Page 23 of Queen of Serpents and Shadows

Laera was starting to look worn down, her swings getting slower, her moves sloppier. I moved closer to her and tripped one of the soldiers making his way to join her attackers. He didn’t go down like I hoped. Catching himself, he spun to face me, not hesitating before lunging toward me. I dodged, but not before his blade sliced my upper arm.

I bit back a scream, channeling the pain into rage as I swung for him. He was fast and avoided my blade far tooeasily. I crouched, avoiding his next swing before stabbing my knife into his thigh.

He howled in pain, then kicked me before I could retrieve my blade. I went down, landing hard. Another kick landed in my side and I braced for another, but nothing came.

I felt the cool caress of shadows and looked up to find Ryvin with murder in his expression. The guard who’d injured me was on the ground, blood pouring from his face as he clawed at his neck, desperate for air.

Ryvin offered a hand, helping me up. As I got to my feet, my attacker fell, his chest going still.

“You alright?” Rvyin asked.

I leaned down and yanked my knife from the man’s thigh. Blood oozed from the injury. “I’ll live.”

Ryvin glanced around, then returned his attention to me. “I’m going to help Laera and Vanth. Get to the back door. Take the dragons with you.”

“Got it.”

He ran off, and I fought my way toward the fallen princess, where the dragon princes were hacking their way through every guard stupid enough to attack them.

My heart ached and I held in the rising bile as I stepped over her head. It was so fucking disrespectful. She deserved better. I never even met her, but I felt like I owed her more. I had to help her get her brothers out.

Dark shadows began to swirl around me, rising from the ground like tendrils of smoke. They were increasing quickly, taking over the whole room in fluid, gracefulmovements. I knew what Ryvin was doing and I knew we didn’t have much time before darkness would consume everything. I sprinted toward the dragons.

I came to Kabir first, just as he fatally wounded his opponent. The soldier was clutching the gushing stomach wound, staring at Kabir wide eyed. I grabbed the prince’s upper arm, pulling him to me, quickly stepping back away from his weapon as he attacked on impulse.

“What are you doing?” He hissed, stilling his blade before it could harm me.

“We gotta go,” I said, as quietly as I could. I leaned my head toward the small back door.

He shook his head. “These monsters killed my sister.”

“I know, but you already got the ones who did. And we can’t win. Not right now.” I gripped his wrist. “Please. We have to go. She wouldn’t want you to die like this.”

Another soldier charged and we both moved forward, causing the guard to hesitate. My knife bit into his side as Kabir sliced his sword across his throat. The man made gurgling sounds as he fell to his knees.

“Brother!” Kabir called.

Bahar spun to face us, then returned to his opponent. He punched the green-clad soldier in the face, then kicked him down before heading over to us. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, his eyes wild. But as soon as he reached us, he noticed the darkness that was quickly making visibility difficult. Even the soldiers were starting to back away, hesitating rather than risk attacking one another.

“It’s time to go.” I said through gritted teeth. I wasexpecting an argument, but Bahar glanced around the room, then nodded.

Bahar grabbed my hand, and Kabir grabbed the other, just as the darkness swallowed us. Screams and grunts filled the room. Swords still clashed, but the sounds were less frequent.

We carefully moved toward the door. At least, I hoped we were. I was counting on the dragon’s knowing where it was. When Bahar stopped moving, I waited, my skin tingling in anticipation and fear making my chest tight. We were unarmed. The darkness the only thing preventing us from being completely exposed and vulnerable.

It felt like forever before Bahar pulled on my hand and we moved. As soon as we were through the door, I could see again. He closed it behind us and I started to look around for Ryvin.

“I assume this means there’s a plan,” Bahar said, still gripping his sword.

“We lost in there. You know that,” I replied.

He growled.

“Don’t growl at me.” I glared at him. “Our choices were die in there, or get the fuck out and find another way.”

“He can’t be killed,” Bahar snarled. “We might as well take as many out as we can.” He took a step toward the door and I grabbed him, knowing my hold wasn’t going to do anything to stop him if he really wanted to leave.

“Becoming a martyr won’t bring her back.”

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