Page 57 of The Uncrowned Prince

The guards’ leader sliced at her neck with the axe-blade side of his weapon, but he swung too high, and she twisted beneath it before closing the gap between them and kicking him in the face. His nose crunched and spurted blood, but he only snarled and came back for more.

Behind her… Karreya launched into the air, spinning into an aerial that carried her over the spike that had been aimed at her back. The guard had overextended, so she snatched at the weapon as she landed and twisted it out of his grasp, then swung it in a wide arc that took the charging leader down at the knees.

It was a deadly dance, and one she could have performed with her eyes closed—guided only by their footsteps, the whistle of blades as they cut through the air, the grunt of breath in their lungs, and the rush of blood in her own ears.

Had she wished them dead, it would already be over—they were determined, but poorly trained and almost impossibly slow. And yet, she could not bring herself to take their lives. Enemies or not, she did not know, and it did not matter. What mattered was… that Niell was watching.

Niell, who rescued street children and saved the lives of people he had never met. Who had even tried to saveherwhen she was a complete stranger. Who fed her and tried to help her, even when he knew what she was.

When she was with him, she somehow became more than her training. More than just a killer. Thanks to her errand, she was a daughter, a seeker, even possibly… a friend.

And she did not want to lose that. She did not want Niell to see her as she truly was, so she placed her strikes with precision and never cut too deep. When it was finished, there was blood, yes, but no one would die of it, and all six guards lay unconscious on the floor of the atrium.

And Niell… he was lying where she’d shoved him, propped on his elbow with his mouth hanging open.

Karreya dropped the halberd and grabbed his arm to help him to his feet, avoiding his eyes as she did so. “We must move swiftly now,” she said. “The doors are thick, but the councilors may have heard something.”

Niell grasped her arm but did not rise. “Karreya.”

“What is it?” she asked impatiently, still unwilling to look at him.

“Why did you not leave me?”

Her jaw clenched. She wanted to be angry, but there was no time.

“I’m useless to you now,” he said insistently. “I saw what you just did, and you are incredible. You could be long gone from here already, and no one would know you’d ever set foot in the palace. Why are youstill here?”

“Tell me, Abreian”—Karreya finally allowed herself to meet his eyes, glaring down at him with every bit of her fury and frustration—“do you believe that because I am who I am, I do not value my promises? That I am an honorless woman, without feelings or conscience?”

He met her angry gaze without flinching, and what she saw roiling in the depths of his gray eyes stole her breath and stabbed her in the heart.

Grief. Exhaustion. Defeat. And pain. So much pain. Just now, he was not truly seeingher, and that discovery melted her anger away as quickly as it had come.

“I will argue with you later,” she said. “For now, all you need to know is that I am not leaving here without you, for good or ill.”

With that, she tugged on his arm until he had no choice but to rise to his feet or be dragged across the floor.

But once he was standing, he only looked down at her, his face mere inches from her own, raw anguish in his eyes and fists clenched by his sides.

“Do not die for me, Karreya,” he whispered hoarsely. “You must promise me that. I will not stand by while another person dies to protect me.”

Another person? Who had died for him already? And how could she explain that she was far more likely to kill for him?

Would he object to that, as well, if he knew?

“We must go.” She stepped to his side without answering and wrapped her arm around his waist. “If we meet anyone else, recall that you are meant to be a drunken guest I am attempting to evict.”

He finally submitted, his arm wrapped firmly around her shoulders as they moved out of the atrium and into the garden courtyard. And just as before, his proximity was not at all unpleasant. Their height difference allowed her to fit perfectly against his side, and despite the gravity of their situation, his presence was warm and somehow comforting.

In the reception hall, the musicians still played, and Karreya could hear their cheerful notes ringing out over the splash of the fountain. Through the arches, she saw dancers whirling in concert under the blazing lights as she paused briefly among the ornamental trees to consider her next move.

The moment they stepped into that hall, anyone who saw Niell would know he did not belong. He needed a disguise of some sort, but how…

Shouts and pounding feet from ahead of them presaged the intrusion of a dozen guards, racing towards the atrium they had so recently left. The noise gave her just enough time to pull Niell deeper into the shrubbery surrounding the fountain, but it added to the urgency of their escape. Her work had already been discovered, and this area would soon be swarming with guards, questioning anyone and everyone who looked out of place.

Neill suddenly jerked against her, and Karreya turned, startled by the unheralded appearance of a woman on his other side. How could she not have heard…

The young, dark-haired Irian woman regarded them with a wry expression, her features laid lightly over the top of Senaya’s face.

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