Page 46 of An Honored Vow

I shook my head and watched Dynara slip through the doors without me. There was a loud bang as the wooden beam dropped into place. None of the lords noticed; they still stood around the gem and Kilmor’s broken body.

Only Kairn was looking about the room. “Where are the servants?” he said, more to himself than the lords. “Where are the girls?”

He had noticed what the lords had not. Every courtesan and servant had disappeared. He drew his sword, still glancing about the room, and then his gaze fell on me, amber pupil pulsing and bright.

It was Damien’s scowl on his face.

I started to run, and Kairn charged after me. I dashed up the stairs, trying to claim higher ground, but his strides were long enough to catch me. His boots trampled my skirts, pulling the release ribbon free. Kairn reeled back in shock as my outfit transformed in front of his eyes.

Without the burden of cloth swirling around my legs, I jumped up onto the banister and slid behind Kairn, using the momentum to push his shoulder and send him tumbling down the stairs. I tried to reach for the pendant along his chest, but his sword sliced my arm. I cursed and landed in a roll on the floor.

The lords turned around from the commotion, but I didn’t care if they saw me now. They were already dead.

Kairn hurled a dagger at my head, and I ducked under it, drawing a dagger of my own.

Something sharp stung my nose.

Smoke trickled underneath the doors. The lords’ murmurs turned into surprised shouts as they ran for the stairs.

“It’s locked!” someone shouted.

Three men pulled a velvet curtain to the floor. “The windows!” they cried, scratching at the thick sheets of wood that the servants had nailed into the stone exterior.

Kairn cursed from the landing, trying to break through the door with his giant size. He sneered down at me as the first licks of flame crawled up the drapes. “You plan to die with us?”

“Not at all,” I said, disappearing into a flash of light.

“She’s a bird” was the last thing I heard before the screaming started.

I flapped my wings, soaring high above the growing cloud of smoke. Subduing Kairn without killing him would already be hard enough. I didn’t need to fight every lord desperately clinging to life; I would let the smoke make quick work of them.

I circled the manor five times, flying higher with each pass. The screaming stopped. I tucked my wings against my feathered body and plummeted toward the hole in the roof. I closed my eyes as I passed through the smoke, only opening them when I heard faint coughs through the crackling.

Hot flames devoured the walls. The lords who had tried to climb the drapes had fallen to the ground, flesh melting from their bones. The fire licked my feathers, and I transformed back into my Fae form, using my fire wielding to push the flames away.

The men who were still alive were on their knees, coughing too hard to notice me weaving through the floor. A wave of my hand pushed the smoke upward, giving the men momentary relief.I scanned the room searching for Kairn, but he wasn’t among the languishing lords.

An arm reached for my ankle from behind an overturned chaise and pulled me to the ground. My chin smacked against the tile, splitting the skin as Kairn dragged me along the floor.

I twisted, aiming a kick at his face, but he blocked it with his upper arm. I conjured my gusts, trying to pull the air from Kairn’s lungs but he stomped on my thigh. I heard the snap of my femur as he broke it. Then I screamed.

Kairn snorted as I writhed in pain, trying to free myself. It was overwhelming—the flames flared higher, stoked by my magic, but I couldn’t focus enough to direct them. Kairn straddled my waist. I swiped for his pendant, but he evaded my grasp by leaning back, pressing onto the splintered bone that was sticking out of my skin.

“I thought that’s what you were after.” Kairn’s pupil flared, and I knew Damien was watching as he wrapped his hands around my neck. It flared again, settling on my eyes.

Shock registered on Kairn’s face as Damien took control of his body, but then it faded into pure vindication. “Such a disappointing way for this to end, Keera,” he rasped as his hands tightened around my throat.

I held the last bit of air in my lungs as I spread my arms, trying to find some kind of weapon. Flames scorched my skin, but I didn’t let that stop me.

Metal. Something hard and round.A goblet.I pulled it toward me with just my fingertips. The blood vessels in Kairn’s natural eye exploded, and a bead of sweat fell off his brow onto my throbbing face. I inched the goblet closer until finally it rolled toward me. I grabbed the rim and jabbed my leg upward.

I howled as the jagged end of my bone pierced Kairn’s back. My vision blurred from the pain, but I held on. I refused to die in thisplace, fighting Damien in a stolen body. I jammed my leg once more, and Kairn’s pupil went still as Damien lost control.

Kairn’s grip on my throat loosened just enough for me to twist out of his reach. I smacked his temple with the goblet. His head lolled back behind him as he rolled off me, not quite unconscious but dazed.

I snapped my leg into place and let my healing gift fuse the bone as I pushed the flames against the wall. The other lords had fallen to their sides, wheezing loudly as smoke filled their lungs.

The pain in my leg faded to something manageable, and I pounced on Kairn. With a handful of his cloak, I spun around his shoulders, pulling the fabric taut and pinning his arms with my legs. I yanked as tightly as I could, using my control over the air to pull the last of his breath from his lungs.

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