Page 129 of Of Nine So Bold

Not if he wanted to survive it.

Nearby, Gwyneira watched him as well, a hint of pity on her face for the dumbstruck nature of his expression. Keeping an eye to the duke and his allies, she walked over to Niko.

I did the same, Ruhl pacing along at my side.

When we came closer, the young man blinked as if surfacing from a daze. His eyes turned to Gwyneira and me with blatant desperation. “What do I do?” he whispered.

The princess put a hand to his arm. “Breathe,” she said. “Start there.”

A deep lungful of air rushed into Niko’s chest, but he still looked shaken.

“You must ground yourself, my friend,” I murmured. “Use your other senses to stabilize your emotions. Silently name what you smell, what you hear. Allow your body to catch up with the moment. These people are stunned as well, but they will look for your stability to gauge whether you can be trusted, so you must present that to them.”

Taking another breath, Niko closed his eyes for a moment. “Okay.”

“Now,” I continued, “I have found that when one does not know what to say, silence is often the best choice. Allow the other party to fill the gap and reveal themselves, as it were. And quite often, they will, whether that is with their fears or with what they desire. This gives you an opportunity to assess your next move more fully.”

“Stay quiet to buy time, you mean?” He stared at me, wide-eyed.

“Precisely.”

He nodded like I’d thrown him a lifeline to stop him from drowning. “I can do that.” His eyes twitched to the duke. “But if he tries to do something to stop there from evenbeinga test at these waters Ignatius talked about…”

My respect for Niko grew. Clearly, he saw the potential trouble that lay before us.

I also knew he was right. The duke was not the type of man to allowchanceto play into his machinations for power. He would try to kill Niko at the first opportunity. Us too, most likely.

My fangs tingled with the urge to descend and resolve this problem. These men mattered to Gwyneira. To me as well.

Erenlian blood would not harm me the way human blood could, andremovingthat blood from certain individuals would solve a number of our problems.

I exhaled slowly, keeping my vampire nature in check. “Do not worry, my friend. If the duke or his allies try to harm us, they will live to regret it—if only for the brief time it would take to make them cease being a threat entirely.”

Gwyneira met my eyes, and my heart swelled to see the cold resolve in my Aneiran beauty’s gaze. She was kind and gentle, it was true. A merciful and understanding ruler. But when it came to protecting those she loved, she was as fierce as an Aneiran Huntsman and infinitely more deadly.

And for that and a thousand more reasons, I loved her.

She smiled like perhaps she could see the emotion that had stolen over me, but worry infiltrated her gaze when she glanced toward the duke. Beyond the opening in the wall, he stood amid his group of lackeys, calling out to the Erenlians still waiting to pass through. A beneficent smile was fixed upon his face, with nothing but charity in his bearing.

Given the contrast between his condition and that of his starving people, the behavior was despicable.

“I, um…” Niko started to wring his hands together and then stopped himself, forcing them down to his sides. Exhaling sharply, he straightened a bit, though his skin still held a pallor of shock. “I’m going to go see if anyone needs help.”

“Excellent plan,” I replied, but past his turned back, I gave Dex a pointed look.

The former soldier was intuitive as well as intelligent. He read my glance immediately. With Ozias at his side, he moved to join Niko when the younger man started toward the crowd.

“Two of us should stay with Niko at all times,” Gwyneira murmured, watching them go. “Possibly more. We’re going to be in their territory, and the duke has too much to lose. We can’t risk even a second where he could get past us to hurt Niko.”

I loved that she, too, perceived our need for a strategy to protect the boy. “Agreed.”

Ruhl gave a low growl as if voicing his agreement as well.

I glanced at him. There was no longer a question in my mind that he understood us. There never really had been.

But those creatures of the gateway had recognized him, calling his speciesnyxvarg,a name I’d never heard. For that and so many other reasons, my questions about this strange companion of mine only multiplied.

“And,” the princess continued, “no matter how this test goes, we need to be ready to get Niko and ourselves the hell out of here.”

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