Page 36 of Blood On His Lips

The whine cut off, and I ground to a halt in the town square, grimacing. “This is becoming a nasty habit.”Darkan?

I straightened, then almost shouted in shock as a figure coalesced in front of me. I drew my dagger out of instinct and swung to strike but strong fingers snatched my wrist out of the air.

“Aerinne.”

There was no time to question him. He lifted me and threw me to the side. The air sliced in the spot where we had been standing a moment before. I was on my feet a second later, facing the giant whose attention was now on the Prince.

“You can see it too,” I said.

Renaud didn't respond to that inane comment. “Stay behind me.”

I was probably next to useless in this fight, but I still made a face at his back, aggravated by both his dismissal and my own incompetence. If I had spent more time during the last decade asking questions, expanding my knowledge, training, maybe this fight wouldn’t be above my pay grade.

The giant dropped its rope and unsheathed its broadsword in one swift motion, almost too fast for my gaze to follow. I had just enough time to dive out of the way as Renaud’s scaled wings unfurled in a whoosh of wind, their reach spanning the boulevard.

I flattened myself to the ground as he whirled, using those wings as weapons, wind shrieking in defiance as he cut them in rapid, deadly arcs.

I considered disobeying Renaud’s command. I could provide a distraction, at least, but I recalled instances where junior trainees had had the same brilliant idea and wound up causing more problems than solutions. Whether I liked it or not, we were on the same side right now, and he outranked me. So though it galled me to the core, I stayed still and out of the way, observing the fight to glean whatever knowledge I could.

My most important observation was that even during the battle of the wyverns, Renaud had not fully unleashed.

My heart was in my mouth as I watched, utterly still, sinking into the cold sensation once again that I was completely outmatched by this male. It made the mystery of what he wanted with me even more acute. I was in no way his equal. Give me a hundred years, and I would still in no way be his equal.

A mailed fist caught Renaud’s jaw. The Prince flew back, crashing into a building with a boom.

Fuck!

I surged to my feet and ran to him. But the Prince was already up and in the air, and now I was in the way.

Renaud roared, a deep throated ancient growl of fury and defiance, the sound waves rippling in the air. Glass shattered.

“Down!”

My body reacted before I understood the word, right before a shower of tiny blades thrown by the Black Knight streamed past me.

Renaud landed, whirling his wings to cover us both, but a hundred tiny cuts already drew blood on my exposed face and hands. They weren’t death wounds, and I puzzled at the purpose of such a weapon in this kind of fight.

When the storm ended, Renaud advanced, and the warriors crashed into each other. I rolled out of the way, resuming my cover with a string of curses and insults, half of them aimed at myself. The giant dispersed into a shimmering cloud of dark dust.

Renaud hadn’t needed my intervention. At all. He snapped his wings closed and turned to me, eyes feral. I rose slowly from my cover and approached.

“I'm going to take a wild guess that you understood what that thing was,” I said. “Care to enlighten me? Or is that more knowledge that won't serve my goals either way right now?”

I didn't know how I had the energy for sarcasm. Fatigue and worry and the edges of shock drained what little warmth was left in my muscles. I shivered.

“We will retire to the palace,” he said.

I snapped into focus. “I will not.”

“I cannot adequately protect you outside the palace. The game has changed now.”

“Why don't you tell me who this new player is, or what rather, and I'll make that decision for myself?”

His eyes darkened. He lifted a hand and wiped blood off my cheek with his thumb. “I was unaware children were allowed to make decisions.”

The other night proved he in no way thought of me as a child.

“Allow me to rephrase, Prince. If you force me to retreat to the palace while we are in the middle of a conference, the other Houses will assume negotiations are weighted in Faronne’s favor. That would not be conducive to long term peace.”

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