Page 10 of Their Queen

“But you’re injured,” she said, her eyes drifting down to my abdomen. I followed her gaze, clamping my hand back over the wound, now sans knife. Fuck! No wonder I was getting weaker and dizzier.

“So, that’s where he got the knife,” I muttered to myself as my sluggish brain finally made the connection.

“Come on, let’s go.” I could feel the swell of her magic as she prepared to whisk us away.

“No. Cyerra, we need to stop them all. We can’t have them going back and reporting where we are to Titania,” I commanded her, turning to find the men approaching us.

“Fuck. Fine,” she spat out, not happy with my decision but knowing I was right.

I bent down and pulled my knife from the dead man at my feet with a groan. Wiping the blood off on my pants, I steadied myself and readied for them to attack, knees bent and limbs loose.

It didn’t take them long, two of them closing in on us. Cyerra and I divided and conquered, not needing to speak as we each dealt with our own attackers. These guys proved a little smarter than their counterparts, darting in and back, timing their feints well.

I tried to keep an eye on the third man, but after another failed attempt to slash at my assailant, I stumbled, barely keeping on my feet in the loose foliage. Physically, I was slowing, my reactions not coming as quickly as I wanted, and I knew that it was because of the blood loss. We needed to end this quickly.

My attacker circled me, and I tracked his movements as closely as I could, running through the best way to end this all. The magic in my core pulsed, faint but there. I had just enough magic that I could mount a single attack. If I timed it right, I could end this.

As I was debating, two arms banded around me from behind. Shit. I’d forgotten about this asshole. He jerked me up against his chest, pinning me in place, lifting me up until my feet were off the ground. “End this. I’ve got her,” the man holding me called out to the man Cyerra was fighting.

Instinct kicked in, all those years of drilling Jiu Jitsu taking over. I thrust my legs out, jerking the man’s momentum forward until my feet hit the ground. Bending forward, I flipped him over my shoulder right in front of douchebag number two, who looked at me like I was some kind of wild animal.

Standing back up, I thrust my hands forward and blasted them with Callum’s fire magic, turning them quickly to ash. I wrinkled my nose at the stench of burning flesh and hair, concentrating so I didn’t catch the whole forest on fire.

Satisfied, I pulled the flames back into me where they sputtered, completely spent. A grunt sounded out, and I turned in time to see Cyerra putting her guy down.

She turned to face me where I swayed on my feet, focusing all my energy on remaining standing as adrenaline fled now that the threat was gone. “Remind me not to piss you off. Damn, girl.”

I smiled, opening my mouth to respond, but before I could, my body shut down completely, turning the lights out. My last thought was that I could trust her to get me to safety.

Chapter Nine: Rhowyn

Yup. This was definitely getting old. Fast. I thought to myself as I slowly came to. My head was throbbing, and my entire body was sore, discouraging me from moving until I knew more. Attempting to open my eyes first, I cracked my lids, but the blinding light stabbed into my retinas and caused my brain to pound in time with my pulse. Squeezing my eyes closed again with a groan, I waited for the intense sensation to pass.

“Rhowyn?” Cyerra’s voice came to me, too loud in the silence that had been surrounding me, and I winced. “You awake?”

“There’s no need to yell,” I told her with my eyes squeezed shut against the pain, my hand raising to press against my forehead.

“Thank Avalonia!” The mattress I was on dipped slightly. “I was really beginning to worry about you. If you’d been out much longer, I would have had to contact the guys. They’d kill me if I didn’t!” she exclaimed, her nervous energy evident in the pitch and speed of her voice.

“Then I guess I’m glad I woke up when I did,” I told her, trying to open my eyes again. The stabbing pain increased, but it wasn’t nearly as intense as before. “Where are we?” I asked, taking in the stone walls in the bare room.

“Oh, after you passed out, I got us out of there. Figured it wouldn’t help us any if we were found, you know, in case they had any backup or something,” she rattled off, a hand waving almost dismissively.

“Smart,” I told her, still trying to slowly widen my eyes until they were fully open.

“Yeah, well, I had no idea where I was supposed to go, so I just picked a direction and went until I found this church. I remembered you said something about a church and thought I might as well stop here. That, and I was getting really worried about you. You lost a lot of blood.” Her voice sobered with that last statement, telling me just how close I’d been to death. Again.

“That doesn’t surprise me, based on the way I feel right now.” I spoke around my thick tongue, turning my head to see if there was water nearby.

“Well, when we got here, the head priest called for the village healer, and they did their best. You also had a concussion. The healer didn’t have enough magic to close your wound and heal your head, so I told her to start with the most life-threatening injury.”

“Thanks.” I pushed up to sitting, my hand going to my abdomen to hold off the pain.

“She did the best she could, but you’re still not fully healed. She was able to repair the internal damage. Apparently, the blade punctured your liver, and you would have bled out completely in just another hour. Thankfully, she was here and available.”

I reached for the glass of water as she rattled off the explanation of how I ended up here and just why I felt like shit. “That explains a lot.”

She punched my arm, jostling the glass of water and nearly spilling it all over me. I glared at her only to find her glaring back at me. “What was that for?” I questioned her.

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