howled with delight. “Myriana’s pure heir. My lucky night.” With crazy eyes, he lowered his sword and charged at me again.
I raised my shield and tried to parry his blow, but he had tasted my blood and was crazed by the idea of killing Myriana Holly’s direct descendant. Still, I wasn’t the princess with the best sword skills in the Legion for nothing, and I had my battle magic. With my shield raised to stop any more blows from above, I dropped to the ground, diving between the dwarf’s legs and coming up from behind. I swung at his undefended back just as he rotated and brought his arm up to stop my sword.
It went halfway through his arm. If it had been a goblin, the blade would’ve sliced clean through, but dwarves’ skin was a lot tougher, thicker.
I wrenched my sword out of his flesh and moved to stab his heart, but the ground rumbled under my feet. In horror I looked at the black blood spilled on the ground, then back up.
The dwarf’s beard twitched as he smiled.
Dwarf blood magic. Holy Queen, no.
The earth moved, and rubble rose around my ankles, rocks digging into my shins and locking me into place. Oh Sweet Sisters, I couldn’t move my legs.
He wanted my death to be slow and agonizing. He lashed out at my thigh.
The cut was deep, blood gushing from the wound and soaking my trousers. With the loss of my blood, so came the loss of battle magic. It flickered and died.
Seeing the flow of blood, and my body without its protective shield, he ran his gray tongue over his top whiskers.
I trembled. Without my magic, how could I win? I raised my shield and gritted my teeth, blood pumping painfully from my pounding heart.
As the dwarf tossed my shield aside and nicked another wound on my ribs before knocking me to my back, I prayed to the Sisters to save me from my own stupidity.
I realized the confidence I’d felt when killing that goblin had been foolish. How could I have been so arrogant to believe my Kiss was worth the power of two? The Legion gave us partners for a reason: so we could protect each other, watch each other’s backs. Kellian was gone because I, his partner, hadn’t been there.
And as much as he needed me then, I needed him now.
The dwarf raised his sword above his head and brought it down. The blade stopped a breath away as a sword’s tip emerged in a bloody hole through the dwarf’s broad chest.
The body crumbled to dust.
Zach stood over me, his sword bathed in what looked like ink. His expression was not battle-hardened or one of anger as I had expected it to be. He looked at me with amusement, maybe even a little curiosity.
He said the same thing he’d said in the corridor. “Have to admit, I’m impressed.”
Chapter
Nine
Antlers of the Stag
I’d told Zach I wasn’t looking to impress anyone, but when he offered me his arm, I accepted it. He helped me to a safer location and lowered me to a large wooden beam, then he dropped to his knees and inspected the gash on my thigh.
The battle was pretty much over. Smoke rose to the first signs of stars, and the Illye circle cleared as the princesses emerged from its protection.
Zach ripped off a piece of my dress and pressed it against the wound to stop the flow of blood. I gritted my teeth and winced. “Sorry,” he breathed, touching a gentle hand to my knee. “You’ll need to get this cleaned up. It’s pretty deep. Stitches, too.”
“Are you daft?” I cradled my head, woozy from blood loss. “Just Kiss me.”
Zach leaned back, frowning. “This really should be cleaned first, princess.”
It was just a simple healing Kiss, but I was in no mood to argue with him, so when a prince passed, I stopped him.
“Christopher?” I said.
He stopped. “Princess Ivy.”
At his side was a young woman with a swollen belly. Her cheeks were covered in streaks, her tears having left clean tracks through the soot and ash. She was surely a victim of the attack, but she seemed to have escaped mostly unscathed, save for the cut on her arm, and, since she was obviously pregnant it was a double miracle.
I beckoned Christopher toward me and, without question, he pressed his lips to mine. His magic rose up, strong and steady like a horse’s gallop, and met mine. I spoke the healing spell in my head, and the gash on my thigh, and the nicks on my arm, shoulder, and ribs healed cleanly. Though I felt much better, I wished the healing Kiss also replenished blood, but I’d have to wait for my body to produce it.
With the last bit of the spell, I took the arm of the maiden, touched my lips to her wound, and it healed instantly.
“Thank you, princess,” she said.
“You’re welcome. You were very lucky to get away with only a scratch.”
Christopher bent down to whisper in my ear, “It was a bloody miracle. She was found under the rubble of a collapsed house, with the bodies of the rest of her family. She should be dead.”
As they left, I sent a quick prayer to Myriana that the poor girl wouldn’t have to raise the child all on her own.
I looked back to Zach, who was watching Christopher and the pregnant girl walk away with pulled brows and a tight jaw—an expression that held both anger and somehow…regret?
Before I could question him, he was already disappearing into the final remnants of smoke.
…
After making sure all the creatures had been slain and Tulia had promised to bring Lorena back to the stables, I was whisked to the castle on the back of Edric’s horse. Waves of anger rolled off him as we rode, but I was too weak to care. I leaned my head against his back, glad to be away from the smoke that stung my eyes and burned my throat.
Edric had to lift me off his horse, and Brom helped me up the stone steps into the Hall of Ancestors with the rest of the Royals trickling in. Most veered into the western halls, where they’d get cleaned up, see to any healing, and rest before the celebration feast. Any victory was reason enough to celebrate nowadays.
I yearned to follow them, but when I noticed Brom was leading me toward the center of the Hall, I stood up straighter and supported more of my own weight, preparing myself for a lecture from the Master Mages. Surely word of my solo act and Zach’s rescue had reached them.
But what I saw standing on the elevated platform at the end of the Hall made me want to turn around and face a dozen dwarves instead.
Amid the Council, Weldan, Kendra, Zach, and the Master Mages, was a woman with long dark hair and a maroon dress. She stopped talking to Master Gelloren as she caught sight of me, and her eyes narrowed.