Page 47 of Betrayed By Dragons

Prince Jianyu has such a devoted fanbase. If word got out that the royal guard had detained him, it would be a mess.

For now, I choose to be grateful they're not taking any chances with lethal force.

Because I refuse to be some freaking damsel here.

Rafe and I didn't have much time to train, but I remember what he taught me. Forcing myself to breathe, I take on a fighting stance of my own--and it's a good thing, too.

More soldiers seem to appear from thin air, and before I know it, they've corralled me, Li, and Jianyu into a tightly packed cluster. Jianyu's working overtime, trying to defend both me and himself. I land a couple of decent blows, but I'm no match for trained soldiers. For his part, Li puts up a good fight, too, but after knocking out a couple of guys, he takes a hard punch to the face and staggers back. Two guards are on him, tackling him to the ground. His face gets pushed into the pavement, his glasses flying.

I suck in a harsh breath. My flank--and thereby Jianyu's--is exposed. Jianyu tries to close the gap while still protecting me, but one of the guards pulls out a baton and takes a swing at him. He grunts as it connects with his side, and he can't go on like this.

A couple of the soldiers see his weakness. One of them makes eye contact with me.

My bracer crackles with energy as I form a fist.

All my attempts to perform magic with High Priestess Fang ended in failure, but right now, I feel the power of the Shadow Queen's Bracer humming through me.

The soldier sneers as he closes in. "I wouldn't normally hit a girl," he says, his voice heavily accented.

"Then don't?" I offer.

"But for you I'll make an exception."

He lunges, and I pull back my fist. I throw a punch before he can get one in. I put my body into it the way Rafe taught me to, and I can't entirely explain how, but I imagine the energy swirling around the bracer pouring into my punch.

The guy sails twenty feet into the air.

Holy shit.

Holy.

Shit.

"Ember--" Jianyu shouts.

There's another guy coming for me. I try to repeat the move, and it's not quite as spectacular, but it's close.

"I guess Rafe's training paid off," Jianyu remarks, his voice dry, because yeah, we both know that's not all that's going on.

"Guess so," I agree, regardless.

We end up back-to-back. I catch a glimpse of Commander Shu in my periphery. Almost too late, I realize he's signaling some of the soldiers who were standing back.

He's also looking right at me.

My stomach does a nervous flip. I don't understand my abilities at all, but I know it's not good to be showing off like this in front of a guy who's clearly not on our side.

I don't have much choice, though.

Three soldiers draw weird looking pistols. I throw my hand out to the side by pure instinct, and it's like at the summit, when everything exploded around me. A burst of purple energy erupts from my palm, deflecting what appears to be a dart of some kind.

"Stunners," Jianyu grunts out. "Don't let them hit you."

"No kidding."

The burst of energy I instinctively created is nothing compared to the protection bubble I was able to cast when Amy and I were about to die. I can do better.

Digging deep, I adapt one of the stances High Priestess Fang showed me. I envision that bubble of protection spilling out from inside of me, and I make the Stone Dragon sigil in the air, and...

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